IITG-BioNEST Bio-Incubation Centre

Pick the right route in

• Startup in deeptech: the centre's focus areas are healthcare, agritech, defence and industrial biotechnology. Check that your company fits one of them, then contact the centre through its contact page.
• Student: the SPARC-AI fellowship is the only application form on the site. You must be enrolled at UPES, Dehradun or IIT Guwahati, and you should have an interest in AI applied to clean energy, cleantech or agritech in Uttarakhand or Assam.
• Agri social innovator: BIRAC-SPARSH is not open yet. Check the schemes page again before you prepare an application.
• Equipment or room only: book through the requisition form on the facilities page. Pre-book at least 2 days in advance and expect approval from the centre's Scientific Officer.

How applications work

• There is no published incubation form. The site's contact page is the route to ask about incubation.
• The Seed Fund listing on the schemes page is open throughout the year, so no deadline applies.
• NEC Ignite is listed as closed. Its call opens once a year, so watch the schemes page for the next one.

Before you apply

• Check your state. NEC Ignite is for startups registered in the North East. The centre's own text says it supports startups primarily from North East India.
• Plan for a fellowship timeline. The SPARC-AI fellowship lasts 18 months and includes field immersion in the first 4 months.
• Ask about the figures. The site gives 60+ and 90+ as startup counts without explaining the difference. Ask the centre which one describes companies it supports today.

IITG-BioNEST is a bio-incubation centre on the campus of IIT Guwahati, supported by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) under the Government of India. It sits at IIT Guwahati Research Park in Amingaon, Guwahati, and it has been running since 2022. The centre works with deeptech startups in healthcare, agritech and industrial biotechnology, and its own pages also name defence and renewable energy.

The centre says it gives 360 degree support to incubatee companies, with the aim of building each company's own portfolio. It runs resident incubation, with a list of resident incubatees on its site, and its equipment and conference room are bookable through a requisition form.

How the centre supports startups

Besides incubation, the centre delivers public schemes. The StartUp India Seed Fund is listed on its schemes page as open throughout the year, and it provides financial assistance as a grant or investment for deeptech startups, covering proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialization. BIRAC-SPARSH is a second scheme, set up for social innovators who solve agricultural problems under a Farm to Plate theme. The page says applications for it will open shortly. A grant called NEC Ignite, run with the North Eastern Council in Shillong and IIT Guwahati, gave grants to deeptech startups registered in the North East. It is listed as closed, with its call opening once a year.

Who can apply

The site does not publish a general intake form, an eligibility list or a closing date for incubation. What it does state is the centre's focus: deeptech innovation in healthcare, agritech, defence and industrial biotechnology, with a clear stated base in the North East. Its own text says it is supporting 60+ startups, primarily from North East India.

A separate fellowship on the site is for students. The SPARC-AI fellowship is open only to students who are currently enrolled at UPES, Dehradun or IIT Guwahati, at undergraduate, postgraduate or doctoral level. It asks applicants to use AI on clean energy, alternative renewables, cleantech or agritech problems in Uttarakhand or Assam. The programme runs for 18 months, with field immersion in the first 4 months. Individuals or teams can apply, and the site recommends 2-4 members per team. Early-stage and pre-idea applicants are welcome. Alumni who are no longer enrolled students are not eligible.

Facilities

The facilities page lists a wet lab and cell culture set-up, with CO2 incubators, deep freezers, an autoclave, shaker incubators, high-speed centrifuges, RT-PCR, a multi-mode plate reader and a spectrophotometer. It also has BSL-1 and BSL-2 biosafety cabinets, electrochemistry equipment (a cyclic voltammetry set-up with a potentiostat and an automatic biosensor printing machine), a prototyping workshop with a 3D printer, laser cutter, CNC machine and SLA printer, and an electronics lab for PCB prototyping, with a pick-and-place machine and a reflow oven. A conference room is listed too. The 12,000 sq.ft. figure is the whole centre's area at Research Park, not the space given to each company.

Scale

The site gives several sets of figures. Its About text says the centre is currently supporting 60+ startups, and its incubatees page lists 62 results. Its home page counters show 90+ startups, 34 graduated startups, 22 products generated, 35+ technologies developed, 30+ patents and 500+ jobs created. These are the centre's own undated figures, and the site does not reconcile the 60+ and 90+ startup numbers. Read them as the centre's own claims.

Who runs it

The team page names Dr. Swapnil Sinha as CEO and Prof. Dipankar Bandyopadhay as principal investigator. Three incubation managers handle strategy and investment, technical support, and finance and accounting. The board includes the Director of IIT Guwahati, Devendra Jalihal.

Location

The centre is at IIT Guwahati Research Park, 4th Floor, IITG Campus, Amingaon, Guwahati 781039, Assam. Its contact page gives a second address at the Centre for Nanotechnology on the same campus, so check which is current before visiting.