The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) and NSRCEL, the flagship business incubator of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM Bangalore), signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to accelerate deep-tech start-ups and transform emerging technologies into market-ready ventures, in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

According to the institutions, it is first-of-a-kind collaboration that brings together the institutions’ strengths in technological innovation, entrepreneurship and business development to strengthen India’s deep-tech ecosystem, particularly in defence, aerospace and allied strategic sectors.

Under the agreement, the institutions will explore joint incubation and acceleration programmes, co-incubation opportunities, knowledge exchange, entrepreneurial best-practice sharing, ecosystem activities, and engagement with industry, investors and other stakeholders.

The partnership will initially support it is first-of-a-kind collaboration. Through this, IIT Kanpur’s Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC), venture development initiative SCALE and IIMB’s NSRCEL will be involved in research and development in defence, aerospace and allied dual-use technologies. Additionally, they will establish a broader framework for future incubation and acceleration initiatives.

Speaking on the occasion, Rasika Prashant, CEO, NSRCEL, said, “By combining the IIT Kanpur’s deep-tech capabilities with the NSRCEL’s experience in scaling market-ready ventures, this partnership can create meaningful pathways to identify and nurture the next generation of deep-tech innovators in strategic sectors of national importance including aerospace and defence.”

Jayandharan Giridhara Rao, Dean of Research and Development, IIT Kanpur, said, “IIT Kanpur has a strong pipeline of deep-tech innovation, and creating pathways for these technologies to reach the market is an important institutional priority. We see this MoU with the IIMB as an important step towards building a stronger ecosystem for technology-led ventures emerging from academic and research institutions.”