Deep Science for deep impact: a YourStory overview of path-breaking innovations from India

Change comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it is big-bang and disruptive, and gets everybody talking about it. At other times, it just sneaks in and catches you by surprise. But most often, it simmers and brews until one fine day, you see the result and wonder how long it took for that transformation to happen.

Deep Science is like that. Many of us have probably never heard of the term. Deep Tech, yes, because the world has been raving about it and within the startup ecosystem, there has been a growing demand for investments into deep tech-driven startups. But Deep Science? And in India? It didn’t seem like much could be happening there. But as we started digging deeper, we realised there is an entire universe right here – startups, researchers, incubators, accelerators, investors, and government initiatives – all working to create life-altering solutions that blend science and technology, quite literally like never before.

Indian companies in the Deep Science space

An Indian company is creating next-gen antibiotics to fight superbugs. Another is working to make 3D-printed corneas. A third has built a range of imaging technology inspired by the dragonfly. Yet another is building devices that saves lives from infections acquired during long hospital stays.

Those are just a few examples. There are dozens more, and startups across the country are working away quietly on solutions that answer the question: What if we could…? What if we could save lives by diagnosing diseases faster? What if we could stop polluting our rivers and wasting water? What if we could end the use of fossil fuels?

And for every one of those and other what-if questions, there is a startup somewhere in India, dreaming big and working on a solution that will one day and change our world to make it better.

And so, we decided to put together a report that provides some insights into the Deep Science ecosystem in India. We’ve just scratched the surface here. Consider this the first step towards mapping out this brave new ecosystem.

India has the research and development infrastructure in place, thanks to initiatives from the government as well as public-private partnerships. There is plenty more in the works, but there’s a lot more to be done.

There is a new breed of investors who are willing to put up the capital and be patient, because deep science solutions can take years before they are commercialised and generate any returns. What we loved was that several of these investors are entrepreneurs themselves!

And finally, we have the startups themselves. This report features 10 such companies working on ideas that are real game-changers in their respective fields. There are more out there, and we hope to feature them on YourStory on a regular basis.

[Download the report here]

Download the report and tell us if you liked it. (Or what you didn’t like about it, and what we missed out on, so that we can bring you better insights via articles on YourStory or in a follow-up report.) And we promise to keep getting better.

A big thank you to Nisha Holla, Consulting Editor for YourStory, who brainstormed with us about what the report should be about and has been a key contributor. This report would not have been possible without the support of some brilliant, amazing people at YourStory (do pause at page 2 to check out the team behind this compilation).

We hope you find this report useful. Do share your feedback by writing to [email protected] or through our social media pages. And thank you all for your immense support.