Smart technology changes lives. Add smart business sense and you have a money-spinner. But in India’s cutting-edge institutes, ideas that wizened scientists and young geniuses work long hours to bring to life, rarely make the journey from musty corridors of academia to the big, bad market. A cell set up at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, is changing that.

For three years now, the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) has been transforming innovative technology ideas into successful business models and pushing for a larger change-turning India from a cradle of software engineers to a land of tech entrepreneurs.

Its success rate has been astounding. ‘‘The typical incubation success ratio level is two to three out of 10, and at IIT, Bombay, it is six out of 10. And we expect a higher ratio in future,’’ says Poyni Bhatt, chief administrative officer of SINE. ‘‘SINE administers a business incubator which provides support for technology-based entrepreneurship. It extends the role of the IIT by facilitating the conversion of research activity into entrepreneurial ventures.’’

So, Eisodus Networks Private Limited, a technology company set up by Sunil Mehta and Professor Abhyay Karandikar in 2003-04 with SINE's help, today is a supplier to major broadband companies in the city like MTNL, BSNL, Bharti and Tata. ‘‘Infrastructure support provided by SINE went a long way in helping us develop our ideas into substantial products,’’ says Mehta.

For Herald Logic Private Limited, which develops products in enterprise information, too, the journey has been remarkable. It was set up in 2000 when its founders were electrical engineering students from IIT. ‘‘We have evolved a lot. We now provide businesses not just the capability to monitor their performances and but also understand the factors affecting it,’’ said Vishal Gupta, the man behind the 45-member firm.

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