India's Innovation Ecosystem

India's Innovation
Pipeline Is Open.
Finally.

9.7 crore MSMEs  ·  1.5 million engineers  ·  One structured bridge to Viksit Bharat 2047.

From MSME problems to working solutions. ForgePoint curates real business problems through TOC-based diagnosis and takes them to faculty-led student engineering teams, AI-first, not AI-forced. Industry gets low-cost working solutions, students get real exposure, colleges get increased visibility and accreditation support.

Problem by Problem◆ Academia by Academia◆ Sprint by Sprint◆ Manufacturing◆ Robotics & Industrial Automation◆ IT & Software◆ Distribution & Retail◆ Working Prototypes◆ Demo Day◆ Problem by Problem◆ Academia by Academia◆ Sprint by Sprint◆ Manufacturing◆ Robotics & Industrial Automation◆ IT & Software◆ Distribution & Retail◆ Working Prototypes◆ Demo Day◆
Why It Matters
~30%of India's GDP
~45%of exports
11Cr+jobs, second only to agriculture

MSMEs are the backbone of Viksit Bharat 2047. Every unsolved problem on the shop floor is a brake on the $30-trillion economy India has committed to becoming. Fix the MSME shop floor and you fix India's growth math.

India's Problems Can't Find Talent.
India's Talent Can't Find Problems.

1.5M+
Engineering & Science grads completing a final-year project every year (AICTE)
9.7Cr+
Registered MSMEs with problems worth solving (dashboard.msme.gov.in)
<1%
Graduate projects that ever reach commercial deployment

ForgePoint is the bridge.

The gap is not talent, it is connection. Industry has unsolved problems. Campuses have technical capability. Neither side is reaching the other. ForgePoint connects the two: your problem goes to curated, faculty-mentored teams, and you get working solutions back, with the IP yours and delivery managed end to end.

Why ForgePoint

Working Solutions.
Without the Overhead.

Most MSMEs know which problems are holding them back. Few have the skills or the spare capacity to solve them. ForgePoint brings both.

Workingprototypes
Not reports or demos. Working prototypes on your problem and your data, with AI wherever it earns its place.
Parallel teams.Faster decisions.
Several teams explore different directions at once. Compare the trade-offs side by side and back the one that works.
Faculty-mentoredEngg student teams
Curated teams from engineering colleges and postgraduate institutes, guided by faculty and industry mentors.
We run it.You stay on delivery & ops.
We manage the teams, the schedule and the governance. Your involvement is a few hours, so delivery and operations carry on as usual.
A fraction ofoutsourcing costs
Priced for MSMEs, so solving a stubborn problem is a prudent bet, not a budget fight.
One Sprint, Three Wins

Industry. Students.
Academia.

Every ForgePoint sprint is built so all three sides come out ahead.

Industry

Low-cost, multi-directional solutions

Several faculty-led teams explore different directions on your problem. You see working prototypes, choose what to pilot, and own the IP.

Students

A deployment, not a project

A real problem, a real client at Demo Day, and a working solution with an industry reference, not a project chosen from a tutorial. Students keep authorship and portfolio rights, and leave with domain fluency. For a few, it's the start of a venture, with the ForgePoint network behind them.

Academia

Live projects and credibility

Industry problems for students and faculty, MoU-backed partnerships, and sprint outcomes that support NAAC and NBA accreditation.

How We Work

Curate. Design.
Deliver.

Every engagement starts the same way: find the real problem first, then solve it. A gated sprint, problem-first and outcome-tracked. Not a consultant report, not a vendor demo, not a hackathon that ends on Sunday.

