DCKAP Incubation Center, GCT Coimbatore

In August this year, I wrote about Vision on Reimagining Government College of Technology (GCT) – A Vision for the future of which I’m an alumnus.  As some of our readers would know, we signed an MOU with GCT, Coimbatore in June this. year, when Srija Santhanam, Dipthi Rajagopal, & Lavanya M traveled to Coimbatore. The initial plan was to get started in August, it took us some time to make things happen. Through this Incubation Center we plan to nurture start-ups and create an entrepreneurial ecosystem on the GCT campus.

Setting up an Incubation center is one thing, executing on it is another. For this, again the team, Srija Santhanam, Dipthi Rajagopal and Sunil Mithran traveled and spent a good portion of last week in Coimbatore along with Shiva Kumaar. With the support of Professors and students on-campus, they engaged with students and faculty to create awareness. Srija Santhanam has been leading this community initiative. I joined our team on Thursday evening. I well and thoroughly enjoyed my stay and time spent at the college. Here are just some of my experiences from the trip.

Thursday | Dec 18, 2025: 

We had a good Team Dinner and prepared for the next day. There was a lot of work which went in prior. The team had undertaken outreach efforts with the student body to inform them of the Incubation Center, and the opportunities it would offer them. 

The team had visited every department and connected with second and third-year students, final year classes, and PG programs, across the Mechanical, Civil Engineering, Electronics & Instrumentation, Computer Science, Information Technology, Industrial Biotechnology (IBTE) departments, and more. This helped us connect with a vibrant and diverse group of students, each bringing unique perspectives and enthusiasm.

We discussed the plan for the next day, regrouped, and took notes. I also spent some time preparing for Friday. I was not too sure what to expect, but wanted to be ready for what the day had in store.

Friday | Dec 19, 2025: 

We were there early, and took the opportunity to visit the Incubation Center. We have a bigger purpose—to transform the college through this initiative. I wrote about this here. Once I got in, I knew this would be challenging, especially considering a lot of external factors beyond our control. 

We were set to meet the Principal Dr. K. Manonmani. Our team had already done a lot of groundwork working with Professor Dr. P. Ilamathi. The Principal was very welcoming and spent quality time meeting with us. Once I had a chat with our Principal, I felt at ease and noticed an additional boost to my confidence in the initiative. Our thanks to Dr. K. Manonmani, Dr. P. Ilamathi and the staff at GCT, Coimbatore for believing in this vision.

With the GCT staff, including Dr. K. Manonmani, Dr. P. Ilamathi

After this great meeting, we were all set to meet the students at the college auditorium. 

Chat with GCT Students

It was very energizing to meet the students of GCT, Coimbatore. They were already aware about the Incubation Center because of the campaign our Team ran. This is the same auditorium I have spent quite a bit of time working on different activities while at campus. 

A group selfie after a great session

After this session, Dr. P. Ilamathy took us again to meet with our Principal. We had a good chat about the session and the next steps. And after that, walking on the roads of GCT, we also met up with some of the students who attended the session and had an extended conversation. I felt like a student and it was a lot of fun.

I want to thank our Principal Dr. K. Manonmanii, Professor Dr. P. Ilamathy and the entire staff, team and students at GCT Coimbatore.

We enjoyed our time on campus last week. The Principal and her team have been of huge support to kick this off. We are just scratching the surface and getting started. It is not going to be perfect, but we will figure things out 🙂

Thank you Srija Santhanam, Dipthi Rajagopal Shiva Kumaar, Sunil Mithran T K,  Lavanya Madhusudanan for your leadership. We are very excited at the possibilities that this initiative will make possible in the near future. 

This is Team Work at some of its finest.

Karthik Chidambaram.