Incubation at KIT's IRF

KIT's IRF keeps a call for incubation open and announces numbered cohorts alongside it — Cohort 1.0 launched in April 2024 and Cohort 4.0 was called in April 2026. You can enter through pre-incubation, physical incubation with space on site, virtual incubation if you keep your own office, or corporate incubation for an industry-led unit.

What you get

• Technical and business mentoring from its mentor network
• Pre-incubation support if you are still at the idea stage, and end-to-end incubation once you are past it
• IPR support for protecting what you build
• Prototype and product development help
• Co-working, startup cubicle or virtual incubation space
• Market and client connect, and introductions for funding and investment
• A route into its own Ignition Grant call

Who can apply

• Innovators, researchers, student entrepreneurs, startup founders, MSMEs and aspiring entrepreneurs
• Anyone with an idea, an innovation, a prototype or a startup
• No incorporation requirement, no geography gate and no category gate is stated

How selection works: the incubator says only that it runs a startup selection and review mechanism, and it records a technology readiness level for every startup it takes in. It does not publish a stage-by-stage process for incubation.

How to apply: contact the Incubation Manager, Devendra A. Pathak, at kitirf@kitcoek.in or on the number listed on the incubator's contact page. Applying is free, and the incubator states it has appointed no agency or consultant to handle applications.