Innovate with SSDI 2026 is a collaborative opportunity launched by Incubation Centre IIT Patna in partnership with Sharp Software Development India (SSDI), the Indian R&D arm of Sharp Corporation, Japan. The initiative invites innovative startups to collaborate on next-generation technology solutions that can power global products, platforms, and services across enterprise ecosystems.
The program is designed to identify resilient, sustainable, and scalable startups that demonstrate clear differentiation, particularly those targeting SMB markets. It welcomes ventures across prototype, MVP, and go-to-market stages, with revenue-generating startups receiving an added advantage during evaluation. The core objective is to create structured collaboration pathways between emerging startups and SSDIâs global technology ecosystem.
Selected startups may engage through multiple collaboration models. These include pilot, validation, and enterprise readiness programs that allow founders to validate and deploy their technology in real-world use cases. There are also platform and solution integration partnership opportunities, enabling commercial licensing or technology transfer aligned with Sharpâs product roadmap. In addition, strategic investment opportunities may be explored, including potential majority stake partnerships, depending on strategic fit and scalability potential.
The focus areas are centered around Smart Work and Enterprise Solutions. This includes AI-powered document workflows such as OCR, classification, and automation for intelligent document management; secure enterprise content management platforms; smart collaboration tools for hybrid teams; and office productivity automation solutions aimed at improving operational efficiency. By connecting startups to SSDIâs R&D capabilities and global market orientation, the initiative seeks to accelerate commercialization, enterprise validation, and potential international scale.