A confluence of factors has resulted in India becoming one of the key centres globally for start-ups and innovation. Innovation, venturing, and entrepreneurship is getting increasing attention from policy makers. These three areas of economic activity are expected to play a key role in the economic growth of the country apart from strengthening India’s position as an innovation country. Because of these, there has been a fillip to the start-up activity in the country. Formulation of start-up policies, setting up of incubation centres, growth in investments, and focus on entrepreneurship in academic curricula, have led to an increase in the number of start-ups. However, growth of ventures and entrepreneurship in India so far has been predominantly led by policy and practice.

A look at the investment in Indian ventures helps to put things in perspective. For the 10-year period, 2011-20, the risk capital investment in Indian technology start-ups has been about $68 billion, which approximately translates to ₹476,000 crores. Academic research and thinking can play an important role in sustaining and furthering this growth in entrepreneurship. Insights and evidence from academic research would support policy making as well as increase the effectiveness of managerial and investment decision making in entrepreneurship. The objective of the CREST is to augment academic and thought leadership in innovation, entrepreneurship and risk capital.

• To be recognized as leading research centre on start-ups and innovation globally
• Leading the conversation on start-ups and innovation and generate research insights that complement policy and practice
• Develop the best-in-class information platform on the Indian start-up and innovation ecosystem
• To emerge as a national knowledge hub for all stakeholders engaged with the start-up ecosystem

Academic and Practice Research

• Interdisciplinary large multi-year research projects to advance the fundamental understanding on start-ups and innovation
• Global collaborations with leading researchers and practitioners
• Top tier journal publications in Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Risk Capital

Policy Formulation and Practice Insights

• Support policy formulation through impact assessment, evidence synthesis and field work studies on areas of national importance
• Collaborate and engage with the industry on key challenges identified by investors, founders, and enablers
• Development of policy briefs and narratives on the evolution of the startup landscape

Develop the National Data Repository on Innovation and Venturing

• Address the data challenges faced by researchers, founders, policy makers, investors, and institutions
• One stop source for data on key entities on the Indian Start-up ecosystem
• Use of modern technological tools like LLM, AI and ML to facilitate increased use

Dissemination and Democraticising Information Access

• Enable access to startup ecosystem information to all stakeholders
• Development of technology solutions and dashboards to showcase startup impact
• Enabling different stakeholders to benefit from the opportunities in the start-ups ecosystem