Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: CREATING new opportunities for UAE students to innovate and launch start-ups, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on September 10 inaugurated the first Atal Incubation Centre (AIC) outside India at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi-Abu Dhabi campus.
Pradhan said he was delighted to see the institute evolve “from a concept to a full-fledged campus” and praised its role as a lighthouse of India–UAE knowledge partnership.
The AIC model in India is a government-supported innovation hub that provides mentorship, funding, and worldclass facilities to help start-ups and student innovators turn ideas into scalable businesses.
He said the new AIC in Abu Dhabi will nurture joint start-ups and research-led ventures by both Indian and UAE innovators and promote bilateral collaboration in deep tech, AI, clean energy, healthcare, and other sectors of mutual importance. The AIC, providing world-class incubation facilities, will also act as a gateway to Middle East markets for Indian start-ups and innovators, he added.
Alongside the AIC launch, he also unveiled B.Tech and PhD programmes in Chemical Engineering and Energy & Sustainability. Congratulating students for choosing the first overseas campus of India’s premier educational institution, IIT, the minister said he was confident they would “create new milestones for global prosperity and well-being.” The minister also toured classrooms, laboratories, and other facilities, interacting with students from India, the UAE, and other countries.
