IEDC — Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centres
A programme by Kerala Startup Mission
KSUM's student entrepreneurship platform inside colleges, polytechnics, medical institutions and universities across Kerala.
At a glance
| Best for | Students and higher education institutions in Kerala |
|---|---|
| Stage | Idea |
| Grant support | For selected startups. A place in the programme does not by itself guarantee a grant. |
About IEDC — Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centres
IEDCs are the centres KSUM has set up inside higher education institutions so students can experiment, build and, if it works, start something.
What you get
- For students: the Idea Box, a three-month pre-incubation programme that takes an idea to an MVP or a defined MVP plan, with mentorship, expert reviews and structured validation; and IEDC NEST, a community platform for students who run IEDC activity at state and cluster level
- For institutions: Idea Fest, where student teams present ideas or college projects to an expert panel and shortlisted teams receive grant support for further development; onboarding as a LEAP coworking centre; an accreditation process covering leadership, infrastructure, programmes, industry linkage and outcomes; and a Unique ID issued to the official IEDC email, valid for a year and tied to accreditation status
Who can apply
- Students and faculty at engineering, management, arts and science colleges, medical institutions, polytechnics and universities in Kerala
- Institutions that meet the prescribed criteria for a Unique ID or LEAP onboarding
How to apply: Through the IEDC pages on the KSUM website.
Where to apply
Other Kerala Startup Mission programmes
- Idea GrantA state grant for Kerala innovators at ideation, design or proof-of-concept stage who need to build and test a prototype.
- Productisation GrantA state grant that takes a validated prototype to a market-ready product.
- Women / Transgender Productisation GrantAdditional state grant support, on top of the Productisation Grant, for women-led and transgender-led startups.
- Market Acceleration GrantA state grant for early-revenue startups spending on marketing, customer acquisition and market expansion.
- Scaleup GrantThe top rung of the state grant ladder, for technology startups with proven traction entering a high-growth phase.
- BCDD GrantA state grant for OBC graduate founders, run with Kerala's Backward Classes Development Department.
- Seed FundA state seed loan against purchase orders — the scheme page showed it as not yet open when we last checked.
- Scaleup Seed FundCollateral-free debt for revenue-stage startups, on soft-loan terms with a moratorium.
- Soft Loan Scheme for Women EntrepreneursWorking capital for women entrepreneurs delivering purchase orders from Kerala government departments and PSUs.
- Startup India Seed Fund SchemeThe central Government of India seed scheme, which KSUM runs as one of the selected incubators.
- NIDHI PRAYASA Department of Science and Technology prototype grant that KSUM runs as a designated PRAYAS Centre; between calls when we last checked.
- NIDHI Seed Support ProgrammeA central Department of Science and Technology seed programme for startups already incubated at KSUM.
- Pre-Incubation (SparkX)A short pre-incubation track for first-time founders taking an early technology idea to a validated pitch.
- Incubation (GrowthX, KERA, Bio-AI)A three to six month incubation engagement for MVP-stage startups moving from prototype to early traction.
- Acceleration (LeapX)A three-month intensive for revenue-generating startups, with separate tracks for B2B SaaS and for AVGC and XR.
- WE StartA three-month hybrid pre-incubation programme for women founders moving from an idea to a working MVP.
- WE GrowA five-month hybrid incubation programme taking women-led startups from MVP to sustainable revenue, ending in a Demo Day.
- Women startup ecosystem (NSRCEL co-incubation, She Builds Tech, LeadHER Talk, Women Startup Summit)The rest of KSUM's women-founder pipeline: a co-incubation with IIM Bangalore, a student AI track, a talk series and an annual summit.
- RINK — Research Innovation Network KeralaKSUM's route for turning research into companies, with an R&D grant, instrument access and technology transfer.
- Fund of FundsKSUM invests as a Limited Partner in SEBI-registered AIFs that back Kerala startups — a scheme for fund managers, not founders.
- Investor readiness (VC 101, Pitch Day, Investor Cafe, Ignite, Seeding Kerala)KSUM's fundraising side: bootcamps and pitch formats for founders, and investor education for HNIs in Kerala.
- Market Expansion and corporate connectFormats that put startup products in front of corporates, MSMEs and government buyers.
- FabLab Kerala programmesDigital fabrication training, residencies and fabrication services at KSUM's fablab network.