If there is one lesson most of us learn early while working on incubation or entrepreneurship programs, it is this: no single institution can do this well on its own.
Meaningful incubation sits at an uncomfortable intersection.
It needs academic seriousness, real-world relevance, execution capacity, and the ability to stay alive over time. Very few organizations naturally carry all of these strengths together.
That is why this initiative did not begin as a solo effort.
We came together not because collaboration sounds good on paper, but because it was necessary. Each stakeholder involved brings something essential to the table and equally important, each one knows what it should not be expected to do.
Hello Kisan steps in as the anchor because of its long engagement with food, agriculture, environment, and urban realities. Its role is not academic certification or classroom teaching.
It is about connecting ideas to ground realities, translating experience into workable frameworks, initiating early momentum, and absorbing much of the coordination effort in the initial stages. This helps the program move before it gets weighed down by processes.
ISLS the Academic partners bring a different and equally critical strength. They bring depth, legitimacy, continuity, and an institutional lens that keeps the Living Lab grounded in knowledge rather than short-term experimentation.
Their presence reassures everyone involved that this is not a one-off initiative or a passing enthusiasm, but something that can mature responsibly over time.
The ECH (Entrepreneurship and Career Hub at Rajasthan University) adds another important dimension. It brings a mandate that already aligns with what this program is trying to do support students, encourage enterprise thinking, and create pathways from learning to action.
This alignment allows the Living Lab to sit comfortably within existing academic priorities rather than competing with them.
Lal Bahadur Shastri College plays a role that is practical, visible, and absolutely central. This is where students participate, faculty engagement happens, and on-ground coordination comes together. Importantly, the college is not expected to carry entrepreneurial risk, chase outcomes, or fund ventures. It provides the learning environment where incubation and internships can happen meaningfully and safely.
The collaboration works because no partner is stretched beyond its natural role.
Academics are not asked to become startup operators.
Practitioners are not asked to become educators.
Institutions are not asked to take financial risks they are not designed to carry.
Much of the early mobilization is handled by Hello Kisan.
As the Living Lab stabilizes and matures, scale is expected to come through public, government, private equity and development-linked pathways rather than institutional overreach.
More importantly, this partnership is not transactional.
It is purpose-aligned.
All stakeholders involved are responding to the same underlying concerns.
Students need exposure that actually prepares them for uncertainty. Institutions need incubation pathways that are credible and manageable. Cities need solutions that move beyond theory and presentations.
By coming together, this Living Lab allows each partner to address these concerns without stepping out of their comfort zone and collectively create something that none could realistically achieve alone.
That, in the end, is the real reason for multi-stakeholder collaboration here.
Not optics. Not convenience. But complementarity.
