Centre to organize first-ever Startup India Innovation Week from 10th-16th January; check day-wise highlights ​here

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is organizing the first-ever Startup India Innovation Week from 10th -16th of January 2022.  This virtual week-long innovation celebration aims to commemorate the 75th year of India’s independence ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ and is designed to showcase the spread and depth of entrepreneurship across India.

Interestingly, in the startup world, 2021 has been recognised as the 'year of unicorns,' with 40+ unicorns added in the year.

India is emerging as a global innovation hub, boasting the world's third-largest startup ecosystem. DPIIT has recognised more than 61,000 startups as on date. Our startups representing 55 industries, spread across 633 districts with at least one startup from every State and UT of the country have created over 6 lakh jobs since 2016. 45% of the startups are from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and 45% of them are represented by women entrepreneurs. Startups have the potential to accelerate India's integration into global value chains and create global impact.

This startup and innovation festival's primary goal is to bring together the country's key startups, entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, funding entities, banks, policymakers, and other national/international stakeholders to celebrate entrepreneurship and promote innovation. Furthermore, to exchange knowledge on nurturing startup ecosystems; to develop entrepreneurial ecosystem capacities; to mobilise global and domestic capital for startup investments; to encourage and inspire the youth for innovation and entrepreneurship; to provide market access opportunities to startups; and to showcase high-quality, high-technology, and frugal innovations from India.

With the participation of States/UTs and various departments of the Government of India, the week-long programme will address key aspects of the startup ecosystem through interactive sessions, workshops, and presentations based on themes such as Academia & Mentorship Support to Startups, Incubation and Acceleration Support to Startups, Market Access through Corporates & Government to Startups, and Funding & International Avenues to Go Global. In addition, based on the identified themes, there will be various parallel activities such as Experience Booths, Pitching or Reverse Pitching Sessions, and Innovation Showcases.

The link to the registration for the event is https://www.startupindiainnovationweek.in

Highlights of the week-long celebration are:

• Prime Minister’s interaction with startups

• Result Declaration of National Startup Awards 2021

• Launch of Doordarshan Startup Champions 2.0 show

• Roundtable with Global Investors and domestic funds

• Launch of Open Network for Digital Commerce Digital Strategy

• Participation by Ministry of Education, Niti Aayog, Office of PSA, DBT, DST, MeitY, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, among other departments, in various sessions.

• Launch of ‘Fisheries Startup Grand Challenge’ by Department of Fisheries

• Pitching sessions and corporate connect programs for startups from across the country.

Key Day-wise highlights of the week-long celebration are:

Day 1 (10th January)

The week-long event will be launched on Day 1, 10th January 2022 by Hon’ble Minister of Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal in presence of Hon’ble Ministers of State for Commerce & Industry Shri Som Prakash and Smt. Anupriya Patel. Other eminent speakers during the inaugural session will include

• Anurag Jain, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade

• Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder & Executive Vice Chairman, Info Edge India Ltd

• Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Co-Founder & CEO, Urban Company.

Day 1 will also host a Panel Discussion on “Transforming Businesses Through Co-Creation" with speakers like

• Dr. Rajesh S. Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology

• Ajay Kumar, Secretary, Department of Defence Production

• Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman, Axilor Ventures

• Aditya Natraj, CEO, Piramal Foundation

• Sanjeev Kapoor, Celebrity Chef, Entrepreneur & Television Personality

• Shobana Kamineni, Executive Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals.

Sessions by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Open Network for Digital Commerce will also be organised on Day 1.

Day 2 (11th January) 

Day 2 will be coordinated by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and cover sessions on innovation, human values and sustainability and highlight innovative practices in higher education institutes. The Inaugural Ceremony of Day 2 will host addresses from esteemed stakeholders such as

• Anita Karwal, Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy

• K. Sanjay Murthy, Secretary, Department of Higher Education

• Dr. Abhay Jere, Chief Innovation Officer, Innovation Cell, Ministry of Education, Government of India.

Keynote addresses will be shared by Shri Sridhar Vembu, Founder, ZOHO Corporation as well as Gautam, Founder, FarEye Pvt. Ltd.

Several panel discussions will be undertaken on “Innovation, Human Values, and Sustainability” and “Best Innovation & Startup Practices in Higher Education Institutions”. Panel discussions will host eminent speakers such as

• Harshit Rathore, Co-Founder & CEO, Naccarc Robotics

• Vikash Mittersain, Founder & Managing Director, Nazara Technologies

• Shrikant Badve, Managing Director, Badve Industries

• Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT Kanpur

• Prof. AB Pandit, Vice Chancellor, ICT Mumbai.

