Bhubaneswar: Startup exposure may soon move beyond classroom pitches and innovation contests for students at Fakir Mohan University, with four startups set to work out of dedicated spaces on the campus and offer students a chance to see how an idea is turned into a product and eventually a business.The university’s technology business incubator, FMU-TBI, plans to bring startups on to the campus later this year. Students could work with ventures through internships, gaining hands-on experience in product development, testing and day-to-day startup operations, and potentially find placement opportunities as the ventures grow. “Co-location of startups and students will create a more active innovation ecosystem within the university,” said Prof Pankaj Kumar Parhi, coordinator, FMU-TBI.The move comes as the incubator builds on a pipeline of ideas that have already moved from student and public submissions to national-level funding.Recognised by the Union ministry of micro, small & medium enterprises in March 2022 as a host institute under the MSME Innovative Scheme, FMU-TBI has participated in three national MSME hackathons – 2.0, 3.0 and 5.0 – and routed more than 17 ideas and projects for evaluation. Three projects have secured assistance of up to Rs 15 lakh each, taking the funding secured by its incubatees beyond Rs 45 lakh.One of the projects is a transferable bed-chair developed by Shital Dattaram Zemane to help people with disabilities move safely between a bed and a chair. The prototype was completed in June 2025 and was presented before President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in July this year.Another innovation, ClayBiomix by Nivedita Jena, seeks to replace conventional construction plaster with a sustainable material made using natural clay and bio-based additives. It won Rs 15 lakh under Hackathon 3.0.Under Hackathon 5.0, Subhra Satahrada’s engineered-wetland system won assistance of up to Rs 15 lakh for a low-carbon approach to wastewater treatment. FMU-TBI’s first incubatee, Sicehern Techno Health Pvt Ltd, has also secured a Rs 23 lakh startup Odisha need-based grant.The incubator now wants to give such ventures a more permanent base on campus. A common prototyping and testing facility, with fabrication and basic wet-lab facilities, is also planned so that startups can develop and test products closer to their university mentors and student teams, Parhi informed.FMU-TBI is also working on an internship and placement cell with CII and Swabalambi Odisha, with a formal programme expected from the fourth quarter of this year, Parhi further informed.
