ICONN NINJA India Programme
A programme by CII Centre of Excellence
A corporate acceleration programme with JICA and Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support that links Indian startups with Japanese corporates; two cohorts have run and both are closed.
At a glance
| Best for | Indian startups with a proof of concept or early market validation, matched to Japanese corporate challenges |
|---|---|
| Stage | Prototype – Early revenue |
| Duration | About 3 months (Cohort 3) |
| Format | Hybrid |
| Cost | Free |
| Run with | Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support, Suzuki R&D Center India, Dentsu India, Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Komatsu, Greenway Grid Global, Rakuten |
About ICONN NINJA India Programme
The ICONN NINJA India Programme is curated by CII CIES with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support. It connects Indian startups with Japanese corporates, which set the challenges. Both cohorts below have closed.
Cohort 3
- Closed on 20 September 2025
- Around three months, mixing virtual and in-person sessions
- Challenge owners: Suzuki R&D Center India, Dentsu India and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation
- Free to apply and to take part
- Open to Indian startups with innovative, scalable solutions in mobility, sustainability, healthcare, agriculture, digital technology, AI and other emerging sectors, with at least a proof of concept or early market validation
Cohort 2
- Applications ran from 3 to 30 March, with a demo day in June 2025
- Corporate partners: Komatsu, Greenway Grid Global (a Singapore-based subsidiary of TEPCO Power Grid) and Rakuten
- Focus areas: health tech, advanced manufacturing, AI, automation, IoT, robotics and drones, agritech and water, and smart energy
How to apply: Each cohort took applications through its own page on the CII CIES startup affiliation portal. Watch the CII CIES site for a later cohort.
Where to apply
Other CII Centre of Excellence programmes
- Corporate Accelerator ProgramA sixteen-week market access programme in which growth-stage startups demonstrate or pilot their innovations inside large corporates.
- Corporate Innovation ProgramA thirty-two-week programme in which growth-stage startups work with large companies to co-create solutions to specific domain problems.
- Startup Affiliation ProgrammeA paid annual affiliation that gives Indian startups an official CII CIES certificate and badge, a public profile and access to the CII CIES network.
- FutureSites Innovation ProgramA call for retail-technology startups to solve defined problems with a retail business unit of an oil and gas company and pilot in real stores; the last date was 22 February 2026.
- SmartMFG Innovation ProgrammeA market access initiative to co-develop, pilot and scale manufacturing solutions with an industrial manufacturing partner; the last date was 30 June 2025.
- NextGen Procurement ProgrammeAn industry-led call for growth-stage startups to co-develop a procurement platform that helps MSMEs find and buy standard metal cutting tools; the last date was 30 April 2026.