The result is a rare environment in India’s deep tech landscape—where access is not the biggest barrier.
By providing shared infrastructure, interdisciplinary collaboration, and incubation support, it lowers the entry barrier for deep tech innovation—especially in areas where upfront costs and technical complexity are high.
But that is also the nature of deep tech.
Yes, India is later than many global peers in building deep tech ecosystems—by nearly a decade in some areas.
And at that pace, it may not take long for Indian innovation to move from participation to leadership in deep tech.
On a quiet stretch inside the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, past tree-lined roads and dense green cover, sits a facility that doesn’t immediately announce its significance. There are no loud markers of scale or spectacle. But step inside, and the energy shifts.
The Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE) feels less like an academic department and more like a working system, labs running round the clock, researchers moving between fabrication and testing, and startups building products in the same corridors where fundamental science is being explored.
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Born in 2010 and formally dedicated to the nation in 2015, CeNSE represents a model India has long needed — one where research infrastructure, interdisciplinary science, and early-stage startups coexist and feed into each other. The idea is simple: reduce the distance between a lab discovery and a working product.
“We are designed to take ideas from concept to prototype,” says Kalpana Subbaramappa, Program Manager at CeNSE.
“Fabrication, characterisation, packaging, it’s all under one roof.”
What makes this model work is not just design, but support. National programmes have funded the creation of such facilities, high-cost cleanrooms, fabrication tools, and characterisation labs that would otherwise be inaccessible.
The India Nanoelectronics Users Program (INUP), launched in 2008, opened up access to advanced nanofabrication facilities for researchers, startups, and students across the country, enabling them to design, fabricate, and test devices without owning the infrastructure.
The result is a rare environment in India’s deep tech landscape—where access is not the biggest barrier.
Across its cleanroom floors and labs, that translation is already underway.
Reading the body, one molecule at a time
One of the startups emerging from CeNSE is working on a problem that sits at the intersection of physics, biology, and diagnostics.
AagamiSeq, led by CEO Divya Mohan Yadav and CPO Muddukrishna, is building solid-state nanopore technology for genetic analysis. A nanopore is a nanoscale opening that allows DNA strands to pass through one molecule at a time, with changes in electrical current used to read the sequence.
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Current genome sequencing technologies have already reduced costs dramatically — from nearly $100 million in the early 2000s to under $1,000 today. AagamiSeq is aiming to push that curve further — towards making advanced diagnostics, including early cancer detection, more accessible.
“Today, screening is expensive and often invasive,” says Yadav. “If you can detect signals in circulating DNA through a simple blood sample, you change how early intervention works.”
The approach relies on engineering pores at the nanometre scale—small enough to detect individual molecules. Unlike biological nanopores, which are fragile, solid-state systems offer greater control and durability. But building them requires years of process refinement.
It took the team several years to reliably fabricate and test these structures.
The potential applications go beyond diagnostics. Cheaper, faster sequencing opens up possibilities in personalised medicine, disease prediction, and population-scale screening. But the road to commercialisation remains long—requiring clinical validation, regulatory approvals, and scale manufacturing.
For now, the work continues inside the labs—incremental, precise, and deeply technical.
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Rebuilding biology in microchips
In another part of the facility, a different kind of problem is being tackled.
Pravaha Bio, founded by Sri Harsha Paladugu and Abhishek Mutnuru, is building microfluidic platforms that replicate human organ functions on chips. The goal is to improve how drugs are tested before they reach clinical trials.
Today, drug discovery is a long and expensive process, often taking over a decade and billions of dollars. A large part of this inefficiency comes from the models used for testing—animal studies and static cell cultures that don’t accurately replicate human biology.
Pravaha’s approach introduces flow into the system.
“Biology is not static,” says Mutnuru. “Blood flow, nutrient exchange, cell interaction—these are fundamental. Most current models don’t capture that.”
Their devices simulate miniature organ environments—starting with liver models—to test how drugs behave in conditions closer to the human body. Cells are grown within microchannels, and fluid flow mimics circulation, allowing researchers to observe drug response more realistically.
The immediate use case is preclinical testing for pharmaceutical companies. By identifying failures earlier in the pipeline, the technology can reduce both cost and time.
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But the long-term vision extends further.
In principle, such systems could enable personalised medicine: testing how a specific patient’s cells respond to different treatments before administering them. While that remains a future milestone, the underlying direction is clear: making biology more predictable, and drug development more efficient.
Rethinking energy with a new material approach
The third startup takes the conversation into energy.
Founded in 2023 by Laxman Gouda and five others, ABX3 PV is working on next-generation solar technology based on perovskite materials. Perovskites are a class of materials defined by a specific crystal structure that enables efficient light absorption and charge transport, making them promising for solar applications.
Unlike conventional silicon solar panels, which dominate today’s market, perovskite-based cells can be manufactured as thin films—essentially printed as layers using an ink-like process.
“It’s like printing solar cells,” says the founding team.
The advantages are significant. These cells are lightweight, flexible, and can perform better in low-light conditions compared to traditional silicon panels. They can be integrated into surfaces where conventional panels are impractical—building facades, windows, even lightweight structures.
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In satellite applications, perovskite-based cells can meet power requirements while reducing weight, helping secure India’s strategic sector with ABX3 PV’s technology.
India’s solar ecosystem today is heavily dependent on imports, particularly from China, across the value chain — from wafers to equipment. That dependence creates both cost and strategic vulnerabilities.
ABX3 PV is attempting to build an alternative—developing both the process and the equipment required to manufacture these cells locally.
The technology is still in its early stages of scale-up. The immediate focus is on building a pilot production line.
But if successful, it could open up new formats for solar deployment—beyond rooftops and large installations.
From drones and satellites to IoT devices and self-powered buildings, the use cases extend far beyond conventional energy generation.
A different kind of semiconductor story
What connects these startups is not just the technology, but the layer at which they operate.
Semiconductors, in this context, are no longer just about computing chips. At the nanoscale, the same principles enable entirely different applications—diagnostics, drug discovery, and energy systems.
CeNSE’s role is to enable this shift. By providing shared infrastructure, interdisciplinary collaboration, and incubation support, it lowers the entry barrier for deep tech innovation—especially in areas where upfront costs and technical complexity are high.
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It also reflects a broader transition in India’s technology narrative. For years, the country has been strong in services and software. Deep tech—especially hardware-led innovation—has lagged due to gaps in infrastructure, capital, and long-term support.
Facilities like CeNSE attempt to address that gap.
The long view
None of the startups here are building for immediate scale. Their timelines are longer. Their risks are higher. Their outcomes are less predictable.
But that is also the nature of deep tech. Walking through the labs, the sense is not of urgency, but of intent. Of systems being built carefully, layer by layer.
What is beginning to change now is the role of the state.
Government support is no longer just about funding—it is shaping direction, access, and ambition in sectors like nanotechnology, semiconductors, and advanced materials.
Yes, India is later than many global peers in building deep tech ecosystems—by nearly a decade in some areas.
But the catch-up is happening with intensity. If the past was about building capability, the present is about accelerating it. And at that pace, it may not take long for Indian innovation to move from participation to leadership in deep tech.
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