AIC MIT ADT Incubator Forum

Pick your route

• You want to be an incubatee: apply to the incubation programme through the Apply Now form on the incubator's website.
• You want seed fund support from DPIIT's scheme: this is a separate application on the government's seed fund portal, where you can name AIC-MIT ADT as your first-preference incubator. It needs DPIIT recognition first.

How applications work

• Submit the application form, then present it at a jury day.
• The jury selects who becomes an incubatee.
• The pages we could read give no intake dates, so check the incubator's website or write to the incubator before you prepare a pitch.

Questions to ask before you join

• The incubator has the right to take a 2% equity stake in return for its facilities. Ask when it is taken and on what terms.
• Its pages describe funding in different ways. Ask which forms of funding you could receive, and whether any of it is a grant or all of it is an investment.
• Ask whether a fee applies. None is stated on the pages we read.

For the Seed Fund Scheme route

• Get DPIIT startup recognition before you log in to the portal.
• On the funding details page, pick the funding instrument first. The incubator list only shows after that.
• Choose AIC-MIT AIC incubator forum as your first preference, then self-declare and submit.

AIC-MIT ADT Incubator Forum is a startup incubator hosted by MIT ADT University (MIT Art, Design and Technology University) at its Vishwaraj Campus in Loni Kalbhor, on the Pune-Solapur Highway near Pune, Maharashtra. It was set up with the Atal Innovation Mission of NITI Aayog, which is why it is also called an Atal Incubation Centre, or AIC-MIT ADT. Its stated purpose is to promote entrepreneurship and innovation.

How the incubation programme works

The forum's policy says any startup can apply. You submit an application form through the Apply Now option on the incubator's website and are then called to present your application on a jury day. Startups the jury selects become incubatees.

Incubatees get mentoring and advisory sessions, free of cost, for up to 10 hours a month. They also get co-working space with meeting, board and training rooms, a pantry and internet. Design, proof-of-concept, prototyping and testing facilities are part of the offer, as is institutional membership of the incubator's library lounge. The policy also lists grant-in-aid for building a proof of concept or prototype.

In return for the facilities it provides, the incubator has the right to take a 2% equity stake in the incubatee. Ask about this before you sign anything. The pages we could read do not state a programme fee, and they do not give a programme length, a stage requirement or fixed intake dates.

Who can apply

The policy says only that any startup can apply. It sets no stage, residency or recognition condition for the incubation programme. The university's page describes the forum as backing innovative technologies across science, engineering, arts, agri-tech and technology, and social innovation in areas such as health and education. An archived copy of the incubator's home page lists four key thrust areas: biotechnology, agri-technology, digital technology and social innovation.

Funding

The forum's pages describe its funding in different ways. The university page and the policy speak of seed funding for building the venture. An archived copy of the incubator's own home page separates upfront cash support, alongside fellowships, scholarships and grants, from larger equity or debt funding. The policy separately lists grant-in-aid for proof of concept and prototype. These descriptions do not line up, so treat them as a list of what the forum has offered and confirm with the incubator which forms of funding apply to your startup and on what terms.

Startup India Seed Fund Scheme route

AIC-MIT ADT is listed among the incubators you can pick when you apply to the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme. That scheme is run by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT); the money comes from the scheme, not from the incubator. The incubator's own walkthrough says you must first hold DPIIT recognition as a startup, then apply on the seed fund portal and choose AIC-MIT AIC incubator forum as your first preference.

Facilities

The university says the forum spans 15,000 sq. ft and includes co-working spaces, makers labs, fabrication labs, offices and conference rooms. This figure is the university's own and carries no date.

Who runs it

The forum's policy calls it an umbrella organisation hosted by MIT ADT University to promote entrepreneurship and innovation. The Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, supports it. The policy also describes it as one of the first institutions supported by the Mission at any private university in Maharashtra, which is the forum's own claim.

Location

The forum is in Loni Kalbhor, Pune district, Maharashtra, on the Pune-Solapur Highway. Its contact page gives the address as Railway Station, Solapur Highway, near Bharat Petrol Pump, Loni Kalbhor, Maharashtra 412201.