Moreover, moderators of the sessions will include key stakeholders in the innovation landscape such as Prof. Anil D Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE and Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, Ex-Chairman, ISRO.

Day 3 (12th January)

Day 3 of this week-long event will also be coordinated by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and cover sessions on academia and mentorship support for the startups and student entrepreneurs.  This day will witness keynote addresses from eminent speakers such as

• Prof. K VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India

• Ankit Agarwal, Founder & CEO, Phool.co

• Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson & CEO, Salesforce.

Several panel discussions will also be conducted on Day 3 on interesting topics such as “Grey Hair Not Mandatory to Build Great Enterprises” and “Schools, Innovation, Games and Curriculum”. Day 3 will also mark the closing of the two-day AICTE programme with a concluding ceremony. The closing will be in presence of eminent dignitaries such as

• Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Hon’ble Minister of State for Education

• Dr. Subhas Sarkar, Hon’ble Minister of State for Education

• Annapurna Devi, Hon’ble Minister of State for Education

• Prof. Rajive Kumar, Member Secretary, AICTE

• Prof. M. P. Poonia, Vice Chairman, AICTE

• Dr. Abhay Jere, CIO, MIC.

Day 4 (13th January)

A Global Venture Capital Roundtable will be held and Chaired by Hon’ble Minister of Commerce and Industry. Additionally, the day will cover sessions on Indian Incubator Landscape and Incubator capacity building, Startup Pitching and several workshops on “Funding Avenues, financing support by banks, Govt. market access”. This day will also mark the launch of Fisheries Startup Grand challenge. Key highlights also include experience sharing fireside chat by Shri Deep Kalra, Founder, MakeMyTrip. A knowledge-sharing session on best practices by 5 states in market access, incubation, and funding, will also be conducted. Eminent speakers for the day include

• Parshottam Rupala, Hon’ble Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying

• Dr. Chintan Vaishnav, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission

• Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital

• Sanjeev Kaushik, Senior Vice President, Retail Branch Banking, HDFC

• Prakash Jaiswal, Vice President, Corporate Banking, HSBC

• Srinivas Ramanujam, CEO, Villgro,

• Yashish Dahiya, CEO, PolicyBazaar.

Day 5 (14th January)   

Day 5 will cover key events such as the launch of ONDC Digital Strategy (Open Network for Digital Commerce), panel discussion focussing on women entrepreneurship, startup pitching sessions, workshop on expansion strategies and fireside chats highlighting global market entry strategies and technology commercialization. Eminent speakers across sessions will include

• Prof. K. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India

• Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog

• Nandan Nilekani, Non-Executive Chairman, Infosys

• Gazal Kalra, Co-Founder Rivigo

• Padmaja Ruparel, Co-Founder Indian Angel Network

• Phalgun Kompalli, Co-Founder, UpGrad

• Rahul Garg, Founder & CEO, Moglix

• Manoj Kohli, Country Head, Softbank and

• Prashant Tandon, Co-founder & CEO, 1MG.

Day 6 (15th January) 

On this day, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is expected to interact with startups and address Startup India Innovation Week at 10.30 am via video conferencing in closed-door event. For this interaction, 150+ startups have been divided into six working groups based on themes such as “Growing from Roots; Nudging the DNA; From Local to Global; Technology of Future; Building Champions in Manufacturing; and Sustainable Development. The aim of the interaction is to understand how startups can contribute to the national needs by driving innovation in the country and how government can assist them with the same. This day will also include the announcement of winners of National Startup Awards 2021, recognizing outstanding startups and ecosystem enablers that are building scalable enterprises, with high potential of employment generation, wealth creation, and social impact. The event will be graced by Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles. The event will also be graced by other senior dignitaries such as

• Som Parkash, Hon'ble Minister of State for Commerce & Industry

• Anupriya Singh Patel, Hon'ble Minister of State for Commerce & Industry

• Anurag Jain, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

Day 7 (16th January) 

The last day of the week-long celebration will include events such as Corporate Connect for Startups, Panel discussions on the ONDC’s Made in India approach to drive inclusion, innovation & scale in Public Digital infrastructure and Urban Innovation via collaboration between Startups and Smart Cities Mission. Eminent speakers addressing various events on the last day will include

•  Avnish Sabharwal, MD, Accenture Ventures

•  Sruthi Kannan, Head, CISCO Launchpad

•  Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM and

•  Suresh Sethi, CEO, Protean eGov.