Financial Assistance for Piloting of Innovative Products & Services

Gujarat Government is making persistent efforts for creating a holistic innovation & startup ecosystem involving industry, academia and government. The Education Department, Government of Gujarat has extended the Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP 2.0) & allocated a corpus of INR 500 Crores to support early-stage student innovators and startups to develop their prototypes and venture into creative projects.

The Gujarat Student Startup and Innovation Hub (i-Hub Gujarat) runs various flagship initiatives to provide end-to-end support to innovators and startups. Under this initiative i-Hub Gujarat invites applications from eligible startups and innovators for financial assistance under its Product and Service Piloting Support Scheme. The scheme supports structured pilot deployments and field demonstrations of innovative products and services in real-world environments. It enables startups to validate technical performance, assess user acceptance, identify implementation challenges, refine solutions and business models, and generate evidence for commercialization, market access and investment. The initiative aims to bridge the gap between prototype/MVP development and wider market adoption and commercialization by supporting startups in validating and demonstrating their solutions effectively.

Financial Assistance for Piloting of Innovative Products and Services is a flagship initiative of i-Hub Gujarat designed to support eligible innovators, startups and entrepreneurs in generating critical technical, operational and piloting evidence for their innovative products and services. The initiative provides financial assistance of (UPTO INR 10,00,000) to facilitate piloting evidence generation, enabling beneficiaries to strengthen their products and progress towards conducting structured pilot deployments and field demonstrations.

Objectives of the scheme:

1. Facilitate market validation of innovative products and services.
2. Support pilot implementation with government, industry, academic institutions or other end users.
3. Improve product readiness and customer acceptance.
4. Generate performance data and user feedback.
5. Accelerate commercialization and market adoption.
6. Enable startups to secure customers, investments and procurement opportunities.

Who are eligible to leverage Financial Assistance for Piloting of Innovative Product & Service:

Any student, innovator, startup founder or co-founder, director or partner up to 35 years of age shall be eligible for the Pilot Support Grant if they fulfill any one of the following conditions:

1. Any student or alumni eligible for benefits under SSIP 2.0
2. The startup is registered under Gujarat ROC and recognized as a startup by DPIIT.
3. The beneficiary has availed benefits under the SSIP 2.0 Policy.
4. The beneficiary has availed benefits under any startup scheme of the Government of Gujarat.
5. The startup/innovator has availed benefits under any scheme currently implemented by i-Hub or is a beneficiary of any flagship program of i-Hub.

Stage of the product / process / service:

The proposed pilot shall be based on a clearly defined product, process or service that has reached a stage suitable for pilot deployment, field testing, proof-of-concept demonstration or validation in a real or relevant operating environment. Applicants whose innovation is at any of the following stages can apply:

1. Working prototype
2. MVP ready
3. Lab / limited testing done
4. Ready for field deployment

Pilots the scheme supports:

The pilot may be carried out with government, industry, academic institutions, private organisations, PSUs or other end users, and may take any of these forms:

1. Product piloting
2. Service piloting
3. Pilot deployment
4. Field trial
5. Pilot field trials and field validation

Financial Assistance for Piloting support as per Guidelines under SSIP 2.0:

IMPORTANT — PLEASE READ:

1. The financial support is for pilot study implementation with government, industry, academic institutions or other end users.
2. The proposed pilot shall be based on a clearly defined product, process or service that has attained a level of readiness suitable for pilot deployment, field testing, proof-of-concept demonstration or validation in a real or relevant operating environment.
3. The applicant shall have a competent team with relevant technical, operational and domain expertise to execute the proposed pilot.
4. The applicant shall submit a clearly defined pilot plan specifying the pilot site / host organisation or intended end users, objectives, scope of work, implementation methodology, timeline, estimated budget, measurable outcomes and key performance indicators (KPIs).
5. Wherever applicable, the applicant shall also obtain the necessary permissions, regulatory approvals, ethical clearances, safety certifications or other statutory compliances required for conducting the pilot.

Click here to download the Pilot Support Scheme FAQs

For any queries related to Financial Assistance for Piloting of Innovative Products and Services, you can email us at support@ihubgujarat.in