CENTRE FOR INNOVATION
AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
AT IIIT HYDERABAD
Fostering DeepTech Innovation
Cover story
CIE-IIITH Hosts Pitching Event for Avishkar Accelerator Summer Cohort 2025
On April 22nd, 2025, CIE-IIITH hosted a pitching event for the Avishkar Accelerator Summer Cohort 2025. The event saw 21 startups pitch their innovative solutions to a panel of industry experts, selected from an initial pool of over 193 applications.After rigorous evaluation, 7 startups were chosen to join the accelerator program. These startups will receive up to INR 40L Seed Fund, strategic mentorship, research support, and market access.We look forward to the official kickoff of the Summer Cohort 2025 and the continued growth of these innovative startups.
Stay tuned for more updates !!!
Happenings @ CIE
StartupSphere Ai
CIE IIITH, in collaboration with eChai Ventures, hosted the 6th edition of Startups x AI at IIIT-Hyderabad. The event spotlighted CIE’s leading AI startups and fostered rich conversations on AI-driven innovation and entrepreneurship.
Microsoft AI DAY
CIE IIITH partnered with ASE to co-host Microsoft AI Day on 30th May at IIIT-Hyderabad. The event featured expert sessions on Azure and Agentic AI, while also introducing startups to the Microsoft for Founders Hub program, offering cloud credits of up to $150K
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MENTOR CAFE 31.0
CIE-IIITH successfully hosted the Flagship Event Mentor Café, providing startups with a valuable opportunity to gain insights from industry experts. .
Spotlight
Unnayan Defence Technologies: Advancing Counter-Drone Warfare with Indigenous InnovationThe rapid proliferation of drones has created new security challenges, making counter-unmanned aerial systems (counter-UAS) a critical defense priority. Unnayan Defence Technologies is addressing this need with its Antim Astra 40, a handheld hard-kill system designed for easy portability and single-operator use, offering an efficient solution to neutralize enemy drones.
Happenings @ AIC
Innovate UK:
AIC-IIITH team organized an insightful online session organized in collaboration with Sustera Foundation, diving into how technology can drive meaningful climate action.
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Tech Innovation & Climate Action
AIC-IIITH were pleased to host UK startups as part of Innovate UK Business Connect’s India Market Access Program with T-Hub. The visit featured sessions on India’s AgriTech, Clean Energy, and Climate Innovation ecosystems, along with a guided tour of the Smart City Living Lab.
Call For Applications
RootnodeA 3-month program that connects startups with IIIT Hyderabad’s research experts to tackle tech challenges. Get focused guidance, tech validation, and research-backed product support to strengthen your innovation.
DT CoWorkzCollaborate in a research-driven space for Gen AI, NLP, Robotics, and ML startups. Access IIITH research, expert advisory, and a thriving innovation ecosystem.
CIE In News
Frinks AI Raises Rs 450 million in Pre-Series A Round
A research team from IIIT-Hyderabad said it had developed a new method to improve how legal precedents are found using artificial intelligence, by focusing not just on citations themselves but the words around them.
BharatGen Launches Param-1 India’s Foundational LLM Built from ScratchAlongside the LLM, the team, led by Ganesh Ramakrishnan, also launched 20 new speech models (across 19 Indian language variations)—targeting voice-first interfaces and speech-based innovation for Indian users on AIKosha.
Our
Impact
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15cr+
Invested in startups
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40+
Startup Research engagement
CIE at IIIT Hyderabad is a technology incubator with rich experience in seeding, nurturing, and growing deep-tech startups in emerging segments like med-tech, tech4social, visual informatics, data engineering, and machine learning, language technologies, gaming, and robotics. CIE IIITH, with a research-led innovation as its primary mandate, focuses on amplifying technology through research collaboration and co-creation models for startups to work with research groups at IIITH.
Under the CIE umbrella, there are 3 active incubators: the Deeptech incubator (Avishkar), the Medtech incubator (Ojas) & the Social incubator (AIC). CIE also includes enabling labs such as a well-equipped Maker Lab, a Medical Electronics Calibration Lab, and a AR/VR lab. IIIT Hyderabad also includes Product Labs to seed new products from research — a pre-incubation program to seed startups from research.
In the past 15 years we have grown to be the largest academic incubator in the country, have housed over 450+ startups that have raised about 250+Cr funding, and created over 2500+ jobs. Today there are very active programs focused on emerging technology startups, research-based startups, medical technologies, and social technology startups.
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