India’s green boom isn’t just being driven by cutting-edge solar panels or the latest AI-powered grid solutions. Look closer, and you’ll see a less-hyped force at work: the quiet, persistent effort of ecosystem builders. These are the mentors, incubators, investors, networks, and communities behind the scenes, shaping an environment where climate tech entrepreneurs can thrive, experiment, and stumble without fear of failure.
What really drives India’s climate-tech rise
From conversations with founders to observing grassroots innovators in unexpected corners of India, a pattern emerges: Vision isn’t the sole factor that gets a climate tech startup off the ground. What really matters is the support structure—the ecosystem that nurtures ideas past the first spark, connects dots between government policy and local needs, and provides honest feedback along the way.
India’s climate tech ecosystem now counts over 800 startups, ranging from solar and electric mobility pioneers to agri-tech and water management disruptors. Many of these startups begin as humble experiments. Often far removed from media attention, but tap into a network of accelerators, technical mentors, and peer groups that help shape their trajectory.
The need for access, collaboration, and patience
When climate tech is in the headlines, the focus is usually on massive investments or unicorn valuations. But those who build the foundation, often outside large urban hubs, are the ones to know that the real currency is access and collaboration:
- Incubators in academic institutions give early-stage innovators access to labs and pilot facilities.
- Mentors from industry and policy spheres provide not jargon but real-world learnings on navigating regulatory and manufacturing challenges.
- Communities and collectives that foster trust, knowledge exchange, and sometimes attract the first paying customers. Often, critical for climate-tech startups to balance risk with returns.
This is further strengthened by deliberate government policy moves, such as the National Action Plan on Climate Change, production-linked incentives for green manufacturing, and schemes that reduce the risk for early adopters. While capital remains crucial, these non-financial factors matter just as much, if not more, in guiding fledgling ideas toward market-ready solutions.
WeNaturalists has launched a “Green Entrepreneurship Program” in collaboration with a couple of other renowned entities from India.
Converging everyone along for the ride
The journey isn’t about individual heroism. Real transformation occurs when ecosystem builders bridge the gap between city and village, lab and field, woman founder and first-time inventor, policy architect and on-ground doer. Some of the most impactful climate tech ventures now spring out of tier-two and tier-three cities, showing that innovation isn’t the preserve of any single geography or demographic.
But progress demands patience. The scale of climate and energy transition required for a country as diverse as India means iterating, failing, learning, and trying again with encouragement from those who have been there before. Long-term value is created slowly, by those who look beyond quarterly numbers to multi-generational impact.
What matters the most
When we invest in the builders of ecosystems, those who connect, mentor, and include India’s climate tech story becomes not just a collection of startups but a movement, one that is durable, inclusive, and impossible to ignore.
India’s climate future, then, will be shaped not by lone heroes but by communities of support. The ecosystem builders are the unsung catalysts of this transition. Enablers whose impact multiplies in every success story that emerges from their fold.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
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