Kerala Startup Mission ranked among top five business incubators in the world

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), the nodal agency of the government for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state, has been named among the world's top five Public/Private Business Incubators in the sixth edition of the World Benchmark Study.

The other four are: Bilgiyi Ticarilestirme Merkezi (BTM), Turkey; MIDITEC, Brazil; NEXUS - Hub de Inovação do Parque Tecnológico São José dos Campos, Brazil; and Shanghai Caohejing Hi-tech Park Innovation Center, China.

This is just a shortlist. The winner will be announced in the May 2023 edition of the World Rankings Report 21/22 and presented at a ceremony at the World Incubation Summit, in Ghent, Belgium between May 14 and 17. 

The study was done by UBI Global, the Stockholm-based innovation intelligence company and community known for the assessment and mapping of business incubators and accelerators.

The World Benchmark Study 2021-2022 has made its picks from 109 business incubators and accelerators from 56 countries. These 109 were the best that were winnowed out after assessing 1,895 programmes across the world. The 109 that made the cut were ranked on the basis of 21 key performance indicators (KPIs).

These performance indicators corresponded to the value these incubators have brought to three areas. One, value for the ecosystem. This category assesses the economic impact and performance of the programs like Startup Mission and their client and alumni startups, like the jobs and revenue created. It also assesses the success of these incubators in retaining human capital and startups in the ecosystem.

Two, value for client startups. This category assesses the number and efficiency of services provided by the chosen incubators. It assesses the access to funds and networks like partners, events and alumni engagement the incubators could facilitate for its clients. Numerous studies have shown that the quantity and quality of services provided are crucial indicators of long-term startup success.

Three, value for the program, or the incubator itself. This category assesses the incubator's success in attracting deal flow and third-party support as well as its capacity to create viable companies.

The three values created have been given equal weightage in the ranking process (33.3 per cent). 

However, within the sub-categories, 'economy enhancement' gets the highest weightage (22.2 per cent), and this includes jobs created and sustained, revenue generated and the graduates brought within the startup system. 

The second highest weightage was given for 'post-graduate performance', which includes points for survival rates and the creation of high-growth enterprises.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Kerala was proud of this milestone KSUM has reached. "The achievement is the result of the Left government's policy to ensure a suitable environment for start-ups to realise a bright future for the state," he said.

Vijayan said the incubation support provided to startups at various stages and the systematic funding mechanism for startups had been instrumental in securing KSUM the recognition. "This recognition will help bring in more investments in the startup sector in Kerala. May this inspire the startup mission to excel further," he said in his Facebook post.

As per the State of Kerala Startup Ecosystem 2022, Kerala aims to set up 15,000 startups which will create two lakh jobs over the next five years. The state has nearly 4,000 registered startups occupying 10 lakh square feet of office space.