Navachar Incubation Centre

Check you can apply first

• The centre's website lets students, individual founders and registered startups apply, if they are in or will move to Lucknow.
• Its host faculty's page says incubatees should be graduates and alumni of the university.
• The two statements differ. Email incubation@foaaktu.ac.in with your background and ask which one applies to you.

Choosing a stage

• Pre-Incubation (8 weeks): for an idea you want to test. Open to individuals and teams.
• Core Incubation (6 months): for a registered startup that is building a first product and preparing to raise money.
• Acceleration (4 months): for a startup that already earns revenue and wants to scale. Ask what the terms are before you accept a place, as some tracks may involve a small equity or fee arrangement.

How applications work

• Fill the online form on the Apply for Incubation page. It asks for your contact details, startup name, industry and stage, a short description of the idea, and a link to your pitch deck.
• Share the pitch deck link publicly, or share it with incubation@foaaktu.ac.in, so the team can open it.
• The centre screens applications, then shortlisted applicants pitch to a panel. It says this usually takes 2 to 3 weeks.
• No application deadline or intake calendar is published. Ask the centre whether a cohort is open.

What reviewers look for

• The centre says it screens on innovation and feasibility.
• The host faculty says an idea should be innovative, and that if a similar product already exists you need to show added value.
• The faculty's focus is the built environment: architecture, design, urban and rural planning, construction, materials and green technology. Ideas close to those areas fit its mentors and labs best.

Navachar Incubation Centre (NIC) is a startup incubator at the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU), Lucknow. It describes itself as a not-for-profit centre registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013, and it is listed as a recognised incubator on the Uttar Pradesh government's StartinUP register. Its work is aimed at turning research and design ideas into viable businesses, with mentoring, lab access and a co-working space.

What it does

The centre's host faculty says it aims to convert research ideas into economic units, or to add value to an existing product or service. It provides consulting, networking, business and technical services, initial seed funds, lab facilities, and advisory support, with a pool of mentors to guide incubatees. Its own website adds support with legal and IPR questions, investor introductions, pitch sessions, workshops and help after graduation.

Programmes

The centre's programme page sets out three stages. The Pre-Incubation Program runs for 8 weeks and is open to individuals and teams with an idea. It covers idea validation, market research, business model canvas workshops and access to mentors. The Core Incubation Program runs for 6 months and is for registered startups building a first product. It offers a dedicated mentor, co-working space, help building a minimum viable product, investor pitch sessions, and legal and IPR assistance. The Acceleration Program runs for 4 months and is for revenue-generating startups that want to scale, with growth strategy support and investor and industry connects.

The page does not give intake dates or an open and close window, so ask the centre before planning around a cohort. It says the Pre-Incubation and Core Incubation programmes are free of cost, and that some acceleration tracks may involve a small equity or fee arrangement, which is disclosed during selection.

Who can apply

This is the point to check first. The centre's website says students, individual founders and registered startups based in, or willing to move to, Lucknow can apply, depending on the programme track. The host faculty's own incubation page is stricter: it says anyone with a novel business idea can apply, but the minimum qualification is a graduate who is an alumnus of the university. The two pages do not agree, so write to the centre to confirm that you qualify before you spend time on an application.

The host page lists the industries it expects to work with. They include architecture, design, interior design, urban and rural planning, construction and construction materials, green technology, augmented and virtual reality in design, building automation, real estate, waste management and social impact. The Uttar Pradesh register classes it under creative industries.

How selection works

You apply online through a form that asks for founder details, startup details, a short description and a link to a pitch deck. The centre then screens applications for innovation and feasibility, shortlisted applicants pitch to an evaluation panel, and selected founders are onboarded into the matching track. The centre says the screening and pitch interview usually take 2 to 3 weeks. The host faculty says the screening committee includes faculty members, a subject expert and a prospective mentor.

Facilities

The Uttar Pradesh register lists 14000 sq ft of incubation space for the centre. The centre's site lists a co-working space, and eleven labs and studios in the faculty: an art studio, a computer and language lab, an environmental and climatology lab, a GIS lab, a library, a material testing lab, a photography lab, a recording studio, a survey lab, a virtual reality lab and a workshop. These are the architecture faculty's labs, which incubatees can use; they are not a separate equipment pool built for startups.

Track record

The centre's own pages give different startup counts, so none is repeated here. The Uttar Pradesh StartinUP register shows a startups count of 38 for it.

Who runs it

The centre is led by its Director, Ar. Gaurav Singh, within the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, whose Dean and Principal is Dr. Vandana Sehgal.

Location and contact

Navachar Incubation Centre is at the Faculty of Architecture and Planning (AKTU), Tagore Marg, C.S.I.R. Colony, Mukarimnagar, Hasanganj, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226007. Its office is open Monday to Saturday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and it takes enquiries at incubation@foaaktu.ac.in.