IIT-M to Launch AI Venture Studio to Turn Research Into Startups
The venture studio will help researchers and founders to spin-out their ideas into the IIT-M Incubation Cell ecosystem
Chennai: The Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI (WSAI)at Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) will launch an Artificial Intelligence (AI) venture studio aimed at turning AI, machine learning and data science research from the institute into viable and scalable companies.
The venture studio will help researchers and founders take their ideas from the research stage to product development, market validation and eventual spin-out into the IIT-M Incubation Cell ecosystem.
The inaugural cohort will be supported with seed funding, cloud and compute credits, access to research laboratories and data resources, mentoring, an entrepreneur-in-residence and product-market-fit support, IIT-M has said.
The initiative will be led by the Department of Data Science and AI in collaboration with the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at IIT-M.
“At the Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI, our mission has always been to move AI from the lab to the real world. The AI venture studio takes that mission a decisive step further, not just publishing research, but building the companies that carry it into people’s lives,” said Prof. Balaraman Ravindran, head, WSAI, IIT-M.
He said the depth of research and the wider IIT-M ecosystem would enable the institute to build such ventures at scale.
Roopa Karemungikar, CEO, AI Studio, WSAI, IIT-M, said the initiative would focus on building companies based on research with commercial potential.
“We are at a rare moment where AI, world-class research, and India’s ambition are converging. The AI venture studio is how we turn that moment into companies that matter,” she said.
The studio will be open not only to researchers at IIT- M and WSAI, but also to academic founders from other institutions and external entrepreneurs with an AI, ML or data science venture or idea.
Applicants will undergo a two-stage selection process. A broader group will first participate in an initial training and bootcamp, following which a smaller number of ventures will be selected for the full studio programme.
Selected ventures will undergo a six-month venture development and evaluation programme, which can be extended by up to three months for ventures progressing towards an institutional funding round.
The studio will conduct two cohorts a year, with applications opening during the winter and spring cycles. Applications for the inaugural cohort will open on October 3.
The programme will provide selected teams with access to WSAI’s research laboratories, data and research resources, faculty and domain experts, structured entrepreneurship training and a pathway towards further funding and formal spin-out.
