AIC-GISC FOUNDATION, ATAL INCUBATION CENTRE- GUJARAT TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Which route to use

• You want space, mentoring and support to build the company: apply to the Incubation Program.
• You only need instruments or a lab bench for a project: ask about lab access instead. That page lists dedicated, sophisticated, shared, cell culture and prototype labs.
• You are outside biotech, pharma, healthcare or medical devices: AIC-GISC states no other focus areas, so check with the centre before spending time on an application.

How applications work

• There is one application route for incubation, and it is the "Apply for Incubation" button that appears in the header and footer of every page on the site. It opens an online application run by GTU Ventures.
• The two buttons do not go to the same place. The one in the page footer leads to an older application that no longer accepts responses, so use the one in the top navigation.
• The lab access page has its own apply button, but it currently points at an old address for the site and does not resolve. Email the centre directly for lab access.
• No deadline, cohort start date or intake calendar is published, so treat the application as rolling and confirm timing by email.

What to be ready with

• A clear statement of the science or technology, since the centre's focus areas are narrow and its mentor panel is made up of biotech, pharma and medical specialists.
• What you need from the centre physically. Lab space, instrumentation and prototype work are the things AIC-GISC actually owns, so say which lab you need and what you will run in it.
• Your team's status. The centre does not say incorporation is required, and it welcomes individuals and teams, so do not rule yourself out for being early.

Worth asking before you commit

• Whether the programme charges anything and whether it takes equity. Neither is stated on the site.
• How long incubation runs and what the review milestones are.
• What seed capital support actually means in practice, and which schemes the centre can route you to.
• Whether the lab you need is available now, given that the two facility lists on the site differ.

AIC-GISC Foundation is a startup incubator on Gujarat Technological University's Chandkheda campus in Ahmedabad. Its full name is the Atal Incubation Center - GTU Innovation and Startup Center Foundation, and it is a Section 8 non-profit company owned by GTU. The centre says it is promoted by GTU in collaboration with Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, and that it receives support from the mission.

The centre works with technology startups in biotechnology, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and medical devices. Its premises run to about 15,000 square feet and hold lab suites, a prototype lab and co-working space, and being on the GTU campus also gives incubated teams access to the university's biotechnology and life-science labs.

How the incubation programme works

AIC-GISC runs one named programme, the Incubation Program. It offers mentorship, training, networking, funding support and office space, and the centre describes it as help with navigating the startup world and connecting founders to other people working in their field. The support it lists is entrepreneurship training, seed capital, personalised mentoring, investor connects, networking, technical assistance, access to IPR and shared services.

The centre does not publish a cohort length, an intake calendar, a fee policy or an equity policy for the programme, and it does not describe how applications are screened. Applications go through an "Apply for Incubation" button that sits on every page of the site and opens an online application run by GTU Ventures.

Separately, the centre offers lab access to startups and innovators who need instruments rather than a seat. That route covers dedicated lab suites, a sophisticated lab, a shared lab, a cell culture lab, a prototype lab and a central instrumentation facility.

Who can apply

The incubation page is unusually open about who it will consider: individuals, teams and startups from anywhere in the world are welcome to apply, and the centre says it encourages applicants from varied backgrounds. Nothing on the site restricts the programme to GTU students, to Gujarat, or to companies that are already incorporated, and no minimum stage is stated. In practice the sector focus is the real filter, since the centre's stated focus areas are all in biotech, pharma and medical technology.

Labs and facilities

Inside the building, AIC-GISC lists co-working space, a meeting room, dedicated lab space, a central instrumentation facility for biotech, a prototype lab and a sophisticated lab. The lab access page adds a shared lab and a cell culture lab. The two lists do not match exactly, so it is worth confirming what is available before you count on a particular room. Beyond its own space, the centre points to the biotechnology and life-science lab facilities on the GTU Chandkheda campus, which belong to the university rather than to the incubator.

Sectors it backs

The named focus areas are biotechnology, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and medical devices. The portfolio it publishes matches that: the startups it names work on diagnostics, therapeutics, medical devices, agri-biotech, soil biology and smart medical clothing.

Scale and track record

AIC-GISC publishes a set of counters on its home page covering mentors, incubatees, pre-incubation teams, jobs created and its academic, corporate, industry and investor partnerships. They are its own figures, they carry no date, and the page itself displays them as zero unless the count-up animation runs, so treat them as claims rather than measurements. More concretely, the centre names about twenty incubated startups and a long mentor panel drawn from GTU departments, Gujarat research institutes, CSIR labs, NRDC and private healthcare companies. It also lists ecosystem and investment partners that include other Atal Incubation Centres, Villgro, Venture Center Pune, EDII and several Gujarat institutions.

Who runs it

Kalp Bhatt is CEO of AIC-GISC Foundation and Tushar Panchal is Group CEO of GTU Ventures. Harshidh Thummar is deputy manager for operations and K D Singh is the incubation manager. The board is chaired by GTU's Vice Chancellor (I/C), Dr Vaibhav Bhatt, and includes GTU's registrar, pharmacy academics from L. M. College of Pharmacy and GTU's Graduate School of Pharmacy, a joint director of the Gujarat State Biotechnology Mission, and a private investor.

Location and contact

The centre is at Block-5, Gujarat Technological University, Visat Three Roads, Chandkheda, Ahmedabad. It has one address and no other branches. General questions go to the aic-gisc@gtu.edu.in inbox or the campus phone numbers listed on the site. The site also carries a careers page, though the posting on it dates from early 2024 and its application link no longer opens.