Gujarat Student Startup and Innovation Hub (i-Hub)

Gujarat Student Startup and Innovation Hub (i-Hub) is a government-backed incubation platform established in 2019 under Gujarat's Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP). Operated by the Education Department of the Government of Gujarat and based in Ahmedabad, i-Hub serves as the state's centralized resource for student entrepreneurs. It provides a single-window system for student startups to access funding, mentorship, workspace, and institutional support across Gujarat's network of universities and colleges.

Role

i-Hub acts as the coordinating body for all student startup activity under SSIP across Gujarat. It connects student founders with pre-incubation and incubation support from a network of nodal institutions across the state. The hub processes applications for SSIP seed grants, facilitates mentorship matching, and tracks the progress of student-led ventures. It also works with universities to embed entrepreneurship culture in academic curricula and organizes innovation challenges and hackathons at the state level.

Programs

i-Hub manages the SSIP grant program, which provides seed funding of up to INR 2 lakh per student startup idea and up to INR 25 lakh for ventures that demonstrate commercial viability. The hub runs pre-incubation programs, innovation boot camps, and design thinking workshops across Gujarat's universities. It also facilitates access to co-working space at affiliated institutions and connects student founders with industry mentors. i-Hub maintains a network of over 60 nodal institutes across the state that serve as local incubation centers. The hub also runs annual innovation festivals and pitch competitions to surface promising student ventures.

Notable Alumni

Alumni ventures include Indifoot, Dronelab, Uppskale, WEpaint, and SanBurn, representing a range of sectors from sports media to drones to consumer products.

Who Benefits

Students enrolled in Gujarat's universities and colleges are the primary beneficiaries. The hub supports student founders from ideation through early revenue stages, with particular strength in providing first-time entrepreneurs with structured guidance and non-dilutive seed capital. Students in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across Gujarat benefit from the distributed network of nodal institutes.

Strategic Impact

With over 840 student startups supported, i-Hub has established Gujarat as a leader in student entrepreneurship among Indian states. The SSIP model, which integrates entrepreneurship support into the education system at scale, has been studied by other state governments looking to replicate similar programs. For student founders in Gujarat, i-Hub provides an accessible, equity-free pathway into entrepreneurship with structured government backing.