Incubation Manager

Anant National University; Gujarat; On-site; INR 2,400,000 - 4,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Anant National University in Gujarat seeks a Head of Aarambh Incubation Centre to lead startup incubation, mentoring, and entrepreneurship initiatives.

You will design and manage pre-incubation and acceleration programs, build partnerships, and secure funding while mentoring student and faculty innovators across disciplines. Reporting to the Head of Aarambh Incubation Centre, you will drive ecosystem collaborations with industry and government to accelerate design-led innovation.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years of experience in startup incubation, entrepreneurship development, or programme management.
• Experience working with startups, incubators, accelerators, innovation hubs, or entrepreneurship support organizations.
• Strong understanding of startup ecosystems, funding mechanisms, and business model development.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder engagement, and programme management skills.

Responsibilities

• Implement and manage pre-incubation, incubation, and acceleration programmes for startups and innovators.
• Identify, evaluate, and onboard students, faculty, and external startups through structured incubation support.
• Develop and manage networks of student innovators and startups, alumni startups, mentors, investors, industry partners, and ecosystem partners.
• Facilitate access to grants, seed funding, government schemes, and investment opportunities for student innovators and startups.
• Organize events such as startup bootcamps, workshops, networking events, demo days, investor connects, acceleration programmes, and entrepreneurship orientation programmes.
• Monitor startup progress through defined milestones, performance metrics, and periodic reviews.
• Support startups in business model development, market validation, customer discovery, fundraising, and commercialization.
• Coordinate with the Intellectual Property Manager to support student and faculty innovators/startups in IP protection, technology transfer, and commercialization.
• Prepare project proposals, reports, funding documentation, and impact metrics for institutional and government reporting.
• Coordinate with internal departments to facilitate student interactions, programme delivery, outreach activities, and institutional initiatives.
• Support branding and outreach through startup success stories, digital communications, social media, and ecosystem engagement.

Skills

Startup ecosystems

Entrepreneurship development

Programme management

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Master's degree in Management, Entrepreneurship, Design, Engineering, Science, Technology Management, or related

Job description

Anant National University, India's Premier Design University, is dedicated to training students to devise solutions for global problems through creative thinking.

Our DesignX way is unique in helping young designers develop a better understanding of the context we live in through community immersion, innovation and collaboration. The core of our pedagogy is sustainable design multiplied by a host of knowledge disciplines and technology to make problem solving impactful. Our multidisciplinary undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes in design, architecture, climate action and visual arts harness the knowledge from various disciplines and traditional practices to integrate it with cutting edge technology to address diverse challenges.

About Aarambh Incubation Centre

Aarambh Incubation Centre fosters innovation, entrepreneurship, and intellectual property development and commercialization by supporting startups, student and faculty innovators, as well as industry collaborations. The centre provides pre-incubation, incubation, mentoring, funding support, capacity-building programmes, and ecosystem partnerships to accelerate design-led innovation and entrepreneurship.

Reporting to

Head, Aarambh Incubation Centre

Job Type

Full Time

Required Education Qualification

Master's degree in Management, Entrepreneurship, Design, Engineering, Science, Technology Management, or a related discipline.

Years of Experience

• Minimum 5 years of experience in startup incubation, entrepreneurship development, innovation management, business development, or programme management.
• Experience working with startups, incubators, accelerators, innovation hubs, or entrepreneurship support organizations.
• Strong understanding of startup ecosystems, funding mechanisms, and business model development.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder engagement, and programme management skills.

Desirable Qualifications

• Experience working in a university incubation centre, startup incubator, accelerator, innovation hub, or entrepreneurship support organization, preferably in Gujarat state.
• Experience in mentoring startups or managing innovation and entrepreneurship programmes.
• Certification or training in entrepreneurship, innovation management, startup mentoring, design thinking, or project management.
• Experience in securing grants, CSR partnerships, or external funding for innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives.
• Familiarity with the state and national startup ecosystem.

Key Responsibility Areas (KRAs)

• Implement and manage pre-incubation, incubation, and acceleration programmes for startups and innovators.
• Identify, evaluate, and onboard students, faculty, and external startups through structured incubation support.
• Develop and manage networks of student innovators and startups, alumni startups, mentors, investors, industry partners, and ecosystem partners.
• Facilitate access to grants, seed funding, government schemes, and investment opportunities for student innovators and startups.
• Organize events such as, but not limited to, startup bootcamps, workshops, networking events, demo days, investor connects, acceleration programmes, and entrepreneurship orientation programmes.
• Monitor startup progress through defined milestones, performance metrics, and periodic reviews.
• Support startups in business model development, market validation, customer discovery, fundraising, and commercialization.
• Coordinate with the Intellectual Property Manager to support student and faculty innovators/startups in IP protection, technology transfer, and commercialization.
• Prepare project proposals, reports, funding documentation, and impact metrics for institutional and government reporting.
• Coordinate with internal departments to facilitate student interactions, programme delivery, outreach activities, and institutional initiatives.
• Support branding and outreach through startup success stories, digital communications, social media, and ecosystem engagement.

Key Skills

• Strong understanding of startup ecosystems, innovation management, and entrepreneurship. Knowledge of startup lifecycle, business models, customer discovery, and venture development.
• Familiarity with government startup and innovation schemes.
• Experience in programme design, project management, and stakeholder engagement.
• Ability to analyse startup performance and prepare reports, dashboards, and impact metrics.
• Ability to work independently, manage multiple priorities, and foster a collaborative innovation ecosystem.