Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics

Choosing what to apply for

There are two routes on offer, and they are not the same thing:

• Incubation. A standing programme with lab space, mentoring and industry networks, on a rental model with no equity taken.
• Idea funding. The incubator describes support for innovators and startups developing ideas under the MSME Idea Hackathon scheme, but it does not publish the scheme's funder, its call window or the application route. If that is what you are looking for, ask the incubator directly before assuming you can apply to it here.

How applications work

• Applications for incubation are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year. There is no deadline.
• Apply through the online application form on the incubator's site. Enquiries go to incubator@cdfd.org.in.
• Applications are accepted from across India, not only from Telangana or from Hyderabad.

Things to know before you apply

• You do not need a company. The incubator accepts applications from individual innovators as well as from registered startups.
• Stage is not a barrier. It supports startups at all stages, from ideation to commercialization.
• It is a rental model. Incubation is paid for as a rental arrangement, and the incubator states that no equity is taken.
• Bring a bio idea. The incubator describes its programme as a nurturing environment for bioinnovators.

CDFD Technology Incubator is the business incubator of the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), working from the institute's campus on Inner Ring Road, Uppal, in Hyderabad. CDFD is an autonomous research centre of the Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council (BRIC) and is funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. The incubator describes its purpose as a nurturing environment for bioinnovators, with access to research infrastructure, expert mentorship and industry networks.

How programmes work

The incubator runs one standing programme: incubation, which it offers purely on a rental model. It states that no equity is taken from incubatees. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year, with no deadline, and it supports startups at all stages, from ideation to commercialization.

Alongside incubation, its funding pages describe support for innovators and startups who are developing ideas under the MSME Idea Hackathon scheme. The scheme's funder, its call window and the application route are not stated there.

The incubator's pages style it both CDFD Technology Incubator and iDeaNA-CDFD Technology Incubator. The institute itself appears as CDFD and, after the BRIC umbrella, as BRIC-CDFD.

Who can apply

Applications are accepted from across India. An applicant does not need a registered entity: the incubator accepts applications from individual innovators as well as from startups. It supports ventures at every stage from ideation through to commercialization, so an idea that is still being shaped is as eligible as one already on the market. The stated audience is bioinnovators.

Facilities

Lab space for incubatees comes in the form of shared lab benches, along with 24/7 Wi-Fi access. Meeting and conference rooms, with video conferencing facilities, are available to incubatees, as are access to the CDFD library and subsidized meals at the canteen. Alongside the space, the incubator provides expert mentorship and strategic industry networks.

The incubator's pages also describe facilities that sit in the wider institute. The National Genomics Core at BRIC-CDFD was established by the Department of Biotechnology to provide genomic solutions as a full-service provider for the research needs of startups, academic institutes and industry. The facility has been used for sequencing and genotyping more than 15000 samples, and has provided 126 services to both internal and external users. A further 11692 samples of SARS-CoV-2 were sequenced there under the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG). The campus also holds an Experimental Animal Facility in a dedicated building of over 10,000 square feet across two floors.

Scale

The incubator names six startups on its success stories: Utopia Therapeutics, Promecens Entosystems, Enzychroma, DrOmics Labs, ANLISA Biotech and Acubiosys. Between them they have gone on to support from other public schemes, among them the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme, NIDHI Prayas, DST's NIDHI-iTBI Ignition Grant, BIRAC's PACE scheme and the BFI Biome Kickstarter Program, in several cases with the support of the incubator. On the patent side, Utopia Therapeutics has filed two provisional patents, one for a vaccine aimed at reducing cardiovascular risks and one for a stem cell platform, and Acubiosys has filed three patents. A total count of startups incubated is not published.

Who runs it

The incubator operates under the aegis of the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics. Its team page lists M Kavita Rao as Scientist In-charge and Dibyadarshi Ranasingh as Incubation Manager. The institute above it is funded by the Department of Biotechnology and sits under the Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council.

Locations

The incubator works from the BRIC-CDFD campus on Inner Ring Road, Uppal, Hyderabad 500039. CDFD describes itself as part of the research ecosystem at Hyderabad.