BESST-HORT, ICAR-IIHR

Pick the right door

BESST-HORT has three ways in, and they have different gates:

• You have licensed a technology from an ICAR institute and want space to scale it: on-site incubation is the one built for you. You get a manufacturing facility and office space on the ICAR-IIHR campus for six months.
• You already run a horticulture venture from your own premises: off-site incubation is open to you. Your technology can come from ICAR-IIHR, from another institute, or be your own.
• You have an idea but no company yet: the individual incubatee module is open to any Indian citizen interested in horticulture, and is aimed at getting an idea to a proof of concept.

How applications work

• There is no published application form for incubation on the site. The incubation pages state who is eligible and what it costs, then stop.
• To start, call or write to the general enquiry line for BESST-HORT and ask for the current intake process. Enquiries go to info@bessthort.in.
• Be ready to say which model you want, because the eligibility check is different for each one.
• On-site incubation is gated on having an ICAR technology licence. If you do not have one, ask about licensing an ICAR-IIHR technology first, or apply off-site instead.

What it costs, in shape

• Every model charges an annual membership fee, and on-site incubation adds a monthly incubation charge on top.
• Women-owned enterprises and women members get a 50% discount on the membership fee.
• Mentoring is charged separately and is settled case by case, based on the mentor's time. Ask for that to be quoted before you commit.
• Confirm current charges directly, because the institute's separate Agri-Business Incubation unit publishes a different fee schedule and the two are easy to confuse.

A cheaper first step

• BESST-HORT runs short paid hands-on training courses at ICAR-IIHR, open to the public, typically one to three days, on topics such as biocontrol agent production and spray drying.
• Each course has its own registration link and its own per-participant charge, with accommodation optional, and your place is confirmed only after payment.
• If you are unsure whether horticulture incubation here fits you, a training course is the low-commitment way to see the facility and meet the scientists first.

What to check before you commit

• Ask whether you would be incubated by BESST-HORT or by ICAR-IIHR's separate Agri-Business Incubation unit — several ventures appear on both lists and the terms differ.
• Ask which research division would mentor you, and get the mentoring charge in writing.
• Ask what happens after the six-month on-site period ends, since no extension policy is published for BESST-HORT.

BESST-HORT is the technology business incubator of ICAR-IIHR, the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, and it sits on the institute's campus at Hesaraghatta Lake in Bengaluru. It works only with horticulture and its allied areas. On its About page it says it was catalysed and supported by the NSTEDB division of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. It is run by an executive committee headed by ICAR-IIHR's own Director, and it keeps a separate website from the institute at bessthort.in.

How incubation works

BESST-HORT offers two incubation models and one lighter module for individuals, and all three are paid. On-site incubation is for a venture that has already licensed a technology from an ICAR institute and now wants to scale it up. An on-site member is given a manufacturing facility and office space for six months, and gets scientific guidance for the scale-up from the licensing division. Off-site incubation is for a start-up, venture or enterprise that works in a horticulture-related field and runs from its own premises; there the technology can come from ICAR-IIHR, from any other institute, or from the founder's own innovation. The individual incubatee module is the entry point for a person rather than a company: any Indian citizen interested in a horticulture-related field can join and use the mentor network to turn an idea into a proof of concept on a scientific basis, and then into a start-up.

All three models are membership-based, with an annual membership fee, and on-site incubation adds a monthly incubation charge. Women-owned enterprises and women members get a 50% discount on the membership fee. Mentoring is charged separately, case by case, based on the time the mentor puts in.

Who can apply

The gate is different for each model, and it matters. On-site incubation is open only to a licensee of an ICAR institute technology, so a founder who has not licensed one cannot start there. Off-site incubation is open to any start-up, venture or enterprise in a horticulture-related field, with no licensing requirement and no incorporation requirement stated. The individual module is open to any Indian citizen interested in horticulture, so it does not require a company at all. Nothing on the site restricts applicants by state or by age of company.

There is no published application form for incubation. The incubation pages set out the eligibility and the charges and then stop; there is no online form, no application email and no deadline. A founder who wants in has to call or write to the general enquiry address and ask how to start.

What the incubator helps with

BESST-HORT describes itself as facilitating technology sourcing, incubation, co-working space, technology mentoring, business mentoring, and networking and market linkage support. Because it is the incubator of ICAR-IIHR, it can route incubatees to scientific mentors inside the institute's research divisions: Fruit Crops, Vegetable Crops, Flower & Medicinal Crops, Crop Protection Basic Sciences, Natural Resources, Biotechnology, Post-Harvest Technology & Agricultural Engineering, and Social Sciences & Training. Its business mentoring covers initial business planning, aligning business resources with technology commercialisation, help seeking funding, and help seeking collaboration.

Training programmes

Alongside incubation, BESST-HORT runs short hands-on training courses that are open to the public and charged per participant, held at ICAR-IIHR in Bengaluru and usually running one to three days. Recent courses have covered mass production of microbial biocontrol agents and registration requirements, and operation of a spray drier for amla powder production, with sessions listed through September 2026. Each course has its own registration link and its own fee, with or without accommodation, and a place is confirmed only once the fee is paid. For many founders this is the cheapest and fastest way to get on to the campus and meet the scientists.

Who is incubated here

The incubatees page names ten ventures, including AIRR Organics, Rainbow Agrovet Seritech, Ecophytocare India, Arekal Organics, Unique Victuals, Nidhi Food Products, Cocowing, Campco, Zentron Labs, and Fasal, the agri-tech platform built by Wolkus Technology Solutions. Several of those names also appear on the ICAR-IIHR institute's own Agri-Business Incubation page, which is a separate unit with its own fee schedule, so the two rosters overlap and the site does not say which venture sits with which unit.

Who runs it

The executive committee is led by Dr. Tusar Kanti Behera, Director of ICAR-IIHR, as President, with Dr. Prakash Patil as Vice-President and Dr. M. V. Dhananjaya as CEO and General Secretary. Dr. Teajshwini and Dr. R. B. Tiwari are Joint Secretaries and Dr. D. Kalaivanan is Treasurer. The management page also carries a Board of Governors heading with no names under it. BESST-HORT keeps a live careers page and posted recruitment notices through 2026.

Where it is

BESST-HORT is at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta Lake Post, IIHR Main Road, Ivar Kandapura, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560089.