IIT Madras Gopalakrishnan-Deshpande Centre wins International Award for
11th Annual Deshpande Symposium held in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Ideas are easy. Start-ups are difficult. We enable the transformation of lab-based research into robust start-ups that create impact at scale.
GDC builds capacity in researchers from STEM universities, incubators, research institutions, and corporates to maximize the impact of deep-tech research through scalable start-ups. By enabling faculty and researchers in STEM universities across India to commercialize their research ideas and innovations, we help them go from lab to market.
Coming Up
Register for our webinar on
Boot camp for early-stage start-up teams from
university labs, to search for the elusive
problem-solution fit.
Helps Principal Investigators to formulate a research proposal that is persuasive and outcome-oriented, and improves chances of winning that grant
An Entrepreneur-in-Residence program that pairs entrepreneurs with academic researchers to form a balanced team for deep-tech start-ups
Enables budding entrepreneurs at university-linked incubators and pre-incubators to develop their Entrepreneurial Quotient
A successor program to I-NCUBATE; Helps the founders of a start-up find a product-market fit and develop their start-up to a level of maturity acceptable to commercial investors
Team Meraki from IISc set out to address a widespread, troubling condition affecting almost a fifth of adult Indian women at some point in their lives. Urinary incontinence is a distressing medical condition wherein a person is unable to control the flow of urine. Clearly, such an ailment causes physical pain, social discomfiture, and a lot of psychological stress to the person concerned. When the Meraki team conceived of their innovation as a treatment solution to this problem, they were certain that all women affected would rush to avail of it.
Physiotherapy patients routinely perform a prescribed sequence of repetitive exercises as part of their rehabilitation plan. Recognizing the monotony that such patients experience, Team Robo-Rehab devised a robotic rehabilitation device that gamified physiotherapy exercises to make rehabilitation more fun. The team joined the I-NCUBATE program wanting to get clarity on how to develop their product better.
Team Tan90 comprised a confident set of Masters/PhD students from IIT Madras. They had won a student’s innovation contest with a cold storage box they had built. The experience encouraged them to think about building a startup around their innovation. They refined their technology with the guidance of a professor and they also joined the first cohort of the I-NCUBATE program under his guidance.
Drawing from personal experiences, Team Tattva Shodh from ICT - Mumbai designed a point-of-care device for monitoring conditions during pregnancy. The team comprising experienced researchers came into the I-NCUBATE program expecting to find customers and learn how to market their product.
Team Pico Distribute from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham were working on building a smart-city platform incorporating connected mobility, AI-based smart energy management and real time visualisation. The young and enthusiastic team joined the I-NCUBATE program, confident that they had a world-changing idea.
Team Theevanam was an ideal team – almost tailored for the I-NCUBATE program. They had two faculty leads, an industry mentor, and an enthusiastic entrepreneurial team that was technically knowledgeable. Through research in Biotechnology, Theevanam had developed a food additive that boosted the immunity characteristics of animal and human health products. The team thought that their innovation had wide application in aquaculture, poultry and human health products.
Team Thermelgy was an “experienced” team, in the sense that the professor (Faculty Lead) had already been through the I-NCUBATE program twice earlier with other startups. Besides three enthusiastic Entrepreneur Lead, Thermelgy already had an anchor investor, who was a successful entrepreneur in Thermelgy’s line of business, namely, energy efficiency.
About half of the current internet downtimes are preventable, say current reports. Yet, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are largely focused on reactive maintenance rather than proactive monitoring. This is what inspired Team Aakash from Vellore Institute of Technology to work on their idea to strengthen the internet backbone, one monitoring solution at a time.
Team Photoniphy from BMS College of Engineering, Bengaluru, aspires to take the idea of a wireless world to the next level with their concept of wireless power transmission. With the Internet of Things (IoT) becoming ubiquitous in home appliances, medical devices, and industrial equipment, Team Photoniphy decided to begin its journey by eliminating the need for batteries in such devices. Convinced by the concept, BMS college decided to fund the building of a prototype.
Arijit Majumdar and Ankita Paul were studying their fourth year of engineering when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out. They focussed their final year project on finding a solution to the problems of healthcare sector workers in tackling the pandemic. They designed an SNH Robot that could clean, sanitize, and assist hospital staff by eliminating the need for human intervention in high-risk areas. That was the inception of Team Pragati Tech.
