IIT Ropar announces “100 startups 100 days” as official pre-summit event to the Indian AI impact summit 2026
Bahadurjeet Singh/royalpatiala.in News/ Rupnagar,December 11,2025
The Indian Institute of Technology Ropar is commencing “100 Startups 100 Days”, a national deep-tech acceleration initiative officially recognised as a Pre-Summit Event under the India AI Impact Summit 2026. The programme will be hosted on 16th December at the IIT Ropar campus, bringing together early-stage startups for intensive mentoring, technology access, and innovation support. The 100 Startups 100 Days initiative was launched by Shrikant M. Vaidya, Former CMD, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Chief Guest); Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman, Capacity Building Commission and BoG, IIT Ropar; and Prof. Rajeev Ahuja, Director, IIT Ropar.
The India AI Impact Summit 2026, announced by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, at the France AI Action Summit, will be held on 19–20 February 2026 in New Delhi. As the first global Artificial Intelligence summit hosted in the Global South, it marks a significant step forward in India’s leadership in digital transformation and responsible AI innovation.
By hosting “100 Startups 100 Days” as a pre-summit event, IIT Ropar is contributing directly to India’s national AI vision by strengthening deep-tech innovation pipelines, fostering entrepreneurship, and preparing the next generation of technology leaders for global impact.
The initiative is powered by iHub AWaDH a Technology Innovation Hub supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Annam.ai a Centre of Excellence in AI For Agriculture supported by the Ministry of Education, and the IIT Ropar Technology Business Incubator Foundation (TBIF) and is supported by prominent partners including Embassy of Israel in India, Reichman University Runway Incubator UPES (Uttarakhand); Centre for Computers and Communication Technology (Sikkim), ACIC GIET University Foundation (Odisha); Krishna Vishwa Vidyapeeth (Maharashtra); IIT Tirupati Navavishkar I-Hub Foundation; HDFC Bank & Canara Bank.
While speaking with the media, Prof Rajeev Ahuja, Director, IIT Ropar, shared “The programme identifies and nurtures promising startups in emerging deep-tech domains such as AgriTech, WaterTech, IoT, and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and will facilitate 30+ startups & innovators with grants and investment on 16th Dec, supported under GENESIS, DST NM-ICPS and Startup India”.
Dr Pushpendra P Singh, Project Director of iHub – AWaDH and Annam, have shared “As part of the 100 Startups 100 Days, IIT Ropar, iHub – AWaDH, Annam and TBIF jointly have supported 100+ startups with mentoring, investment, incubation and accelerator with the goal to leverage IIT Ropar’s strong ecosystem of advanced R&D facilities, expert faculty, funding mechanisms, and industry partnerships. The initiative aims to strengthen India’s innovation landscape in line with the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, Digital India, and national deep-tech capability building.”
By accelerating homegrown early-stage ventures toward market-ready solutions, initiatives supported by India AI, MeitY Startup Hub, DST & Embassy of Israel in India seek to catalyze India’s transition to a technology-driven, innovation-led economy.
