On August 10, 2026, the Department of ISE and CSD, in association with the Institute Innovation Council (IIC) and IEEE Student Branch (IEEE-SB), organized an expert session titled “Accelerators/Incubation Opportunities” for the students of the ISE and CSD departments. The session was conducted at the Department Seminar Hall with the objective of creating awareness among students about entrepreneurship, start-up development, incubation opportunities, project development, and various platforms available to support innovative ideas.

The session was delivered by Mr. Vivek Vijay Kumar, Assistant Professor, Department of Marine Engineering. The resource person provided students with practical insights into the start-up ecosystem and explained how an idea can be transformed into a meaningful project, prototype, and eventually a start-up.

The session began with an introduction to the start-up journey, where the speaker explained the various stages involved in converting an idea into a successful venture. Students were encouraged to begin by identifying a real-world problem, generating innovative ideas, understanding the target users, developing a suitable solution, creating a prototype or Minimum Viable Product (MVP), validating the idea, and continuously improving it based on feedback. The importance of identifying genuine problems rather than developing solutions without understanding the need was emphasised. A major focus of the session was on incubators and accelerators. The speaker explained how incubation centres support students and early-stage entrepreneurs through mentoring, infrastructure, technical guidance, networking, and other resources. He also discussed the importance of participating in innovation and entrepreneurship programmes to receive expert guidance and support for developing ideas.

The resource person provided valuable information about funding opportunities available for innovative projects and start-ups. Students were introduced to different sources of funding, including institutional support, government initiatives, grants, competitions, and incubation programmes. The importance of preparing a clear problem statement, proposed solution, prototype, and presentation while applying for funding opportunities was also highlighted. The session also provided awareness about YUKTI and IIC, along with other innovation and entrepreneurship portals through which students can showcase their ideas, participate in programmes, seek mentoring, and explore funding opportunities. The role of IIC in promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, project development, and start-up culture among students was explained. The speaker further guided students on the step-by-step process of project development, including problem identification, idea generation, background study, requirement analysis, solution design, prototype development, testing, validation, documentation, and presentation. Students were encouraged to develop projects addressing genuine problems and explore their potential for real-world implementation.

The program received strong support from Dr. Shrinivasa Mayya D, Principal, and Prof. Sudarshan K, Head of the Department, ISE & CSD. The event was coordinated by Prof. Aparna N and Prof. Archana D, Event Coordinators.

Overall, the session provided students with valuable insights into startup development, incubation, acceleration, funding, YUKTI, IIC, innovation platforms, and systematic project development, motivating them to transform their ideas into practical and impactful solutions.