Team Gravity from Shankaracharya Technical Campus was building an AI-powered microscope when they came into the I-NCUBATE program. Optical microscopes, the team felt, have several limitations – from causing stress to the user’s eyes and neck to consequential errors in readings. Team Gravity spent three months working on their innovation before coming to GDC.
Team Gravity from Shankaracharya Technical Campus was building an AI-powered microscope when they came into the I-NCUBATE program. Optical microscopes, the team felt, have several limitations – from causing stress to the user’s eyes and neck to consequential errors in readings. Team Gravity spent three months working on their innovation before coming to GDC.
Team AIvolved from Ramaiah Evolute has developed an AI-powered motion analyser that can detect Three Rockers and exact GAIT parameters without any human intervention. These parameters are critical to analyse any nervous system disorders. The team was inspired to work on the idea after realising that there are very few GAIT labs even in Tier-1 cities of India and the cost to set up such facilities was huge. Its solution, the team believed, would solve these problems in the sector.
The recent policy impetus and resurgent demand among the public have revived the market for Ayurveda-based products. Quality control has risen as the biggest challenge at this juncture, as markets flood with Ayurvedic products of innumerable brands. Team Anunaad’s innovation aims to capitalize on this perceived need.
The limitations of legislative measures in curbing rampant usage of single-use plastics prompted Team BFly to come up with a technology-based solution. It developed a material out of chitosan – a compound derived from the hard outer skeleton of shellfish – which could be used to package food products and commodities.
Team CapiTech from Ramaiah Institute of Technology was building a non-invasive, pre-screening tool for diabetic retinopathy when it came to GDC. The technology uses the Nailfold capillaroscopy (NFC) imaging method to evaluate changes in the vascular structure of patients with retinopathy. Using Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, the technology can differentiate capillaries as healthy or diabetic. The method is simple, non-invasive, and inexpensive.
Team GlyZy from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru has perfected a technology to produce high-value flavonoids from the synthetic microbial platform. The technology, the team believes, will be a sustainable replacement to the current cost-intensive extraction of flavonoids from plants. The team entered the I-NCUBATE program when it was in the final stages of building its prototype.
Team IntELCoM from NIT, Andhra Pradesh is building a technology to monitor and control the consumption of electricity by appliances using the existing power lines. Their product is an intelligent switch that can be used to turn devices on or off from remote locations. The switch can also monitor and control power consumption by individual appliances. Unlike other smart switches in the market, which work via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, IntELCoM’s solution uses existing power lines and hence does not face any connectivity issues.
ROHA Biotech from IIT Madras Bio-Incubator was developing a biodegradable packaging material by harnessing the weaving properties of mushroom mycelium, and by using agricultural waste, such as sugarcane bagasse, cereal hay, and sawdust.
Wound management is an area of study that garners considerable research interest. Scientists are working on inventing comprehensive solutions for tissue regeneration, chronic wound dressing, biofilm control, and anti-scar healing. Team SeaValor was developing a wound management solution based on seaweeds, which enhances healing in an eco-friendly manner.
Team Agriyan from IIT Bombay was developing an ‘agribot’ to help farmers tide over labour scarcity by mechanising the spraying of chemicals in fields. Before coming to GDC, the startup had spoken to about 50 farmers and identified three problems – labour shortage, low penetration of technology in agriculture, and the need for a solution for bulk spraying of chemicals.
Team Meredio from IIIT Delhi came to GDC with an idea to build a super-app, a one-stop solution, to address various micro-needs of college students. Soon after attending the first few sessions, the team realised that they were attempting to address a wide array of problems. As a result, they were unable to clearly define their customer segment.
Team Wimpy from Vellore Institute of Technology came to the I-NCUBATE program with a patented idea – a smart pill bottle built with touchpoint technology that can detect and identify medicines when placed on top of a smartphone. The innovation, the team believed, would help senior citizens remember to take their daily medicines without human intervention.
Team Future Health from BITS Pilani had developed a speech to text conversion application for medical practitioners.
Team Dwija, led by a practising dentist, is developing an eco-friendly, biocompatible teether for toddlers.
Team Gray Walk from Vellore Institute of Technology assumed exercising was a boring activity, and that most people who worked out lost motivation sooner or later. They developed a Bluetooth-enabled Immersive Technology platform to gamify workouts, making them an interesting activity for those leading a sedentary lifestyle.
Team Antriksh Labs is building an autonomous platform to handle complex Artificial Intelligence (AI) use cases across industries.
Team Emids has built an on-demand connectivity platform for real-time subject monitoring.
TXR Solutions from Thiagarajar College of Engineering has built a VR-based head-mounted device to help people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) develop their social skills through perception-based learning processes.
