NIDHI i-TBI (Inclusive TBI Ignition)

NIDHI i-TBI establishes inclusive Technology Business Incubators, often within universities and colleges, to nurture first-generation and student entrepreneurs. Selected innovators receive ignition grants, mentoring, lab access and incubation support to convert ideas into validated prototypes. Inclusive-TBI is a newer NIDHI variant (introduced 2022-23) specifically aimed at regions where the startup ecosystem is still nascent, prioritizing Tier-2 and Tier-3 host institutions and giving explicit weight to inclusiveness across gender, geography and persons with disabilities; DST has also run special calls targeting SC/ST founders and technology domains like assistive tech and preventive healthcare. Each i-TBI host institution runs a three-year DST-supported program combining ignition grants with lab access and mentoring, so the specific application window and grant size depend on which host institution an innovator is onboarded through.