SRINAGAR: Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST-K) has reached a major milestone by securing its 100th patent, underscoring the institution’s growing reputation as one of India’s most innovation-driven agricultural universities.
Launched in 2020 under the World Bank-funded National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP), SKUAST-K’s innovation journey began with a sweeping academic and research transformation that placed innovation at the core of its growth strategy. The university became the first State Agricultural University (SAU) in India to adopt an Innovation and Startup Policy (SISP) and set up the SKUAST-K Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship Centre (SKIIE) — a hub designed to foster student and faculty startups and technology-led solutions.
In just four years, the SKIIE Centre has emerged as one of the country’s leading incubation ecosystems. It has supported 89 startups and contributed to the filing of 100 patents, with 43 of them recorded in the first ten months of 2025 alone — a remarkable surge that reflects the university’s sustained innovation drive.
This progress has been strengthened by a network of national-level partnerships and programmes, including a DST-funded i-TBI Centre, a NABARD-supported Rural Business Incubation Centre, a BIRAC E-Yuva Centre, the JKCIP Incubation and Startup Component, and a MEITY-supported Startup and Commercialization Project. Together, these initiatives have created a comprehensive ecosystem for innovation, incubation, and entrepreneurship in the region.
Vice Chancellor Prof Nazir Ahmad Ganai said the achievement reflects a fundamental shift in the university’s philosophy. “SKUAST-K has made a paradigm shift — from Education for Innovation to Innovation for Education — to realize our vision of becoming an Innovation-Led University,” he said. “We have transformed our research from publication-oriented to problem-solving and product-driven outcomes that directly serve society.”
With only five patents in its first four decades, SKUAST-K’s leap to 95 new patents within five years marks a dramatic acceleration in innovation. The university’s focus on “Patents to Products” has ensured that several technologies are already being commercialised, linking laboratory research with market and societal needs. Through faculty-led, student-driven ventures, SKUAST-K has bridged the gap between science and industry, creating tangible benefits for farmers, entrepreneurs, and consumers.
“Our startups — proudly called SKUAST-K BabyCorns — represent the birth of a new innovation culture,” Prof Ganai said. “This milestone reflects the collective effort of our faculty, researchers, students, and innovation teams. It is a tribute to our commitment to build Viksit Jammu Kashmir by harnessing the bioeconomy through technology-enabled solutions.”
He also commended the IP and Technology Management Cell and the SKIIE Centre for their efforts in promoting a strong research culture and urged scholars to continue developing ideas that combine commercial, societal, and environmental value. “This is not the culmination but the beginning of a new era — where every research idea at SKUAST-K has the potential to become a product, a policy input, or a startup,” he said.
The university’s century of patents stands as a symbol of its innovation-led model and its growing role in advancing bioeconomic transformation and sustainable development in Jammu and Kashmir and beyond. Recognised among the top three State Agricultural Universities in India in the NIRF 2025 rankings, SKUAST-K continues to redefine agricultural education through its focus on translational research, entrepreneurship, and inclusive growth.
