A joint initiative by Telangana State Innovation Cell & Make Room India , i2E Lab : Innovation to Entrepreneurship Lab, is a hands-onĀ 14 weeks pre-incubation program designed to further youth entrepreneurship – to enable our youth to kick-start their startup journey . The program envisions strengthening Telangana as the hub for problem-solvers and innovators from across .Ā
The program brings in the right mix of workshops, mentor guidance, government & startup network to take Ideas to a viable business level.Ā The first cohort concluded in March 2021, saw 8 startups graduate. Together, the startups have raised about INR 85 Lakh in funds and market access supportĀ to build prototypes, launch pilots and test early products. .
i2E Lab is designed to enable youth entrepreneurship, with a special focus on early stage ideas with or without prototypes. i2E Lab will facilitate as a platform to experiment with ideas, learn by doing and turn those ideas into viable products.
Over the next 14 months, teams will get their hands dirty, delve deeper into the problems they want to solve, acquire new skills, and take their Idea to Prototype / MVP/ Proof of Concept (PoC) level.
Over the next few weeks, teamsĀ will learn, network & partner with global experts from across Asia and Europe, build product teams and adopt innovation tools to the problem they are contributing to solve and seek feedback from customers and mentors to constantly iterate.
The program will have 9 Modules spread over a period of 14 weeks, delivered online as workshops, panels and discussions. All sessions are outcome driven, with each module introducing tools and tasks that the teams will work together and further discuss with mentors to improvise the solutions.
We have ensured that you are able to build with us, solve problems and launch your enterprise. In our previous cohort our startups have secured grants and market access support – totalling over INR 85 Lakh. Our Startups are now piloting with government & smart city commissions; raised incubation & seed funds from incubators such as aIDEA – NAARM, IIT Hyderabad and AIC ALEAP.
Ā Our team works hand-in-hand with each one of you to help you select the right path, connect with right connections to build an action (launch) plan.Ā We are sector agnostic, previously we have enabled startups to build products in the areas of mental health, air pollution, urban mobility (traffic), female hygiene, farm mechanisation and agriculture- deep tech, social entrepreneurship and tech for good! We encourage rural, women and PWD entrepreneurs to be a part of our program and scale.
Highly subsidized program to test and validate your ideas
Telangana Government – Connect: to pitch & pilot your idea
Cloud Credits, Access to Co-working, Legal services at discounted price & benefits worth INR 4 Lakh
Trial & Test approaches for Market-readiness
Knowledge from innovators, entrepreneurs, industry experts at national & international-level
Access to prototyping labs across India (subject to COVID restrictions)
Continued support beyond the graduation- fundraise, pilot, market & customer-connect
Demo Day: Pitch for Prototyping/PoC Grant & Incubation support, to Incubators & Investors
We are keen to work with solutions that will solve & build for India – right from education to access to health care; from agricultural innovations to retail solutions; from reducing digital divide & income inequalities to creating new livelihood opportunities; from mental health care to mobile apps enabling local consumption – we welcome all!
Sector agnostic and invite ideas to solve for SDGs & Build4India
Most suited for early stage ideas, with or without a proof of concept
Tech / non-tech solutions
Both commercial and social business models are welcome.
The program is designed to help you fine tune your ideas – move up from abstract level to build prototypes and minimum viable product. Please note, the program requires you to either have a revenue model or build one during the program , a complete not-for-profit ideas / solutions are not a match.
We are now accepting applications for the second edition of i2E Lab. We truly believe in democratizing entrepreneurship and encourage everyone, especially youth from Tier 2 & 3 cities to apply. In case you need any assistance in filling the form, please do write to us!
The inaugural session of the program is tentatively scheduled in the third week of October, 2021.
Available seats: 25
We will be accepting applications on a rolling basis, apply today!
The program is completely virtual, barring a few sessions in prototyping labs (subject to the COVID restrictions).
Given the limited time frame, we will not be able to send in feedback to all the entries. We will contact only shortlisted teams.