MaDeIT Innovation Foundation

Check you fit the gate first

• IIITDM students, alumni and faculty: you are the core audience for incubation and pre-incubation.
• Fresh engineering graduates: the policy allows up to three years of work experience.
• Existing startups and MSMEs: you qualify if you are starting a new product.
• Everyone else: ask first. The policy is dated 2017 and some pages look old.

Choosing a route

• Not sure of the idea yet: ask about pre-incubation, which normally runs 2-4 weeks.
• Hardware prototype from an idea: look at NIDHI PRAYAS. You must be an Indian citizen aged 18 or older, and a startup must be no more than 7 years old.
• Want a fellowship while you start up: look at NIDHI EIR, a 12-month fellowship.
• Already building with a company: apply for incubation with a full proposal.

What the proposal needs

• A business plan.
• Product details, including technology and intellectual property.
• A project plan.
• The seats, cabins and equipment you need, and why you chose MaDeIT.
• A business plan template is on the website.

How selection works

• Experts review the plan, then you present to an Evaluation Committee.
• They look at commercial viability, use of IIITDM capabilities, intellectual property potential and fit with hardware-software products in manufacturing, transportation and healthcare.

Know the terms

• Fees apply, and MaDeIT can take equity or a revenue share.
• Stay is up to 2 years, extendable by one more year.
• PRAYAS grantees must also join the incubator's pre-incubation or incubation programme, and each innovator can use PRAYAS only once.
• Email incubation_madeit@iiitdm.ac.in to confirm which programmes are open.

MaDeIT Innovation Foundation is a design-driven technology business incubator at the IIITDM Kancheepuram campus, off Vandalur-Kelambakkam Road in Chennai. It is a non-profit Section 8 company promoted by the Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing Kancheepuram, and it is supported by a grant from the Department of Science and Technology (NSTEDB Division). It is mainly for hardware-led teams in manufacturing, healthcare and transportation.

Who can apply

MaDeIT's policy document sets the gate clearly. The company must be a Private Limited Company, although a proprietorship or partnership firm that is selected has 2 months to convert. The shareholders or partners must be one of three kinds: alumni, students and faculty of IIITDM Kancheepuram; fresh engineering graduates with at most three years of work experience; or existing startups and MSMEs that are starting new product development. That policy is dated 2017, so confirm the current rules with the team before you prepare an application.

How incubation works

There are two kinds of admission. Pre-incubation is normally for 2-4 weeks and lets an applicant work on a business plan with MaDeIT and IIITDM faculty. Incubation needs a proposal sent to the Manager: a business plan, details of the product and its intellectual property, a project plan, and the space and resources you need. Experts scrutinise the plan, and then you present to an Evaluation Committee that includes IIITDM representatives, the Strategic Advisory Board and industry leaders. The Board of Directors takes the final decision.

Evaluation looks at the commercial viability of the idea and team, how well you use IIITDM's capabilities, the potential for intellectual property, and fit with MaDeIT's focus on integrated hardware-software-mechanical products. Incubatees can stay for a maximum of 2 years, extendable by one more year.

Incubation is not free. Companies pay fees at subsidised rates, and the incubation agreement can be fee based, a revenue share, an equity stake, or a mix. MaDeIT may also provide a soft loan when a funding scheme allows it, but admission does not entitle a company to one.

Programmes

MaDeIT hosts several government-backed schemes. NIDHI PRAYAS supports innovators from idea to prototype over 18 months. NIDHI EIR is a 12-month fellowship for budding entrepreneurs with a technology business idea. The NIDHI Seed Support System gives seed funding to selected incubatees, and its roadmap lists it as a 24-month stage. MaDeIT's four-year roadmap also lists design thinking and pre-incubation, and a manufacturing accelerator with corporates. Its pages show the PRAYAS call as open, but the site looks last updated around 2022 to 2023, so check the current status by email.

Facilities

Incubatees get cabins of 100-150 sq. ft. that seat up to 4 people, with furniture, computers, internet, a conference hall and teleconferencing. The Fab Lab spreads over 3,000 sq. ft. and has 3D printers and scanners, IoT and electronics equipment, CNC lathe and machining, laser cutting and engraving, carpentry and fabrication tools. Subject to IIITDM rules, incubatees can also use the institute's labs, faculty expertise, student interns and library, and hostel rooms when available.

Scale

On its home page, MaDeIT shows counters of 60 startups supported, 10 graduated startups and 12 startups with funding support. These are undated and self-reported. Its portfolio page names startups such as Kairos Kinetic, Seventh Horse Agri-Tech, Tharam-Thiran Green Energy Flow, Steradian Technologies, Canary Biosensors, Orcci Technologies, VLOG MediTech Solutions and Wormgest.

Contact

Write to the incubation team or call during office hours. The site also has pages for events, careers and tenders.