Protosphere 2026: Shoolini students turn Ideas into funded startups
2 min read
Solan, May 11
A government funding offer, five seed-funded startups, and 400 students competing across 70 teams — Protosphere 2026 at Shoolini University has already rewritten what a first-year undergraduate innovation programme can achieve, and the final phase is yet to come.
Launched by the Student Research Council (SRC), Protosphere — Mini Innovation Launchpad 2026 — was designed for first- and second-year undergraduates with one clear ambition: to turn classroom research ideas into real-world prototypes and viable startups. Phase 1 of the programme began on April 2 and concluded between April 28 and 30. Phase 2 is currently underway.
Vice Chancellor Prof Atul Khosla, under whose leadership the initiative was launched, said the programme was designed to build a strong innovation pipeline across all academic streams, so that students could emerge as job creators rather than job seekers.
Pro-Chancellor and Founder Mr Vishal Anand said Protosphere 2026 was the first step towards building unicorn startups from Shoolini University. “We want students to think, innovate, and contribute to Viksit Bharat 2047. This is where that journey begins,” he said.
Ahead of the final phase, five student startups have secured seed funding of ₹30,000 each, along with complete university support for registration as private limited companies. One team has received a direct investment offer of ₹1 lakh from the Government of Bihar in exchange for 5% equity and 2% advisory shares — traction that most early-stage startups spend years working towards.
Assistant Professor Anitya Gupta, founder of SRC, and Dr Pankaj Vaidya, Managing Director of SRC and Head of the Yogananda School of AI, Computers and Data Science, coordinated the programme and guided students throughout. Under the structured framework they developed, teams refined and evaluated their ideas before demonstrating them as working prototypes. Top performers received mentorship, commercialisation guidance, and incubation support.
The SRC expects 14 startups to be formally incubated and introduced to investors upon completion of the final phase.
