Three CSIR Labs and Venture Center to Host CSIR Start-up Conclave 2025 in Mumbai
The CSIR Start-up Conclave 2025, to be held on May 20–21 at the NESCO Center in Mumbai, is a national event bringing together deep-tech startups, scientific researchers, industry leaders, and policymakers to celebrate and advance science-based entrepreneurship in India.
The two-day conclave is being jointly organized by premier CSIR labs — CSIR-NCL (Pune),
CSIR-NIO (Goa), and CSIR-NEERI (Nagpur). Venture Center, Pune, a leading science and
technology incubator, is proud to participate as the official incubator partner for the
conclave. The event is part of a national effort to promote commercialization of CSIR
technologies, foster collaborations between research and industry, and build a robust
innovation ecosystem across sectors.
The inaugural session will feature addresses by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble Minister of State
(Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, Government of India, and Shri Devendra
Fadnavis, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra. On the second day, participants will hear
from Hon’ble Shri Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Other key dignitaries expected to attend include Dr. N. Kalaiselvi, Director General of CSIR, the directors of the three organizing CSIR labs, as well as other invited celebrities and senior government officials.
One of the most anticipated elements of the conclave is the Pitch Darbar, a high-energy
“Shark Tank”-style segment where selected startups will present their innovations to a panel of esteemed investors. This session aims to offer founders a valuable opportunity to gain visibility, receive direct feedback, and explore funding prospects. In addition, over 50 startups supported by the three CSIR labs and Venture Center will be showcasing their innovations across diverse sectors including healthcare, diagnostics, sustainability, environmental science, and advanced materials.
“Conclaves like these create a valuable confluence of innovation and impact,” said Dr.
Premnath, Director of Venture Center. “We are proud to support startups working on
solutions rooted in science and engineering, and to help them connect with collaborators,
investors, and national networks. The CSIR Start-up Conclave offers exactly the kind of
visibility and access that early-stage science-based ventures need to scale.”
In addition to the startup showcase, the conclave will host focused technical sessions on
marine robotics, environmental technologies, and biomanufacturing. The exhibition will be
open to the public on May 21, offering an opportunity for students, aspiring entrepreneurs,
and innovation enthusiasts to engage with cutting-edge technologies and early-stage
companies, and the people behind them.
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About Venture Center:
Venture Center is a national award winning deep tech and science-based business incubator
approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt of India. It aims to nucleate and
nurture knowledge based enterprises. It does this by creating and maintaining a rich and
supportive ecosystem for inventive enterprises that includes a large mentor network, funding options including seed funds and CSR grants, scientific/ analytical/ prototyping facilities, specialized advisory capabilities, numerous events etc. It empowers scientists, engineers, clinicians and other knowledge workers to take their ideas from lab to market.
It is structured as an independent, non-profit company and charitable organization that is
hosted by CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. Venture Center was founded in 2007,
and is recognized and supported by DST-NSTEDB and BIRAC. Venture Center has been
recognized with the National Award for Technology Business Incubators (2015), AABI (Asian) Incubator of the Year Award (2018), National Entrepreneurship Award under Ecosystem Builder Category (2019), Biospectrum No 1 Bioincubator of India (2022), National Award for Incubators for Nurturing IP (2021 & 2022), “Incubator of the Year” award from the Pune Management Association and most recently the inaugural CII-AMTZ MedTech Quality Champion Awards 2024 at the 32nd Excellence Summit(2024).
For more information: www.venturecenter.co.in
For media inquiries, please contact: Pinky Raychaudhuri at 7028020864 or
pinky@venturecenter.co.in
