IIT Kanpur’s The Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC) has launched the NIRMAN Accelerator Program. This initiative is supported by the government’s Department of Science and Technology (DST).
The program will accept applications till 5th August 2022. A total of 15 start-ups will be selected and will get the opportunity to accelerate their product journey from lab to market. The best performing start-ups among the cohort of 15 will receive a cash award of up to INR 10 lakh.
The 6-month-long program is divided into four segments—Principles of Product Growth, Engineering Acceleration, Navigating the Compliance Puzzle and Leading to next-stage growth. It promises to offer knowledge workshops, mentoring support, customised support for clinical validation, and business and investor connections.
Commenting on the NIRMAN Accelerator program launch, Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, Professor-in-charge, Innovation and Incubation at IIT Kanpur, said, “Our country has been facing tremendous challenges in the domain of manufacturing. We urgently need innovators and start-ups working in the healthcare and agriculture domain to cater to some of the pertinent developmental challenges to uplift the manufacturing status in India. The NIRMAN Accelerator program has massive potential to harness and capitalise on start-ups working in the field. We welcome innovators and start-ups to apply.”
Nikhil Agarwal, CEO for Foundation for Innovation & Research in Science & Technology and Artificial Intelligence and Innovation Driven Entrepreneurship center at IIT Kanpur said, “This collaboration with the DST will motivate innovators to pursue manufacturing with the same passion and enthusiasm as Software as a Service (SaaS), artificial intelligence and machine learning.”
According to Tracxn, the alumni of IIT Kanpur have founded 749 companies, including 16 unicorns. These include Lokvir Kapoor, Co-Founder of Pine Labs, Amit Kumar Agarwal, Founder of NoBroker, Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Co-Founder of Urban Company and Mohit Tandon, Co-Founder of Delhivery.
