The Embassy of India in Nepal organized an orientation session on Tuesday for the upcoming India–Nepal Startup Partnership Network (IN-SPAN) program — the first of its kind — scheduled to begin this December at IIT Madras. The initiative aims to strengthen collaboration between the startup ecosystems of both nations.
Radhika Aryal, Secretary at Nepal’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, attended the session as the chief guest and praised the initiative, noting that it would provide international opportunities for Nepali startups.
Held at the Embassy premises, the event was attended by around 100 participants, including representatives from startups, government agencies, business associations, the Robotics Association of Nepal, NAS IT, Fintech Alliance, AI Association of Nepal, and various academic institutions. Additionally, 60 participants from the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University (Pulchowk and Dharan campuses) joined virtually.
Professor Gaurav Raina, Head of the Centre for Human-Centric AI and faculty member at IIT Madras’ Department of Electrical Engineering, joined online to share insights about IIT Madras’ incubation ecosystem. So far, the IIT Madras Incubator has supported 46 startups, with 14 successfully commercializing their technologies.
Under the IN-SPAN program, selected Nepali startup representatives will receive fully funded eight-week training, mentorship, and internship opportunities at IIT Madras. Selection will be based on application evaluation and interviews.
Applications are open until November 15 (Mangsir 29) and can be submitted online at 👉 https://shorturl.at/Au8zh.
A similar orientation session was also held at Pulchowk Campus the same day, with 70 students participating.
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