IIMB centre works on international curriculum

The N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning will develop a curriculum on technology transfer aimed at entrepreneurs by the end-March 2006.

According to Mathew J Manimala, the chairperson of NSRCEL, this curriculum is being developed jointly by the centre and universities in Italy, UK and Nepal, for submission to the European Union.

"The entire programme is called the Move Project. It has been funded by Asia Link, which operates under the auspices of the European Union to develop and nurture academic collaborations. The project was started in January and the funding will end by March, 2006, when we are expected to submit the curriculum and materials related to the course," he said.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the 'International Seminar on Technology Transfer: Issues and Challenges' organised by the NSRCEL here on Friday.

The subject matter so created by the partnership will be freely accessible to all participants including the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIMB) of which NSRCEL is a part.

Manimala said that the centre would consider making it a full time programme depending on the needs expressed by the entrepreneurial community in India. Until then, parts or the entire course and the material can be used by any of the other programmes in IIM-B.

"The process for course creation will first involve putting together the literature so far available on it. That would include research already conducted and common elements reflected in existing case studies. This will be followed by identification of companies that have gone through the process of technology transfer and making case studies of them. Once this matter has been put together, the representatives of the project will get together to compile the matter and form a proper syllabus out of it," said Manimala.

A team of people has been put together within the centre to implement the project. The NSRCEL involves itself in four distinct types of activities.

The first one involves creating elective courses with the main management programmes of IIMB, the second to execute education programmes for entrepreneurs and the third involves outreach programmes towards entrepreneurs to give additional information 'that only institutes like the IIM-B can give'.

Probably the most important activity of the centre is its incubation activities, where it provides advice and basic facilities to people with ideas to build on them till they reach the start up stage.

According to Manimala, there are around half a dozen companies that the centre is working with at present.