Dehradun, July 2025 – The University of Petroleum & Energy Studies (UPES) in Dehradun is rapidly evolving into a startup university, blending academia, research, and entrepreneurship through a powerful ecosystem of incubators, accelerators, and innovation hubs.
🏢 UCIE & Runway Incubator: Startup Engines
UPES launched the Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (UCIE) to support students, faculty, alumni, and local innovators. UCIE operates the flagship Runway Incubator—a technology-focused startup platform that nurtures early-stage ventures:
- Over 250 startups across AI/ML, agritech, biotech, fintech, EdTech, sustainability, and more have been supported .
- Backed with more than ₹20 crore funding, and a ₹5 crore DST-NIDHI iTBI grant to establish deep-tech incubation infrastructure.
- Runway 4.0 cohort pre-incubation welcomed 100 startups, while a ₹4.9 crore DST-iTBI grant enabled seed grants, labs, co-working facilities, and 3D/AI/ML setups .
- A planned ₹30 crore accelerator fund aims to support matured ventures with investments ranging from ₹25–75 lakh per startup.
🤝 Strategic Partnerships & Research Hubs
- Collaborations such as an MoU with IIT Ropar’s iHUB–AWaDH are establishing joint innovation labs in agri-tech, water tech, and Cyber-Physical Systems in Dehradun.
- The Centre of Excellence for AI launched in April 2025—with a ₹50 crore investment and NVIDIA DGX systems—fuels research-to-industry pipelines across AI domains.
- Existing efforts under RISE, IoT, Cybersecurity, and AR/VR CoEs further enrich UPES’s innovation infrastructure.
💡 Impact & Vision
| Metric | Achieved/Aspirational |
|---|---|
| Startups Incubated | 100+ per cohort, 250+ total |
| Funding Raised | ₹20 crore+ |
| Grants | ₹5 cr (2022), ₹4.9 cr (2024) |
| Accelerator Capital | ₹30 cr fund in development |
| CoE Investment | ₹50 crore for AI infrastructure |
| Partnerships | IIT Ropar, DST, NVIDIA, Runway, UCIE |
UPES aims to become a full-fledged startup university, not just a job-creating institution. The focus is on transforming students into job creators, steering ideas into businesses and research into commercial applications.
🌱 Real Outcomes & Success Stories
- Cognecto (mining AI) and PensionBox (digital pension platform) have secured ₹2–4 crore funding, emerging from UPES roots.
- Grants of ₹1 lakh to 37 ventures, plus winners like ekatra (₹2.5 lakh) and INVIU Systems (₹1.5 lakh) from the “Take Off” startup challenge.
🔍 Why It Matters
- Education meets enterprise: Students enjoy hands-on innovation through real VC-backed startups.
- Regional tech uplift: Uplifts Dehradun and Uttarakhand with deep-tech infrastructure.
- National startup leadership: With DST support and cutting-edge facilities, UPES is defining a blueprint for private-sector innovation in India.
UPES’s ecosystem—from UCIE and Runway to high-powered labs—demonstrates a strategic university journey: equipping learners for careers in creation, not consumption.
