IIT Kanpur launches NIRMAN Accelerator Program for start-ups with Department of Science and Tech

BENGALURU: The Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC) at IIT Kanpur has launched the NIRMAN Accelerator Program, supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, where 15 start-ups will be selected and given the opportunity to accelerate their product journey from ‘lab to market’.

The programme will focus on the manufacturing startups engaged in healthcare and agriculture domains to help them overcome the challenges from their prototype-to-market journey.

The best-performing startups among the cohort of 15 startups will receive a cash award of up to ₹1 million.

Professor Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, Professor-in-charge, Innovation and Incubation, IIT Kanpur, said, “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.”

The 6-month-long programme will be devised into four segments, namely – Principles of Product Growth, Engineering Acceleration, Navigating the Compliance Puzzle, and Leading to Next-Stage Growth. The programme will offer knowledge workshops, one-on-one mentoring support, diving deep for customised support for clinical validation, and business and investor connect.

Nikhil Agarwal, CEO FIRST IIT Kanpur and AIIDE said, “This collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology aims to revive the manufacturing domain in the country. I am certain the programme will induce motivation among innovators to pursue manufacturing with the same passion and enthusiasm as SaaS, AI/ML.”

The programme will accept applications between July 21 and August 5.