GCT Coimbatore, DCKAP Incubation Center Visit

In December last year, we visited GCT Coimbatore and began working closely with the college management, students, and campus clubs to set up the DCKAP Incubation Center.

The interaction during our awareness session with 300+ students was interactive and energizing. Even before that, our team – Dipthi Rajagopal, Sunil Mithran, Shiva Kumaar, and Srija Santhanam,  along with the support of the GCT Principal and staff, had spent two intensive days conducting class-by-class awareness sessions about the Incubation Center initiative.

Starting something is one thing; executing it well is another.

Since December, the mood on campus has remained upbeat, and we have been steadily working our way through the process, setting up the infrastructure and creating sustained awareness around the program. While we did face a few challenges in figuring out the best way to run the Incubation Center, it has been encouraging to see strong interest from across the campus, with many students eager to be a part of the initiative.

We received applications from 70+ students across 19+ teams.

As the next step, our internal panel members – Vel Venkatesh, Avinash, Mythireyan and Tanay Chatterjee , hosted online discussions with each team over Zoom from our Incubation Center, often after their college hours. These virtual interactions gave us the opportunity to understand their ideas better, gauge team dynamics, and have deeper conversations beyond what was captured in the applications. Thanks a lot to Professor Dr. Ilamathy and Dr. Balakrishnan for making this happen seamlessly.

Based on the applications and these interactions, the panel shortlisted 9 teams.

Parallelly, as part of our broader initiative to transform the campus innovation culture, over the last couple of months, we also met with various student club presidents and secretaries at GCT. Building on those conversations, a face-to-face interaction was planned for Thursday, April 9, 2026.

Our team, Iyappan Perumal, Jayakanth Rajan, and Sunil Mithran, was scheduled to be on campus for the second level of interaction with the 9 shortlisted teams.

Initially, I was not planning to travel.

However, I later felt it would be good to have feet on the street, and I decided to join the team as well. I am very thankful that I did.

Our team arrived the previous day and had a good night’s sleep. One of the first things we did the next morning was have breakfast at RS Puram Annapoorna, always a grounding way to begin a Coimbatore day.

Thankful for that start, we were on campus by 9 AM. In the morning, we met with the GCT Principal, Dr. Manonmani, along with Professors Dr. Ilamathy and Dr. Balakrishnan. I am deeply thankful to our Principal and the entire team for their wholehearted support in making this initiative possible.

Following this, our team went on to conduct interviews with the students shortlisted for our Incubation Program. Alongside that, we also had meaningful interactions with the various student club presidents and secretaries around the different initiatives we are planning to drive to transform the campus. In many ways, these efforts will also play an important role in nurturing a stronger startup ecosystem within GCT.

I also got to spend a good amount of time later in the day chit-chatting with students, and I truly enjoyed those conversations. It was wonderful to exchange stories, understand their aspirations, and learn more about the research they are currently pursuing.

Thankful for the visit and even more encouraged by the energy we are seeing on campus.

This is still early in the journey, and we are just scratching the surface. I will continue to keep you posted as we make progress, and just as importantly, I will openly share the roadblocks we encounter along the way. Building something meaningful on campus takes patience, trust, and consistent execution, and we are excited about what lies ahead.