ISBACON 2025 to Bring India’s Startup Incubation Leadership to the Northeast for the First Time

Guwahati, Assam, December 10, 2025: The Indian STEPs & Business Incubators Association (ISBA), the country’s oldest and most influential network dedicated to strengthening India’s startup incubation ecosystem, is set to host its seventeenth annual flagship conference ISBACON 2025 at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati from December 10–12, 2025.

For the first time, ISBA is bringing its national conference to the North-East, marking a milestone moment for the region’s aspirations to integrate more deeply into the national innovation and entrepreneurship movement. The 2025 edition is themed “Enabling the Enablers for a Viksit Bharat”, underscoring the critical role of India’s incubation centers in powering the nation’s ambition of becoming a developed economy.

Largest Annual Gathering of India’s Incubation Ecosystem

ISBACON 2025 is set to draw more than 300 delegates, making it the largest annual congregation of India’s startup incubation community. Attendees include leaders from top incubators, policymakers, senior government officials, institutional investors, innovators, and industry veterans.

The conference will feature 20 high-level sessions, including:

Five panel discussions ,Three specialised masterclasses , A keynote address

Inaugural and valedictory ceremonies

A lineup of 37 distinguished speakers, including members of the ISBA Advisory Board, will deliberate on priority areas such as incubation excellence, emerging technologies, deep-tech commercialisation, advanced funding models, social impact entrepreneurship, and frameworks for building resilient, future-ready institutions.

Strong National Backing Signals Strategic Importance

ISBACON 2025 has received significant institutional backing from key government bodies and national financial institutions central to India’s innovation landscape. Major support comes from:

IDFC First Bank

HDFC Parivarthan the CSR arm of HDFC Bank

Department of Science & Technology (DST)

Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) through the MeitY Startup Hub

Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC)

By hosting the event in Assam, ISBA aims to deepen innovation links across regions, catalyse new capacity-building initiatives, promote policy integration, and drive cross-regional collaborations essential components of India’s rise as a global innovation hub.

ISBA: Two Decades of Enabling India’s Startup Growth

Founded more than 21 years ago, ISBA has grown into the country’s largest and most respected network of incubators and accelerators. With members across universities, research institutions, science parks, and technology business incubators, the organisation has been instrumental in shaping India’s incubation landscape into a structured, high-impact system supporting thousands of startups.

According to ISBA’s mission statement, the organisation is committed to:

Strengthening the incubation ecosystem through knowledge-sharing, capacity building, and policy advocacy.

Facilitating collaborations between incubators, government bodies, industry, and investors.

Promoting technology-driven entrepreneurship to enhance India’s global competitiveness.

Nurturing innovation at the grassroots to ensure inclusive and regionally balanced growth.

Its vision is to create a world-class incubation framework that fuels India’s transition into a technologically advanced, innovation-led economy fully aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat.

A National Movement, Strengthened by Regional Participation With ISBACON 2025, ISBA is not only bringing its flagship event to the North-East for the first time but is also signaling a shift toward greater regional integration in the national startup mission. The conference is expected to open new doors for entrepreneurs, incubators, and institutions across the North-East, accelerating their participation in India’s innovation journey.

For more details, visit www.isba.com