The Indian Institute of Technology Indore (IIT Indore) and Sir Padampat Singhania University (SPSU), Udaipur, jointly organised a two-day workshop “AgriXchange: Catalyzing Startups, Technology Transfer, and Commercialization”, on September 11–12, 2026, at SPSU, Udaipur.

Organised through AgriHub, IIT Indore, in collaboration with ICAR-NSRI Indore, ICAR-CIAE Bhopal and C-DAC Pune, the workshop brought together Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), AgriTech startups, innovators, industry representatives, academia, government stakeholders and investors. The programme focused on accelerating technology transfer, field deployment and commercialisation of innovative agricultural solutions while fostering entrepreneurship and partnerships to address real-world agricultural challenges.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Chunduri Sarada, Principal Scientist, ICAR-IIOR, Hyderabad, along with distinguished speakers including Shri K. K. Singh, Joint Secretary, MeitY; Shri Ravi Ranjan Singh, Director (Digital Agriculture), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Dr. Sanjay Sinha, FRSA, Hon’ble President, SPSU, Udaipur, Prof. (Dr.) Prasun Chakrabarti, Pro President (SPSU) and Prof. Aruna Tiwari, Principal Investigator, AgriHub, IIT Indore.

Speaking on emerging technologies in agriculture, Shri K. K. Singh emphasised the need to protect indigenous innovations through intellectual property frameworks before large-scale adoption. He said, “We need to protect indigenous agri-innovations through Indian and international patent frameworks before open scaling.”

Dr. Sanjay Sinha, FRSA, highlighted the importance of ensuring equitable benefits for grassroots agricultural stakeholders and stated that, “We need to ensure equitable value capture for the ground-level agricultural base—farmers, primary producers, and breeders.” He also encouraged SPSU faculty and students to explore applications of robotics, biotechnology and AI/ML in agriculture.

Prof. Prasun Chakrabarti emphasised the transformative role of artificial intelligence, stating, “The use of artificial intelligence will accelerate AgriTech startups by bridging advanced AI/ML research with practical field deployment.”

Through AgriXchange, IIT Indore and SPSU aim to strengthen the link between research, innovation, entrepreneurship, industry and grassroots stakeholders, accelerating the journey of promising AgriTech solutions from the laboratory to the field and the market.