Reinforcing their commitment to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship as a step towards making Digital India successful, Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd (“Intel India”), and Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay have collaborated to launch the Collaborative Incubation Program for Hardware and Systems Startups (“Program”).
This is a unique program wherein the industry, academia and Government have come together to support hardware and systems-based start-ups in the country through mentoring, training, lab facilities, hardware kits, prototyping, business services, funding, etc.,
The announcement was made in the presence of Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India, Nivruti Rai, General Manager, Intel India, Vice President, Platform Engineering Group, Intel, Professor Devang Khakhar, Director of IIT, Bombay.
The Program will address gaps in the hardware and systems start-up ecosystem that companies face in product design, development, commercialization, and creating scale for their solutions.
DST, Intel India and SINE aim to support up to 20 start-ups under this Program, and the call for applications for the first batch will be announced in early August 2016.
During the year-long Program, start-ups will be supported for six months on-site at SINE, IIT, Bombay or Intel India, Bengaluru. After a period of six months, the start-ups’ solutions will be showcased to investors and industry players at a demo day, post which, the Program will extend virtual support for another six months.
Participating start-ups will be incubated through intensive training periods, one-on-one mentoring, technology related support from Intel experts, business service support from SINE, as well as prototyping and manufacturing support.
By Belal Khan
