SCHOLARLAB FOUNDATION

Project Details

17 September, 2025 Published By: Dr. Bipul Krishna Saha

Need Assisment Study

Image


Need Assisment Study

Background

Scholar Lab Foundation, driven by a team of IIT alumni and multidisciplinary experts, operates a “Tech / Knowledge Hub” that supports product development, R&D, and innovation in collaboration with premier institutes. The Hub espouses open innovation: creating intellectual property (IP), co-hosting with academia, delivering industrial innovation, and promoting a culture of research and development. Recent events include MoUs with institutions (Sealdah, Rashtriya Raksha University, Greater Kolkata College, IIT Kharagpur) and the establishment of demonstration hubs like the Machine Learning Hub.

Objectives

  • Build a platform where students, faculty, and research scholars can co-create products under institutional frameworks.
  • Produce and manage IP and technology innovations for societal benefit and commercial viability.
  • Offer research resources, mentorship, and multidisciplinary collaboration.
  • Nurture leadership and R&D governance, ensuring timely delivery and relevance of projects.

Key Features

  • One Institute, One Product Initiative: Collaboration with educational and research institutes to produce sustainable prototype products.
  • Machine Learning Hub for All: A non-commercial demonstration space to learn and showcase machine learning applications.
  • IP Management & Open Innovation: Developing inventions with open licensing or entrepreneur-friendly terms.
  • Expert Panels & Governance: Multidisciplinary review and oversight to ensure relevance and rigor of research work.
  • Scalable Platform of Research Resources: Access to young & experienced researchers, cross-domain talent, and technical support for idea-to-product pathways.

Deliverables / Outputs

  • MoUs with institutions for joint R&D and product development.
  • Demonstration hubs (e.g. ML Hub) for teaching, showcasing, and hands-on innovation.
  • Published IP and prototypes with potential for commercialization or social deployment.
  • Seminars, workshops, and conferences (e.g., Charity & Product Development seminars) to spread awareness and skills.
  • Resource pooling: researchers, labs, funding partners, and mentorship networks.
  • Governance structure: expert panels for ideation, review, selection, and monitoring of projects.

Impact Goals

- Enable dozens of student-led products or prototypes annually.
- Generate measurable IP that can be licensed or commercialized.
- Improve technical skills of students and researchers across partner institutes.
- Foster a culture of innovation and Open Research among youth and academia.

Target Beneficiaries

Research scholars, students, and faculty in partner institutions; local innovators and startups; industries and enterprises seeking innovation partnerships; and society at large via improved or new products, sustainable technologies, and social impact.

Call to Action

We call upon academic partners to co-create and validate research projects, donors, CSR funds, and investors to support prototyping and IP development, and mentors, technologists, and industries to guide, adopt, or scale outputs. Together, let’s build an ecosystem of innovation and sustainable impact.

Need Assisment Study

Photos of Need Assisment Study