Artilab Foundation

There is one programme

ARTILAB runs a single incubation programme, EDGE. It is a long, three-year engagement for teams that already have a working prototype, not an idea-stage accelerator. If you do not yet have a prototype of an assistive-tech product, this programme is not built for where you are.

How applications work

Applications go through the form on the EDGE page of the ARTILAB site. The last call published there was for the 2021 batch, so treat the intake as closed until the incubator confirms the next one. Its listed phone line is (+91) 80 4112 7235.

What the eligibility text asks for

• A working prototype of an assistive tech product or a tech-based solution
• A social enterprise intent: the team should be building a venture that takes the innovation to the people it is meant to serve
• Work in the domain of impairments related to neurological, locomotor, speech, hearing and visual conditions
• At least two founding members
• A mix of business and science-based backgrounds is recommended, not required

What its pages leave open

How selection works, when the next batch starts, and whether the incubator takes equity or charges a fee are not stated anywhere on its pages. Those are the first questions to ask before you invest time in an application.

ARTILAB Foundation is a technology business incubator in Bengaluru for startups building assistive-technology and rehabilitation solutions. It runs a single incubation programme, EDGE, for social enterprises working on products for people with neurological, locomotor, speech, hearing and visual impairments. The Department of Science and Technology lists it as a NIDHI Technology Business Incubator for assistive and rehabilitation technologies and healthcare, and its own pages describe it as a DST approved Technology Business Incubator.

How programmes work

EDGE stands for Empowering the Disabled through Gifted Entrepreneurs. It is a three-year incubation, thirty-six months of engagement rather than a short cohort, and its pages describe the support as long-term and holistic for social enterprises in assistive technology and rehabilitation. Contact with mentors and proven leaders runs through the journey, at regular points rather than as a one-off bootcamp.

What incubates receive is set out in short form on its programme page. Labs with advanced equipment, testing facilities and office space. Access to DST seed capital and technology development grants, and to centre of excellence funding. Access to ARTILAB events and to partner networks that include corporates, NGOs and educational institutions.

Who can apply

EDGE is aimed at social enterprise startups and innovators who already have a working prototype of an assistive tech product or a tech-based solution. The innovations it names are in the domain of impairments related to neurological, locomotor, speech, hearing and visual conditions. Teams must have at least two founding members, and a mix of business and science-based backgrounds is recommended. It also asks that the team be committed to building a social enterprise that would take the innovation to the people it is meant to serve.

Facilities

Its programme page lists labs with advanced equipment, testing facilities and office space for startups, along with further services for them. The page does not break these out by equipment, by access rules or by who runs them.

Who runs it

Its about page names Mohan Sundaram as Founding CEO and Director, and Pavan Kumar as Founding Director. Other accounts of who founded the organisation disagree with that page, so treat these names as the organisation's own statement of its leadership. The same page dates the foundation to 2017.

The DST list names the Indian Red Cross Society's Bengaluru unit as the host institute of this NIDHI incubator. ARTILAB Foundation's own pages present it as its own foundation, with Red Cross Karnataka shown as a supporter. Neither source says the Red Cross owns or runs ARTILAB.

Locations

It works from Pragathi Mahalakshmi, South Block, 62, Narasimha Layout, Goreguntepalya, Yeshwantpur, in Bengaluru. The DST list records the same address, and puts its thrust area as assistive and rehabilitation technologies and healthcare.