IIT Ropar Technology Innovation Foundation

Start with the route that fits you

The hub runs several programmes, and the right one depends on your registration and stage.

• DPIIT-recognised and incorporated within the last two years: the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme. You apply on the national Startup India portal and can pick up to three incubators in order of preference, so list the hub among them.
• A research idea, a patented technology or an individual founder: SPRINT, which takes applications on a rolling basis. Individuals can apply.
• A startup ready to pitch to investors: SAMRIDHI, the acceleration programme with an annual conclave. Its page shows registration open for the 4.0 edition but gives no dates, so check it first.
• An electronics, AI, IoT or semiconductor startup in a smaller city: watch for the next GENESIS intake window. The last one at the hub closed on 5 November 2025.

How applications work

Each programme has its own page and its own registration button or form. SPRINT says to register through the form on its page. SAMRIDHI and the sector programmes use a Register as Participant or Register as a Startup button. For the seed fund scheme, the application goes through the Startup India portal, not through the hub. After the application, the scheme's selection committee evaluates it, followed by due diligence and a legal agreement.

Check the kind of funding

The hub's funding comes as a grant, equity, a loan, or a mix, depending on the programme. SPRINT's page says funding may be any of the three. Read the programme page before you apply, and ask the startups team, at startups@ihub-awadh.in, which form applies to your case.

What the hub looks for

• Deep technology. The shared notes on its pages ask for innovative technology and prefer patents and IP.
• A fit with its focus areas. Agriculture, water, hardware, IoT and cyber-physical systems come up on almost every programme page. Sector programmes ask you to solve one of their listed problem statements.
• Women founders. Its pages say women founders are encouraged to apply.
• Proof of progress for the later stages. The seed fund scheme splits money between early validation and later market entry and scaling.

Before you apply

• Confirm the programme is open. Several programme pages on the site are from past editions or carry no dates.
• If a programme page and the hub's overview page disagree on details, go by the programme page and ask the startups team.

IIT Ropar Technology and Innovation Foundation is a Section 8 company that runs iHub – AWaDH, the Agriculture and Water Technology Development Hub, on the campus of the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar in Rupnagar, Punjab. The hub is a Technology Innovation Hub set up under the Department of Science and Technology's National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS). It runs incubation and acceleration programmes for deep-tech startups, and startups from outside the campus can apply.

How programmes work

The hub does not run one single incubator. It runs a set of separate programmes, each with its own page, intake and rules. Some are always open, some open for a window each year, and some are run with a partner company or a government body and close after one edition.

The two entry points that stay open most of the time are the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme and SPRINT. Under the seed fund scheme, the hub is one of the incubators a DPIIT-recognised startup can choose when it applies on the national Startup India portal. SPRINT, short for Strategic Program for Research, Innovation and Next-Gen Tech Commercialization, takes applications on a rolling basis and also runs open innovation challenges.

SAMRIDHI is the hub's acceleration programme. It is built around an annual conclave where startups pitch to investors, and its brochure lists ten support steps that include mentoring, legal help, a demo day, help with investor deals and technology development. The hub has also hosted the intake window for MeitY's GENESIS scheme, a challenge for deep-tech startups in smaller cities, and sector programmes with partners in real estate, water and sanitation, and agriculture.

Who can apply

The hub's focus is agriculture, water and cyber-physical systems. In practice its programme pages also cover climate technology, geospatial and drone startups, electronics and semiconductor design, AI and machine learning, IoT, and real estate and construction technology. The shared eligibility notes on its pages say it looks for innovative technology and deep-tech ideas, that patents and IP are preferred, that women founders are encouraged to apply, and that individuals can apply, not only registered companies.

Individual programmes add their own conditions. The seed fund scheme is for startups recognised by DPIIT and incorporated no more than two years before the application. GENESIS lists its focus areas as electronic design and manufacturing, deep-tech software and products, AI and machine learning, IoT, and VLSI and semiconductors. The partner programmes ask founders to solve one of a listed set of problem statements.

Applications are not limited to Punjab. The SAMRIDHI brochure reports that the first conclave, in 2023, received responses from 29 states and union territories.

How funding works

The hub's funding differs by programme, and its pages do not always agree with each other on size, so this page does not quote amounts. The shape is what matters when you choose where to apply. The seed fund scheme gives a milestone-linked grant for proof of concept, prototype work or product trials, and a separate investment route through convertible debentures or debt for market entry and scaling. SPRINT says funding after screening, an internal pitch and a demo day can come as a grant, as equity or as a loan. SAMRIDHI's brochure describes funding as grant or equity. Check the programme page for the form of money on offer before you apply, because a loan and a grant ask very different things of a founder.

No page we read states a participation fee for any programme.

Past and partner programmes

Several programmes have closed. REAL, the Real Estate Acceleration Launchpad, was run with Omaxe Limited for real estate, construction and PropTech startups. Applications closed in June 2025 and its demo day was in September 2025. SWACH, for water and sanitation startups, was run with Innovation Mission Punjab and the India Sanitation Coalition and closed to applications in June 2024. The WATER Innovation Challenge ran in February and March 2024 with HDFC Parivartan and had four water and agriculture problem statements. GENESIS at IIT Ropar closed to applications on 5 November 2025.

The site also lists other programmes whose pages carry no dates, so we cannot say whether they are open: 100 Startups 100 Days, a national programme for early-stage deep-tech startups; DTC Accelerate for climate-tech startups, run with NASSCOM; the PRAGATI micro-accelerator for agriculture startups, funded by Puri Oil Mills Limited; and an Entrepreneur-in-Residence programme. The hub also acts as a recognised Geospatial Innovation Accelerator under the Department of Science and Technology's Operation Dronagiri, where selected geospatial startups get mentoring and technical guidance. There is no separate application route for that on its page.

Scale

These are the hub's own figures and carry no dates. Its about page says it has incubated more than 150 startups, while its home page counts a portfolio of more than 200 startups. We show the lower, incubated figure. The home page also reports more than 820 jobs created. On its seed fund page the hub says it has funded 32 startups under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme. The SAMRIDHI brochure, dated December 2024, lists nine editions of SPRINT.

Who runs it

The foundation is a Section 8 company, which means it is a not-for-profit company, set up to support the hub at IIT Ropar. The hub is funded by the Department of Science and Technology under NM-ICPS. The site has separate role inboxes for startups, partnerships, skilling and people. It also has a Hiring section, where it posted its Entrepreneur-in-Residence call in August 2025.

Location and contact

The hub is in the M. Visvesvaraya Block at IIT Ropar, Rupnagar, Punjab 140001. Its contact page and the footer of its pages give different room numbers, so check before you visit. Startups can write to startups@ihub-awadh.in, and the general inbox is contact.awadh@iitrpr.ac.in. The phone number on the contact page is 01881 232601.