As per the MoU approved by the EDI governing body, the proposed ITIC will select and develop five-ten IT experts every year by providing them innovative project ideas, technical training, lease line, venture capital and even assisting them position their product in the global market.

In the words of EDI vice-president and director VG Patel: "It will be no small cubicle-like incubator but a unique one for which `sky is the limit' for providing a `win-win-win' situation for the joint promoters as well as the future entrepreneurs."

Talking to The Financial Express, he said, "Both the NRIs have been very successful entrepreneurs in USA for whom shelling out a quarter or half a million dollars for the IT incubator project is no problem. The objective is to produce at least one future Narayana Murthy every year. While one has set up his own Venture Capital (VC) Fund in USA after working in a very large semi-conductor firm, the other desires to settle back in Gujarat."

"As per their wishes," Patel said, "the NRI-duo, both under 45, have asked us not to disclose their identity till the Detailed Project Report (DPR) is ready."

"In a way," he said, "the ITIC will also be a major deviation for the EDI to go for a venture with private sector. Most of its projects so far were with government or government-sponsored institutions."

The EDI's latest IT incubator project got a shot in the arm as it took off the day the Zee Telefilms Ltd chairman Subhash Chandra, considered to be India's first Information, Communication and Entertainement (ICE-Age) entrepreneur, visited the campus.

He was here to address the second convocation of the EDI's post-graduate diploma in business entrepreneurship and management (PGDBEM).

Delivering the convocation address, Chandra traced the various stages of growth of his business. It was his logic and research which he always trusted. He said `understanding the requirements of the people, maintaining the quality of the product and determination to succeed' as the keys to success. It is equally important to know as to how and where to create a cutting edge and plan for medium and long-term growth.

He presented diplomas to 66 students who passed out the 1999-2000 batch in PGDBEM in three streams, including 34 in New Enterprise Creation, 14 in Family Business Management and 18 in Management of NGOs. He also presented medals for `best performance' to Nooruddin Bombaywala, Bharat Jain and Archana A in the three streams respectively.

Giving details of another major initiative taken by EDI, IDBI chairman GP Gupta, who is also the president of EDI Governing Body, informed about an Academy of Achievers to be set up by EDI to create a comprehensive and easily-accessible information base about successful Indian entrepreneurs and high achievers.

Delivering the presidential address at the convocation, Gupta said a new state-of-the-art IT Training Centre has been set up at EDI with training, communication and computer facilities at a cost of Rs 1 crore. While Ministry of Small Scale Industries (MoSSI) has provided Rs 48 lakh for the Centre, the sponsors the remaining amount.

He described the EDI's entry into post-graduate level management education through PGDBEM is a significant development in the field of entrepreneurship development. Unlike IIMs and other B-schools, EDI need not arrange job placements camps as its role since beginning has been to create jobs and not job-seekers.

The fee structure of the PGDBEM residential course is Rs 97,000, with certain fellowship support extended by Rashtriya Gramin Vikas Nidhi (RGVN), IDBI, Sidbi, Nabard and Ratan Tata Trust.

EDI is a pioneering autonomous institution of its kind, registered as a trust in 1983 with active support of Government of Gujarat (GoG), besides IDBI, IFCI, ICICI and SBI.

It has trained hundreds of entrepreneurs in India and abroad, particularly in developing countries, through a series of courses of varied duration, ranging from six weeks to three months mainly training trainers in entrepreneurship skills on its sprawling campus on the Ahmedabad-andhinagar highway.