Starting a business is quite hard and it requires a lot of learning and determination. For a successful business, initial activities such as developing a business idea, a business model and a business plan are essential. Correct, already proven approach to these initial steps increases the chances of a successful startup company. In order to build a business idea, one has to start with a product. A product idea could come from your undergraduate project, postgraduate project or a long standing dream. A product with market winning features usually comes after a lot of thinking and hard work. The pre-incubation is to develop your product idea to a presentable prototype. No matter whether it is a hardware, software or a complete system, there has to be something presentable in hand before you start talking about it in the outside. This critical process involves activities such as Idea formulation, market validation & survey, necessary training, defining a business idea, thinking of a flexible business model and the business plan with critical assessment and modify the product to accommodate these critical needs. We are here to facilitate all that and make your idea presentable to the outside world.
Once you get a “green light” for your product at a relevant outside forum, you will be confident in reaching the market successfully one day. However, you are still at the beginning of the journey. After pre-incubation, it is guaranteed that your idea is presentable as a product. But does it mean that it is acceptable to the target audience? No. For that, you have to have a version which should be similar to what you plan to sell at the end. This needs the assistance of a few more entities. If you think that the product is patentable, you got to write your patent first. The ETIC will guide you through University Business Linkage Technology Transfer Office (BLITTO) for that. Then you need to think about finding funds to develop a commercial prototype. For that you need investment. The investor could be a third party outsider channeled through ETIC, ETIC itself or someone or some company of your choice. BLITTO may also help here.
We provide comprehensive support services and clustering network opportunities to accelerate your products. We are happy to say that our center is equipped with facilities for testing, piloting, scaling-up and develop full scale commercial prototypes.
This is the process of getting your product or service to the market. This bridges the product developer and the clients through a well maid ready product. ETIC facilitates commercializing undergraduate projects, postgraduate projects and staff projects of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya.
The actual launch of a new product is the final stage of the product development life cycle, and it is the step where a substantial investment is needed on advertising, sales promotion and other marketing efforts, which stresses the need of having an investor.
When you reach the stage of launching the product, there are few possibilities with regard to the future of your product if successful.
1. You may join hands with investor who helped to develop your idea upto a commercial product and form a new company or expand a company profile of the investor.
2. You may also invest together with your investor and start a company.
3. You may start a company on your own.
In any of the cases above, you need to be very clear about what you are doing and why you are doing so, and it has to be correct both ethically and legally. ETIC will facilitate forming spin-off companies out of your product or service and help you to become a successful employer, which will eventually help Sri Lanka to grow strong.
