CII CIES

ICONN Summit 2025 featured a series of important releases and recognitions, underscoring the growing impact of India's innovation ecosystem, including:

Announcement of Winners of the CII Startupreneur Awards 2025, celebrating the country's most promising early-stage and growth-stage startups.
Release of the report "Engineering Hardware Startup Ecosystem: Opportunities & Challenges", offering insights into India's DeepTech and hardware innovation landscape.
Release of the report "Democratising Access to Finance in India", capturing key recommendations for strengthening financial inclusion.
Launch of the "Women in Innovation" Compendium, highlighting the achievements and journeys of emerging women innovators across India.
The ICONN Ninja Demo Day Cohort 3 as a part of the ICONN Summit 2025, that brought together leaders from India and Japan for a high-energy showcase of cross-border innovation. The ICONN NINJA India Programme is a part of the Sustainable Global Business Breakthrough Ecosystem (SGBBE) project, a bilateral technical cooperation between India and Japan that promotes cross-border innovation, industry-academia collaboration, and sustainable business growth.
Inaugural of the Startup Expo at ICONN Summit 2025 brought together an exceptional lineup of 48 innovators, each showcasing cutting-edge solutions across high-impact sectors.

Highlights

Sectoral Sessions

Masterclass for Startups

Startup Showcase

180+

Corporate Participation

Report Release

Startupreneur Awards

Focus Themes of ICONN Summit 2025

Sustainability
Building a Greener, More Resilient Future
(Environment, Energy, Waste, Agriculture, Circular Economy)

Financial Inclusion
Driving Access to Credit and Financial Services
(Banking, Finance, Insurance)

Manufacturing Excellence
Powering Smart Industry for Global Competitiveness
(Industry 4.0, IoT, Automation, Cybersecurity, Predictive Maintenance)

These themes represent India’s most urgent developmental goals and offer unmatched opportunities for startup–industry co-innovation.

Shri D Sridhar Babu

Hon’ble Minister for information Technology, Electronics, and Communications Industries & Commerce & Legislative Affairs
Govt of Telangana

Mr Kris
Gopalakrishnan

Chairman
CII CIES Advisory Board & Chairman, Axilor Ventures

Mr CK
Ranganathan

Co-Chairman
CII National Startup Council and CMD, CavinKare Pvt Ltd

Mrs Manisha Verma IAS

Additional Chief Secretary, Skills, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Department, Government of Maharashtra

Mr Ashish Bhandari

Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer
Thermax Limited

Ms Nirupa Shankar

Joint Managing Director
Brigade Group

Mr Deepak Padaki

President
Catamaran

Mr Sanjeev Gupta

Chief Executive Officer
Karnataka Digital
Economy Mission

Dr Shivkumar Kalyanaraman

Chief Executive Officer
Anusandhan National, Research Foundation, (ANRF)

Mr Harsh Vardhan

Chief Digital Transformation Leader Apollo Tyres

Mr Ankit Kedia

Founder and Lead Investor
Capital A

Ms Jyothi Pradhan

Executive Director
Kanara Consumer Pvt Ltd.

Dr Harish Iyer

Director - Health R&D
Digital Innovation and AI
India - Gates Foundation

Mr Pravin Agarwal

Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer
BetterPlace

Mr Sridhar Sarathy

Chief Ethics Officer
& Head - Sustainability, CSR, Tata Capital

Ms Kirthiga Reddy

Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
Verix

Mr Sumeet Ahuja

Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Evoque Impact

Mr Ramesh Loganathan

Professor
Co-Innovation/Outreach
IIIT Hyderabad

Mr Kushal Nahata

Co-founder and
Chief Executive Officer
FarEye

Mr Vijayanand Samudrala

CEO/ President
Amara Raja Advanced
Cell Technologies

Mr Murali Pullela

Sales Director and Country
Manager (S&A), India
Synopsys

Mr K R Venkatadri

Chief Commercial Officer
Tata Chemical

Mr Praveen Dwarakanath

Designated Partner
Whitespace Alpha

Dr Raj Narayanam

Founder &
Executive Chairman
Zaggle

Mr Abhijeet Pai

President, Puzzolana
Machinery & Co-Founder
Gruhas PropTech

Mr Sato Yosuke

Senior Representative
JICA India

Mr Narayan Devanathan

President &
Chief Strategy Officer
Dentsu South Asia

Mr Chanukya Patnaik

Founder CEO
AI Planet

Mr Kentaro Okoshi

Representative Private Sector Development Group, Economic Development Department JICA

Mr Manabu IIDA

Chief Advisor
SGBBE Project
JICA

Mr Mayur Shah

Executive Director
Suzuki R&D Center
India Private Limited