CURATE
1–2 weeks · Problem & Team, Curated
You bring a technology, process or business challenge. Through TOC-based curation we find the real constraint behind it, shape it into a clear, ForgePoint-defined brief with success criteria, and curate the best-fit team from our partner colleges.
Selection is competitive. Being chosen means something. Teams arrive motivated, not defaulting.
DESIGN
2–4 weeks · Solution Direction, Locked
Teams translate the brief into a solution approach (architecture, feasibility, success metrics), exploring options in parallel and applying AI wherever it helps, before any build starts.
The brief is theirs to shape. Teams set the solution direction, and own it.
PROTOTYPE
6–16 weeks · Build → Demo Day
Weekly check-ins, faculty and mentor guidance, IP and NDA in place. A mid-sprint checkpoint where every team confirms direction. The sprint ends in a live Demo Day on real parts and real data.
At the halfway point every team re-confirms its approach. No eliminations.
PILOT
Pilot → Handover
ForgePoint plans, manages and delivers the pilot, working with faculty, students and industry advisors. Then we hand it over, with the knowledge transfer your team needs to run and extend it.
A real client and a real pilot. Not a certificate, a career moment.
Intellectual Property

Your IP stays yours.

Your problem, your IP

Anything built for your problem, or using your data and confidential information, belongs to you.

Your data stays confidential

Client data is covered by confidentiality terms, and everyone on the engagement signs a confidentiality undertaking before they see it.

Signed before day one

Every student and faculty member signs an undertaking assigning that IP to you, and waiving any royalty claim, before they join.

Nothing goes public unapproved

No patent filings on your IP by colleges or students. No publication, presentation or thesis without written approval, given after consulting you.

Pre-existing IP stays put

What each party brings in stays theirs. Reusable know-how that doesn't depend on your data is co-owned by ForgePoint and the college, with a perpetual, royalty-free licence for you to use it in your solution.

Colleges keep a non-commercial right to use the work for teaching and research, subject to confidentiality and your publication review.

Who It's For

More Ideas Than
Capacity, or Capability.

Entrepreneurs

MSME Owners

You don't need an in-house R&D team to solve a stubborn problem. ForgePoint brings faculty expertise, industry advisors and engineering talent to the technology, process and business problems you haven't been able to crack, at a cost built for MSMEs, not boardrooms. When the solution is proven, we hand it over and your team learns to run it.

Intrapreneurs

Corporate Tech & Business Leaders

Technology and business heads in MSME-sized companies, accountable for growth and results, where improvement opportunities compete with customer delivery for the same capacity. ForgePoint explores several directions in parallel. Your team reviews working prototypes, compares trade-offs and chooses what to develop or pilot, without pulling anyone off delivery and operations.

For example: CTOs · Plant & operations heads · Business unit heads

Leading AI in a GCC or IT company? See ForgePoint for AI →

A prudent investment in your business, and in the engineers of tomorrow.

Your challenges become real industry projects, giving engineering students practical experience under faculty guidance. Every engagement helps build India's next generation of engineers, and a Viksit Bharat.

AI in Practice

AI-first, not AI-forced. We apply AI wherever it can advance the business, and engineering where it can't.

See where AI pays off →
Where We Work

Where Our Problems
Come From.

We start where our live problems are, build depth, then expand. If your sector isn't listed, the model still applies.

⚙
Manufacturing
⬢
Robotics & Industrial Automation
▦
Distribution & Retail
⌘
IT & Software
Our Mission & Team

Built by People Who've
Worked the Problem

Vision

A structured, viable path for every MSME problem. A real problem statement for every engineering student. Together, powering Viksit Bharat 2047.

Mission

We enable India's campus engineering talent to solve real industry problems through affordable, curated, AI-driven innovation sprints, converting ideas into a working prototype, and beyond.

