Tata Steel signs MoU with IIT Bhubaneswar and India Accelerator to launch TomorrowLAB Accelerator Programme for emerging startups

Mumbai, August 14, 2025

~ 6-month programme to focus on addressing challenges related to water, waste heat recovery, and robotics & automation ~

Mumbai, August 14, 2025: Tata Steel signed an MoU with IIT Bhubaneswar Research & Entrepreneurship Park (IIT BBSR REP) and India Accelerator (IA) to jointly launch a 6-month long TomorrowLAB Accelerator Programme for emerging startups, on August 13, 2025. This programme will go live in September 2025, and aims to empower startups, offering a tailored environment that nurtures their growth, facilitates industry connections, and accelerates their journeys

TomorrowLAB Accelerator Programme is planned as one of the initiatives under the MoU signed between Tata Steel and IIT BBSR REP in February 2024 to foster innovation. The programme aims to bridge the gap between academia and industry, creating a dynamic environment for startups to thrive while providing valuable resources and mentorship to turn entrepreneurial ideas into viable and sustainable businesses. Startups looking to apply for this programme should ideally possess a minimum viable product (MVP) and demonstrate early market traction.

Subodh Pandey, Vice President - Technology, R&D, NMB and Graphene, Tata Steel, said: “Tata Steel has been working with industry and academia partners for the last several years to accelerate our sustainability agenda. We see huge potential within the startup ecosystem in India where young innovators are working to build solutions for some of the most difficult business challenges. Odisha is playing a significant role in boosting the startup ecosystem with initiatives such as ‘100 Cube’. TomorrowLAB Accelerator Programme is yet another step in the same direction and holds great potential to become the innovation hub of Eastern India.”

The programme would entail engagement with startups across India. IIT Bhubaneswar will be the hub of all the activities, supported by India Accelerator. The key objectives of the programme are:

Facilitating mentorship, capacity-building workshops, and technical assistance for startups.
Providing access to funding, business advisory services, and commercialisation opportunities
Leveraging IA’s and IIT BBSR REP’s network for strategic partnerships, business development, and market access for startups.
Strengthening Tata Steel’s engagement with the dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem in Odisha and beyond.

The programme will also serve as a structured engagement for Tata Steel with startups working in areas relevant to its growth journey such as water, waste heat recovery, and robotics & automation. The Company will engage select startups from the cohort with relevant solutions for doing a pilot after the programme ends.

Tata Steel has also been closely collaborating with India’s and the international startup ecosystem under TomorrowLAB, the Company’s flagship start-up engagement programme, to address challenges in the steel value chain and other identified interest areas.

Disclaimer

Statements in this press release describing the Company’s performance may be “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws and regulations. Actual results may differ materially from those directly or indirectly expressed, inferred or implied. Important factors that could make a difference to the Company’s operations include, among others, economic conditions affecting demand/ supply and price conditions in the domestic and overseas markets in which the Company operates, changes in or due to the environment, Government regulations, laws, statutes, judicial pronouncements and/ or other incidental factors.

For queries and information

Sarvesh Kumar,
Chief Corporate Communications, Tata Steel,
E-mail : sarvesh.kumar@tatasteel.com

About Tata Steel

Tata Steel group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 35 million tonnes per annum.
It is one of the world's most geographically diversified steel producers, with operations and commercial presence across the world.
The group recorded a consolidated turnover of around US$26 billion in the financial year ending March 31, 2025.
A Great Place to Work®-certified organisation, Tata Steel Limited, together with its subsidiaries, associates, and joint ventures, is spread across five continents with an employee base of over 76,000.
Tata Steel has announced its major sustainability objectives including Net Zero by 2045.
The Company has been on a multi-year digital-enabled business transformation journey intending to be the leader in ‘Digital Steel making’. The Company has received the World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse recognition for its Jamshedpur, Kalinganagar, and IJmuiden Plants. Tata Steel has also been recognised with the ‘Digital Enterprise of India – Steel’ Award 2024 by Economic Times CIO.
The Company has been recognised with the World Economic Forum’s Global Diversity Equity & Inclusion Lighthouse 2023.
The Company has been a part of the DJSI Emerging Markets Index since 2012 and has been consistently ranked among the top 10 steel companies in the DJSI Corporate Sustainability Assessment since 2016.
Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur Plant is India’s first site to receive ResponsibleSteel^TM Certification. Subsequently, its Kalinganagar and Meramandali plants have also received the certification. In India, Tata Steel now has more than 90% of its steel production from ResponsibleSteel^TM certified sites.
Received Prime Minister’s Trophy for the best performing integrated steel plant for 2016-17, 2025 Steel Sustainability Champion recognition from worldsteel for eight years in a row, CDP 2024 ‘Supplier Engagement Assessment’ Leader, Top performer in Iron and Steel sector in Dun & Bradstreet's India's top 500 companies 2022, Ranked as the 2024 most valuable Mining and Metals brand in India by Brand Finance, ‘Most Ethical Company’ award 2021 from Ethisphere Institute, and ‘Best Corporate for Promotion of Sports’ recognition at the Sportstar Aces Awards 2024.
Received the 2023 Global ERM (Enterprise Risk Management) Award of Distinction at the RIMS ERM Conference 2023, ‘Masters of Risk – Risk Technology’ recognition at The India Risk Management Awards, and ICSI Business Responsibility and Sustainability Award 2023 for its first Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR), Excellence in Financial Reporting FY20 from ICAI, among several others.

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