IIMA's CIIE to launch India's first Water Accelerator program

With an aim to kick-start the ecosystem for water innovation and technology in India, IIM Ahmedabad’s technology business incubator - Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) - is launching the country’s first water accelerator in partnership with Asian Development Bank, Arghyam Foundation, Luminous Water Technologies’ Livpure, the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program, and the other reputed purification solution providers.

The duo, Nishesh Mehta and Mudit Narain from CIIE are going to lead the program. Explaining how the program will operate, Nishesh said, “The program aims to accelerate, nurture, and invest in early stage startups that have the potential to become scalable and competitive enterprises. Selected startups will be provided intensive capacity building, mentoring and advisory support by leaders in industry, government, academia and practitioners.”

Mudit further added, “This program is unique in several ways. First, the Government of Rajasthan is expected to review and award pilots to the top startups to field test their solutions. Second, the program is going to run a separate track to support non-profits looking to become financially independent or scale rapidly. Finally, it 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 invited from early-stage startups 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 program expects to select about 10 to12 teams.

Kunal Upadhyay, the CEO of CIIE, said “Promoting entrepreneurship in sectors that affect a wide cross section of Indians, in rural or urban areas, can be a strong tool to bring together local knowledge for proper implementation of new technologies. Entrepreneurs are able to capture consumer preferences, and this model will improve service delivery in India, especially in critical sectors like water and sanitation.” CIIE will also assemble leading water focused funds and companies such as Livpure to consider potential investment in the shortlisted 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. “Pioneering initiatives like the Water Accelerator program can help make this happen,” she added.

Rohini Nilekani, chairperson and founder, Arghyam Foundation said, “Arghyam is happy to support the CIIE’s Water CoLab initiative. Apart from all the work done by government and civil society together with communities, we need a sharp focus on innovation. New technologies for detecting and solving water quality issues, for making invisible groundwater visible for better management, innovation in water efficiency tools and so on are an urgent need. India’s water crisis is now unfolding at an alarming rate. Anything that can help stem the deteriorating scenario is well worth investing in.”

RS Rajan, MD, Livpure, said, “We are delighted to partner with IIMA CIIE Water Accelerator. The partnership would enable Livpure to engage with entrepreneurs spearheading the Indian water ecosystem.” The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) at the World Bank is the accelerator’s knowledge partner. According to Joep Verhagen of WSP, the program believes that private sector has an important role to play in the Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH) sector, and is looking to intensify its collaboration with innovative entities in the sector.