CENTRE FOR INNOVATION
AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
AT IIIT HYDERABAD
Fostering DeepTech Innovation
Cover story
CIE-IIIT Hyderabad was delighted to host the Maruti Roadshow 2026, bringing together the spirit of innovation, entrepreneurship, and industry collaboration. The roadshow provided an exciting platform for CIE-incubated startups to engage with the Maruti NSRCEL incubation panel, showcase their innovations, and explore potential opportunities for collaboration and industry engagement.
As part of the roadshow, several startups pitched their solutions and business ideas to the visiting panel, presenting their technologies and vision for the future. The event was a vibrant exchange of ideas, with insightful discussions around emerging technologies, innovation-driven solutions, and the evolving startup ecosystem.
The Gamified Strategy Bootcamp provided tech, social, and deeptech startup founders with an immersive, game-based learning experience designed to demystify entrepreneurship, reduce initial startup risks, and simplify complex business decision-making. Held from 7–9 October 2026 at IIITH, Telangana, the bootcamp functioned as a compact MBA to help founders build core business acumen, strategic thinking, leadership, and data analysis skills.
The session was led by Ritu Kedia, the founder of Cubane Solutions (an official Indian partner for business simulation companies). Using a practical learning model, participants used online simulation portals to run a virtual company over several quarters. Founders made real decisions about target markets, advertising, employee pay, and production capacity. Their main takeaways included learning how to design products, price items effectively, estimate costs, plan strategies, and manage a Balanced Scorecard.
Happenings
13th Social Impact Mixer
The 13th Edition of the Hyderabad Social Impact Mixer brought together changemakers from the social impact ecosystem for an evening full of conversations, perspectives and opportunities to collaborate. Hosted on 29 October 2026 at Cafe Ohana, Jubilee Hills, in partnership with Hyderabad Management Association (HMA), the mixer created a space for people working across government, corporate social responsibility (CSR), investments and incubation to connect beyond their usual professional circles.
EPTRI X AIC X EIACP
AIC-IIITH and the EIACP Programme Centre at EPTRI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the EPTRI Campus to join forces for environmental impact. By combining EPTRI’s environmental expertise and institutional reach with AIC-IIITH’s startup incubation platform, the partnership aims to open new routes for environmental innovation, ranging from research and capacity building to real-world pilots in circular economy, energy, and green data.
AIM–AIPEX Workshop
AIC-IIITH participated in the three-day residential phase 1 of the AIM–AIPEX Telangana Edition at the University of Hyderabad. Organised by the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, in collaboration with Telangana Innovation Cell (TGIC), ISBA, and the University of Hyderabad, the programme focused on strengthening strategic leadership, financial sustainability, startup mentoring, and incubation programme design for innovation professionals across the state.
Founders' Round Table
Founders’ Round Table September 2026 Edition brought together founders for an engaging conversation focused on identifying the right customers, selecting effective channels, and building a sustainable Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy. Discussions spanned from early customer discovery and channel selection to scaling traction and driving meaningful founder-to-founder dialogue
Nalanda Uni Visit
IIITH hosted a group of students from Nalanda University for an immersive tour of its incubation ecosystem. The visit featured a comprehensive session detailing the centre’s diverse startup portfolio, structured incubation programs, and widespread outreach initiatives. To gain exposure to real-world innovation, the students also explored cutting-edge research labs and engaged directly with startups on the IIITH campus, offering them a practical glimpse into the entrepreneur world.
CIE x AIKAM x Google
CIE hosted a bootcamp partnered with AIKAM and Google to host an engaging startup bootcamp, bringing together a vibrant community of innovators. The event featured a dynamic showcase where numerous participating startups presented their ideas to an expert panel of judges. This collaborative initiative provided a powerful platform for founders to gain valuable feedback, refine their strategies, and accelerate their entrepreneurial journeys.
Spotlight
Kalpana Ramesh, Founder of The Rainwater Project, has been awarded the Devi of Collaboration award.
Kudos to Kalpana Ramesh for being honoured with the Devi of Collaboration award at the 41st Devi Awards Hyderabad 2026, presented by The New Indian Express! An architect and designer turned water conservationist, she founded The Rainwater Project, an innovative organization supported through the HDFC Bank Parivartan program that is redefining water conservation.