Team Greentech AM Lab from IIT BHU published a research paper on building a portable, affordable, solar cooker that is suitable for Indian environmental conditions. To ensure that the benefits of the research reach the community, the team continued with product development and enrolled on the I-NCUBATE program to take it to market. The team aspired to see their cooker in rural homes that are still dependent on Chulhas, or the traditional Indian cooking stoves.
Team TECSERS from Thiagarajar College of Engineering is developing an eco-friendly process for plating on plastics. Electroplated plastics are widely used to make automobile body parts. While the conventional method of doing it is expensive and highly time-consuming, the team’s innovation holds the promise to make the process efficient.
Team AIDesign from IIT Madras, found out the hard way that the business world is far different from the technical world. The team found out that these worlds completely run on different motivations and perspectives when they entered the I-NCUBATE program. AIDesign specializes in building physics-less models using Artificial intelligence based algorithms instead of physics based conventional numerical solvers to solve complex engineering simulation problems at a billionfold faster rate with simple computational resources.
Air quality is a ragging problem in the metropolitan cities of India over the last few decades . Team Air Quality Patrol aims to solve this particular issue by establishing a low-cost sensor-based network for air quality monitoring and development of self calibration protocols in urban centers in pursuit of cleaner air.
Bion is a team of researchers from IITM and Anna University. They prototyped a smart wearable device to monitor the electrolyte imbalance level during Dialysis. To commercialize it, they enrolled in the GDC I-NCUBATE program.
Team ImLab aims to improve proctology diagnosis devices Ergonomics Design, Enhanced Visual and Physical Accessibility and Economy in cost. They joined the GDC I-NCUBATE program to gain better understanding of the market and also to get feedback from Doctors regarding their vision.
Team Aurava’s idea is to print a metal based electronic circuit with its polymer housing, called a smart electronic structure. As a PhD in UTSAAH Lab, CPDM, we are doing research to design and develop a 3D metal printer using a novel technique to print electronic structures in 3D. They joined the I-NCUBATE program to find the validity for their product in the market. They met around 15 entrepreneurs at the Elevate Karnataka Finale and got to know that the entrepreneurs make only one or two prototypes, either outsource the PCB or get the prototype done by the prototype manufacturers.
Team Raydius aims at building a two way digital platform where content consumers get instant access to happenings in their neighborhood and Producers post about themselves to reach people in their vicinity. Their initial assumptions were that content consumers want to know about neighborhood activities and they cannot find them in one place. They also assumed that the content producers weren’t tech savvy and hugely relied on banners, leaflets etc.
Team DesIN from IIT, Hyderabad aims to make toys. The scenario of the Indian toy industry is as follows: minuscule global presence, rising exports, government initiatives to support the industry. The Indian market is set to become the global toy hub by 2030 and the market is hugely unorganized. The team thought they would make use of this scenario to make innovative educational toys with 3M glass bubbles mixed with ABS. The team wanted to set this idea into motion and joined GDC. That’s when they realized that they were progressing at a very slow phase making shallow assumptions. Four weeks into the I-NCUBATE program, all of their initial assumptions and value propositions got invalidated.
Feel Joy is a mentor health start-up. The CEO, Parav, struggled with dyslexia at school and he was almost about to drop out, but he was fortunate enough to have found a few mentors who helped me learn differently. He discovered that these mentors had emotional intelligence. This motivated the CEO to study about emotional intelligence for nearly 10 years, which gave him the idea to start FeelJoy.
Flow Tech Pharma got a chance to discover the formulation of ointments and creams while working on a consultancy project in IIT, Bombay. They realized that the traditional one pot manufacturing method makes these creams more prone to texture issues
Karthik and Dhanushya are the founders of Neurostellar Mental health crisis is a bigger pandemic than covid. This made team Neurostellar to come up with a smart wearable headband that detects stress accurately and suggests personalized solutions to reduce stress.
Curium is an unlikely combination of aggressive surgeons and deep learning nerds. These surgeons often do hernia surgery. Some of these Hernias are small, some are big and some can be recurring. Hernias recur as the doctors don’t have enough information in the CT scan before they operate. They also have limited information during and after the surgery. It could be tedious determining whether the hernia could recur or not.
Gopalakrishnan-Deshpande Centre
for Innovation and Entrepreneurship,
IC & SR Building, II Floor - Annexe,
IIT Madras, Chennai - 600 036
© All rights reserved. www.gdciitm.org