FITT Forward 2026: Who will drive India’s Deep-Tech future?

India aims to build future technologies and FITT Forward 2026 questioned if it can develop them domestically. The two-day summit, organized by the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) at IIT Delhi, brought together industry leaders, policymakers, researchers, and founders on September 10 and 11.

The first day explored India's AI and semiconductor capabilities, while agriculture and startup-investor engagements took center stage. Industry leaders from Sona Comstar, Cadence Design Systems, and Maruti Suzuki discussed India's potential to build advanced manufacturing technologies. A key session focused on the capital required for deeptech, with investors discussing patient capital for longer development cycles.

The second day shifted towards space and biotechnology, followed by discussions on institutional capital for deeptech and SportsTech. FITT Forward also featured successful founders' journeys, such as InsuranceDekho's Ankit Agrawal, Delhivery's Kapil Bharti, and Polygon's Sandeep Nailwal. A five-hour closed-door Demo Day allowed startups to present products to investors. Two MoU signings took place, with FITT partnering World of Innovation and TechnoSport and AIC-IIT Delhi establishing a SportsTech accelerator.

FITT Forward aimed to move the conversation from innovation capability to owning and scaling technologies that will shape India's future. Prof. Rangan Banerjee emphasized that the next wave of Indian innovation will emerge at the intersection of research, entrepreneurship, capital, and national priorities. Since the 2025 edition, FITT had incubated over 280 startups, facilitated Rs 450 crore in funding, and commercialized 25 global patents.