ISBACON 2025 Opens at IIT Guwahati With Focus on ‘Enabling the Enablers for a Viksit Bharat’

Guwahati, December 10, 2025: ISBACON 2025, the 17th annual conference of the Indian STEPs & Business Incubators Association (ISBA), opened today at the IIT Guwahati campus, marking a milestone moment as the premier gathering of India’s incubation ecosystem comes to the North-East for the first time. With the central theme “Enabling the Enablers for a Viksit Bharat,” the conference aims to amplify the role of incubators in driving India’s innovation-led development agenda.

The three-day event is hosted by IITG BioNEST, one of the region’s leading deep-tech incubation ecosystems. The organisers welcomed delegates, policymakers, investors, and innovators from across India reflecting ISBA’s position as the nation’s largest network of incubators, representing nearly 50% of all incubation centres, all registered as Section 8 entities.

The inaugural session commenced with the Welcome Address by Dr. Swapnil Sinha, Convenor of ISBACON 2025, ISBA Governing Body Member, and CEO of BioNEST IIT Guwahati. In her remarks, Dr. Sinha noted that bringing ISBACON to Assam “strengthens regional innovation linkages and widens the national incubator community’s collaborative footprint.”

Mr. Prasad Menon, President of ISBA, delivered the Opening Remarks, highlighting ISBA’s two-decade journey in building a structured incubation framework that has supported thousands of technology-led ventures. He emphasised the critical responsibility of incubators as “institutional enablers” that shape the entrepreneurial aspirations of a young and ambitious nation.

The day’s first panel discussion, “ISBA@20 The Incredible Journey,” reflected on ISBA’s evolution into India’s most influential incubation body. The session was anchored by Dr. Ramakrishna B.S., CEO of ASPIRE-TBI, and moderated by Mr. Menon. Speakers outlined the growth of India’s innovation ecosystem and stressed the need for capacity building, policy integration, and strong institutional leadership to propel India into the league of globally competitive innovation economies.

More than 300 delegates are attending ISBACON 2025, which features 20 curated sessions, five panel discussions, three masterclasses, keynote lectures, and multiple networking opportunities. The event is supported by national institutions including DST, MeitY Startup Hub, BIRAC, IDFC First Bank, and HDFC Parivarthan.

Established over 21 years ago, ISBA has played a pivotal role in transforming incubation into a high-impact mechanism for entrepreneurship development. As the conference unfolds, ISBA aims to further strengthen collaboration among incubators, government bodies, and industry as India steers toward its vision of becoming a Viksit Bharat by 2047