IIT Kanpur's NIRMAN accelerator program to tap manufacturing startups

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur’s Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC) has launched the NIRMAN Accelerator Program that will help various start-ups and innovators overcome business challenges from their prototype to market journey. 

Under the program, applications will be invited from manufacturing start-ups and innovators engaged in healthcare and agriculture domains.

The program is supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

“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,” according to a statement.

The best performing start-ups among the cohort of 15 startups will receive a cash award of up to ₹10 lakh, it added.

“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.” said Prof. Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, Professor-in-charge, Innovation and Incubation, IIT Kanpur, commenting on the launch.

He said that the NIRMAN Accelerator program comes with massive potential to harness and capitalise on start-ups working in the field. We welcome innovators and startups to apply.

SIIC was established in 2000 when entrepreneurship was still a developing currency - making it one of the oldest incubators in the country, as, Dr. 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”.

According to him, the collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology aims to revive the manufacturing domain in the country. “I am certain that the program will induce motivation among innovators to pursue manufacturing with the same passion and enthusiasm as software-as-a-service (SaaS), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML),” said Agarwal.

The six-month-long program will be divided into four segments, namely, ‘principles of product growth’, ‘engineering acceleration’, ‘navigating the compliance puzzle’, and ‘leading to next-stage growth’.

The program will also offer knowledge workshops, one-on-one mentoring support, Diving deep for customised support for clinical validation, and Business and investor connect, said the institute, and is currently accepting applications till August 5, 2022.