The third phase of IIC Regional Meet 2025 was hosted at SRM University-AP on December 02, 2025, bringing together the country’s innovators, educators, ecosystem enablers, faculty coordinators and student ambassadors across all Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to strengthen India’s innovation ecosystem.

The IIC Regional Meet 2025, a key event of the Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC) initiative under the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell (MIC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), was inaugurated at SRM AP in the august presence of Chief Guest Dr R Subrahmanyam, Former Secretary of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of HRD, Government of India; Guest of Honours Smt. P Dhatri Reddy, IAS, Group CEO – Ratan Tata Innovation Hub (Amaravati), Govt. of Andhra Pradesh; Dr Bijay Kumar Sahu, Senior Regional Manager & Head, NRDC, Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India and Sri G Krishnan, CEO – Ratan Tata Innovation Hub, Vijayawada.

The Meet also launched the flagship programme ‘Inno Tribe’, India’s first innovation-driven student-led initiative by the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub (RTIH) in Andhra Pradesh, connecting students and youth with the innovation ecosystem, particularly at the grassroots level.  Group CEO of RTIH, Smt. P Dhatri Reddy said that the mission of RTIH and Inno Tribe was to provide a playground and launchpad for all students in Andhra Pradesh to explore and experiment with ideas and become the first generation of entrepreneurs in their families.

The Central Inauguration of IIC Regional Meet 2025 was done by Prof. T G Sitharam, Chairman AICTE, through a virtual meet along with the other ten hosting universities of the third phase of the Meet – joining from Indore, Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru, Patna, Tirunelveli, Rajkot, Raipur and Varanasi. He stated that the IIC Regional Meet was a platform to showcase ideas and every institute must turn into a living laboratory that converts dreams into marketable products.

Chief Guest Dr R Subrahmanyam remarked on the need to position India as a Global Startup Hub for Innovation, Incubation, and Entrepreneurship, driving inclusive economic growth, aligning with Viksit Bharat by 2047. He remarked, “Innovation – is collaborative and multidisciplinary – it needs a human element, a scientific element, a technical element and a psychological element.” He encourages HEIs to nurture an entrepreneurial and innovative culture and extend opportunities to grassroots innovators.

In his address, Prof. Ch Satish Kumar, Vice Chancellor, SRM AP, stated, “The journey from a simple innovation to a venture is simple in paper – it takes a dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem of industry enablers, accelerators, pre-incubation and IPR support, venture capital to bring ideas into fruition.” He appreciated the dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem of SRM University-AP with the Hatchlab Research Centre, E-Cell and Next Tech Lab offering students and alumni of the varsity a platform to transform their ideas into viable business ventures, providing the right mentorship, resources, and support.

The event featured a series of insightful discussions, a display of 18 startups, 42 YUKTI innovation stalls, idea presentations by students and faculty, and 50 IIC poster presentations.

Dr R Premkumar, Registrar; Dr Krovi Raja Sekhar, CEO-Hatch Lab Research Centre; Mr Srinivasan Thirumalai, Director – Entrepreneurship and Innovation, SRM AP; Dr Navin Kumar, Assistant Director-AICTE; Deans, Directors, and Faculty of SRM AP also graced the event.