The Rainwater Project is revolutionizing heritage conservation by combining it with groundwater recharge, rainwater harvesting, and lake revival, having successfully restored 16 stepwells and water structures across Hyderabad and Telangana, including Kudikunta lake, Gachibowli stepwell, Bansilalpet stepwell and Baaram Baavi Narayanpet.
TakeMe2Space has successfully launched its AI-powered satellite, MOI-1A, into the Earth's orbit
Kudos to TakeMe2Space for successfully launching its AI-powered satellite, MOI-1A, into the Earth’s orbit! Founded by Raunak Kumar Samantray, this innovative company supported through the CIE Ecosystem’s program for space-tech startups is redefining how we gather and process orbital data.
TakeMe2Space is revolutionizing the industry by combining Earth observation with onboard AI and computing, allowing the satellite to process data directly in orbit and transmit meaningful insights back to Earth.
IIITH Alumni Startup : Warp Sciences Raises $215 Million to Help the World Develop New Medicines Faster
IIIT Hyderabad alumnus Manohar Paluri is taking drug discovery a step further with his startup Warp Sciences, which has raised $215 Million in Series A funding, led by Lightspeed. The startup is applying AI and robotics to help the world develop new medicines faster, advancing drug discovery and shaping the future of healthcare.
For the IIIT Hyderabad community, Warp Sciences’s journey is another example of how alumni are turning technology and innovative ideas into solutions with the potential to create meaningful impact. We are proud to see our alumni building what’s next in tech.
Call For Applications
RootnodeRootNode is a comprehensive 3-month research advisory program designed for early-stage startups. Founders collaborate directly with IIIT Hyderabad faculty to validate their technology and refine their products. The program provides access to cutting-edge research insights, expert mentors, and valuable peer-to-peer learning within the IIITH innovation ecosystem.
Idea Validation BootcampIdea/Opportunity Validation Bootcamp (IVB) is a one-day, hands-on program designed to help aspiring founders and early-stage startups evaluate the strength of their business idea before beginning product development.
Through expert-led sessions, practical frameworks, and interactive discussions, participants will assess their idea’s market need, customer problem, scalability, and overall viability.
DT CoworkzCIE offers a collaborative ecosystem where ambitious startups can work, connect, and unlock opportunities to engage directly with the institute's research and innovation community. Flexible workspace options are currently available at 2 seats for 30K for 6 months.
In News
IIIT-H, Ati Robotics Demonstrate AI Vision-Based Robot Navigation
Huge congratulations to IIIT-H’s Robotics Research Centre and ATI Robotics on their successful demonstration of a groundbreaking LiDAR-free navigation technology !
The result of a long-standing partnership, this achievement allows autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to navigate using vision-language models rather than relying on conventional 3D coordinates. As IIIT-H Professor Madhava explains, the team aimed to mimic natural human navigation, where sense organs detect surroundings and combine visual cues and movement to figure locations and dynamically adjust routes.
Royal Enfield, Wikimedia and IIIT-H join hands to preserve Himalayan heritage
A proud moment for IIIT Hyderabad as it joins forces with the Royal Enfield Social Mission (RESM) and the Wikimedia Foundation to digitally preserve the intangible cultural heritage of the Indian Himalayan region! Through a newly signed tripartite MoU, nearly 1,000 high-resolution photographs, videos, and research materials documenting over 150 traditional practices will be made freely accessible worldwide. As part of this monumental initiative, IIIT Hyderabad will provide essential technical support and training to help volunteers upload these resources to Wikimedia platforms in multiple Indian languages.
Blogs
Helping Toddlers Speak Through Play therapy
Every child begins learning to speak by trying to express themselves, one sound, one word, and one question at a time. These small steps build the foundation for communication. Yet, for many children, learning to speak does not come easily, with one in five toddlers experiencing speech and language delays. Without timely support, these difficulties may affect other areas of development, including social communication, learning, and interaction. Meanwhile, as screen time becomes an increasingly prominent part of childhood, opportunities for active, meaningful verbal interaction….
Revolutionizing Healthcare Logistics
When medical samples are transported to a testing lab, changes in outside temperature can ruin about 30 to 40 percent of the contents . To solve this massive problem, founder Sourav Karmakar created InfinosTech Pvt. Ltd., a startup proudly incubated at CIE, IIIT Hyderabad. Together, his team built DiagnoSmart™, which is a smart, portable container system designed specifically to collect and transport medical samples safely while being kind to the environment….
Our
Impact
-
15cr+
Invested in startups
-
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.
Stay tuned for our next edition of newsletter
