IIT Kanpur’s startup incubation and innovation centre launches the NIRMAN accelerator program

The program invites applications from manufacturing startups and innovators engaged in healthcare and agriculture domains from 21st July’22.

Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre, the technology business incubator at IIT Kanpur, is launching the NIRMAN Accelerator Program, supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The program will focus on the manufacturing startups engaged in healthcare and agriculture domains, to help them overcome the challenges from their prototype to market journey.

A total of 15 startups will be selected under the program, where they will be granted the opportunity to accelerate their product journey from lab to market. The best performing startups among the cohort of 15 startups will receive a cash award of up to INR 10 Lakhs.

Commenting on the launch of the NIRMAN Accelerator program, Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, Professor-in-charge, Innovation and Incubation, IIT Kanpur, said, “Our country has been facing tremendous challenges in the domain of manufacturing. We are in urgent need of innovators and startups working in the healthcare and agriculture domain to cater to some of the pertinent developmental challenges to uplift the status of manufacturing in India. I believe the NIRMAN Accelerator program comes with massive potential to harness and capitalize on startups working in the field. We welcome innovators and startups to apply.”

Nikhil Agarwal, CEO FIRST IIT Kanpur & AIIDE said, “SIIC comes with a vast experience of working with promising innovators and startups that can leverage optimum social impact. This collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology aims to revive the manufacturing domain in the country. I am certain the program will induce motivation among innovators to pursue manufacturing with the same passion and enthusiasm as SaaS, AI/ML. I urge more startups to apply.”

The 6-month-long program will be devised into four segments, namely – (i) Principles of Product Growth, (ii) Engineering Acceleration, (iii) Navigating the Compliance Puzzle, and (iv) Leading to next-stage growth. The program will offer Knowledge Workshops, One-on-one mentoring support, Diving deep for customized support for clinical validation, and Business and investor connect.

The program is accepting applications from 21st July 2022 to 5th August 2022.