Kartikeyan K
Kartikeyan K
Co-Founder · Market Development & Industry Partnerships
28+ years of market development and business leadership across multinational industrial companies. As Regional Director at Intralox India, built India and South East Asia operations from scratch — USD 70M+ in new business, two new technology platforms introduced to Indian market. Earlier as Marketing Head (Abrasives) at 3M India and Sandvik Coromant. Leads go-to-market strategy and industry partnerships at ForgePoint.
Intralox 3M India Sandvik Coromant
Srinivasan Vaidyanathan
Srinivasan Vaidyanathan
Co-Founder · Sprint Operations & Delivery Architecture
26+ years across GCC institution building, Fortune 500 programme delivery, and strategic consulting. PgMP® · PMP® · Wharton ADP · BITS Pilani. Built a de facto GCC from 0→500 people and $100M revenue at NEC. Client footprint: National Grid, Arizona Public Service, 7-Eleven Japan (12,000 stores, $75M transformation), Voltas, Croma, PVR. Leads sprint operations and delivery architecture at ForgePoint.
Wipro NEC Goldratt Consulting
Prakash Doraiappa
Prakash Doraiappa
Co-Founder · Operations, Compliance & Governance
28+ years across finance, operations, and enterprise systems. Manages global Supplier Data Management for Oracle's Shared Service Center across 83 countries, leading a team of 14. Deep expertise in Source-to-Settle processes and P2P operations across acquisition integrations for Sun Microsystems, OFSS, and Siebel. Leads financial and governance infrastructure at ForgePoint.
Oracle Sun Microsystems
The founding team has collectively managed hundreds of people, delivered programmes worth millions of dollars, built organisations from the ground up, and navigated the operational complexity of large enterprises across multiple countries. When ForgePoint tells an MSME partner that a sprint will be managed, documented, and delivered — that assurance is backed by people who have done it at scale.

India's innovation deserves a path to market
— not a filing cabinet.

Sprint by sprint. Academia by academia. Problem by problem.

Unlock the Pipeline →
Get Involved

Work With ForgePoint.

ForgePoint runs on four kinds of partners. Pick your seat — or see the full ecosystem map →

Industry Partner
Bring Us a Problem.
A technology, process or business problem your team hasn't had the capacity to crack? We shape it into a clear brief, run the teams, and come back with working proofs of concept.
  • One scoping conversation to shape your problem into a clear brief
  • Multiple teams explore approaches in parallel; you compare and choose
  • A few hours of your time; ForgePoint manages the rest
  • A fraction of outsourcing cost
  • Output: working PoCs and a clear direction to develop or pilot
Submit your problem →
Academia
Connect Your Students to Real Industry Problems.
If your institution has students with the technical capability and the drive to work on real, unsolved industry challenges — ForgePoint wants to hear from you. Register your interest and we will reach out when a sprint brief matches your students' profile.
  • Students work on real, scoped problems from actual companies — not simulated briefs
  • Every sprint closes at Demo Day — a live client conversation, not a grade
  • IP and NDA frameworks in place from day one — no ambiguity for students or institutions
  • ForgePoint manages all delivery coordination — minimal overhead for your institution
  • Sprint outcomes are verifiable, industry-validated evidence that supports NAAC and NBA accreditation
Sector Advisor
Lend Your Judgment. Shape What Gets Built.
We are empanelling sector leaders who can validate briefs and mentor sprint teams. 4–6 hours per cohort — defined, bounded, and respected.
  • Review 2–3 briefs per cohort before sprint launch
  • One check-in per sprint team during the build phase — domain guidance, not project management
  • Named on the ForgePoint advisory panel — visible to all industry partners
  • Early access to sprint results and pilot intelligence before public case studies
  • Input on which problem types and sectors ForgePoint prioritises
Startups
Compete for Your First Enterprise Client.
If you have the technical skills and the drive to work on real, unsolved industry problems — ForgePoint is the arena. Real brief. Real client at Demo Day.
  • Register your team — share your domain, composition, and technical strengths
  • IP and NDA framework signed upfront: client-specific IP belongs to the client, and your pre-existing IP stays yours
  • Structured sprint with a Gate 1 pivot point and Demo Day with a live client
  • Industry partner pre-commits to a pilot conversation — a qualified lead, not a cold door
  • Sprint win = verifiable, client-validated output worth more than any hackathon certificate