CII Centre of Excellence

This program offers a dynamic framework for facilitating market access for startups. Eligibility Criteria: Startups must be in the growth stage, have a proven product-market fit and existing clients, demonstrate high innovation and differentiation, have validated their product/service with measurable traction, possess a committed and skilled founding team, have at least one co-founder working full-time, and be compliant with all regulatory requirements.

The program is designed to provide growth-stage startups with a unique opportunity to collaborate with large companies.

CII CIES conducts exclusive cohorts tailored for Indian Family Offices and C-Suite Executives, strategically crafted to facilitate increased participation in startup ecosystem.

CII extends its engagement beyond domestic borders through its initiatives, actively managing both inbound and outbound international delegations.

The CII CIES Startup Affiliation Program is designed to certify growth-stage startups, providing them with a powerful platform to connect with corporates, investors, and other key ecosystem enablers. It offers targeted market access programs for growth-stage startups, allowing them to pilot innovations within large corporates.

The program enables startups to work on live operational challenges across store efficiency, modern infrastructure, and AI-powered customer engagement, helping them validate, pilot, and scale their solutions in real environments. Startups selected benefit from higher pilot conversion probability, faster path to paid deployments, hands-on product and GTM guidance from CXOs and technology leaders, nationwide rollout potential, structured validation, and credibility. Ideal applicants should have solutions directly addressing defined problem statements, tested products or early deployments, founders/team with relevant domain expertise, scalable solutions, and be ready to run a pilot within 6-12 months. No application or participation fee. No equity is taken unless mutually agreed for investment. International startups can apply if they can operate or deploy pilots in India.

This program invites growth-stage startups to co-develop a smart, application-led procurement platform that enables fit-for-purpose tool discovery, clear compatibility guidance, real-time pricing and inventory visibility, seamless repeat ordering, and ERP/distributor/logistics integration. The objective is to build a scalable, channel-aligned model that expands MSME access while preserving existing distributor ecosystems. Solutions may include intelligent configuration engines, procurement automation tools, system integration platforms, or digital infrastructure layers. Startups should have a validated product, early enterprise pilots, or demonstrated capability in industrial or B2B environments. Expected outcomes include deployment of a structured procurement system, demonstrated reduction in transaction friction, improved SKU discovery accuracy, measurable improvement in repeat order cycles, and scalable adoption across MSME clusters. No fee to participate (implied as no mention of fee).

This program offers startups an opportunity to co-develop, pilot, and scale their innovations in partnership with a leading industrial manufacturing partner, focusing on safety, efficiency, sustainability, and product quality challenges. Benefits include access to plant-level data, operational insights, testing environments, mentorship, technical support, visibility, recognition, and potential for long-term collaboration. Applicants include startups in Industry 4.0, Deep Tech, AI, IoT, Sustainability, industrial automation, NDT, inspection systems, or packaging, with deployable and scalable solutions for heavy manufacturing environments. Participation is completely free. Selected startups will be considered for co-development and pilot implementation.

Curated by CII CIES, in partnership with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) & Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support (DTVS). Focus areas include mobility (Suzuki R&D Center India), AI & experiences (Dentsu India), and revitalizing rural Asia (Sasakawa Peace Foundation). Applicants should be Indian startups with innovative, scalable solutions, having at least a proof of concept or early market validation. Support includes mentorship, corporate partnerships, pilot opportunities, access to Japanese and Indian markets, and visibility to investors. Application and participation are free.