With the aim to kick-start the ecosystem for water innovation and technology in India, the IIM-Ahmedabad’s technology business incubator, Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), will launch the country’s first water accelerator in partnership with global organisations.
These organisations are the Asian Development Bank, Rohini Nilekani’s Arghyam Foundation, Luminous Water Technologies’ Livpure, the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Programme, and the other purification solution providers.
Nishesh Mehta and Mudit Narain from CIIE would lead the programme that aims to accelerate, nurture, and invest in early stage start-ups that have the potential to become scalable and competitive enterprises.
Selected start-ups will be provided intensive capacity building, mentoring and advisory support by leaders in industry, government, academia and practitioners.
The Rajasthan Government is expected to review and award pilots to the top start-ups to field test their solutions. The programme would run a separate track to support non-profit organisations looking to become financially independent or scale up rapidly and also invites passionate individuals looking to venture out in the water and sanitation sector and plug them into existing companies to launch new products.
Applications for this accelerator will be received by July 26 from early stage start-ups working on breakthrough technologies and business models in various areas such as water supply, sanitation, treatment and purification, water management and mobile technology, irrigation and Internet of Things. The programme expects to select about 10 to 12 teams.
Kunal Upadhyay, CEO of CIIE, said CIIE will also assemble leading water focused funds and companies such as Livpure to consider potential investment in the short-listed ventures. “More than 100 million people in India live in places where water is severely polluted. It is absolutely critical to find and support promising entrepreneurs in India to develop and scale breakthrough solutions to help address water scarcity and climate challenges,” said Dr. Xuedu Lu, Advisor from ADB's Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department.