New Delhi
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlights India’s innovation potential before a global audience through the prestigious Bharat Innovates initiative in Nice, France, a significant effort to strengthen the country’s innovation ecosystem is taking shape back home.
The hackFront India Leadership Forum, held at the Constitution Club of India in New Delhi, marked the official launch of hackFront India, a nationwide innovation league aimed at identifying, nurturing, and accelerating student innovators, aspiring entrepreneurs, and technology creators across the country.
The event was organized by innovation-focused startup Where U Elevate and brought together policymakers, industry leaders, academicians, startup founders, and investors to discuss the future of innovation, entrepreneurship, and emerging technologies in India.
Parliamentarian Magazine joined the initiative as the official Media Partner, supporting the platform’s vision of amplifying conversations around youth innovation, entrepreneurship, and India’s growing knowledge economy.
Complementing India’s Global Innovation Push
The launch comes at a noteworthy moment. While the Prime Minister is leading India’s innovation outreach through Bharat Innovates in France, where more than 120 deep-tech startups, research institutions, and breakthrough technologies are being showcased before global investors and industry leaders, hackFront India aims to strengthen the grassroots pipeline that can produce the country’s next generation of innovators.
Drawing inspiration from Prime Minister Modi’s vision of an innovation-led India, the initiative seeks to encourage young people to become creators of technology and solutions rather than merely consumers. Organizers say the platform is designed to connect talent with industry, academia, government, and investors, creating a collaborative ecosystem for innovation.
A National Platform for Young Innovators
hackFront India plans to establish a structured nationwide network of hackathons, innovation challenges, startup accelerators, and mentorship programmes. The initiative aims to provide students and young entrepreneurs with opportunities to solve real-world challenges through technology while gaining exposure to industry experts, investors, and incubation support systems.
Leading the initiative is Rishab Ilwadi, Co-Founder and CEO of Where U Elevate, who envisions hackFront India as a national movement for innovation, entrepreneurship, and youth leadership. The platform is supported by an Executive Council comprising leaders from academia, technology, industry, startups, and public policy. Its Advisory and Mentorship Council includes industry veterans Amresh Khar, Dhiraj Tripathi, Founder and CEO of AutoBridge Ventures, and Dr. Alok Nikhil Jha, Coordinator and Head of Innovation at IIIT Delhi, among others.
Experts Highlight Importance of Bridging Academia & Industry
The forum featured participation from several distinguished guests, including Dr. Vinod Kumar Bind, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) from Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh, Shri Anshoo Pandey, Director, Ministry of Mines, Dr. Pankaj Tripathi, Thought Leader; Shri Vinit Goenka, Secretary, Centre for Knowledge Sovereignty, and Ms. Malgorzata Wejsis-Gołębiak, Director, Polish Institute, New Delhi.
Speakers emphasized that India’s innovation journey cannot be driven solely by research laboratories and boardrooms. Instead, they stressed that the country’s future growth will depend on empowering millions of young minds across schools, colleges, universities, and startup ecosystems.
A recurring theme during the discussions was the need to bridge the gap between academic learning and industry requirements. Participants highlighted the importance of improving employability, encouraging entrepreneurship, and creating meaningful career pathways for young people in both public and private sectors.
Industry and academic leaders, including representatives from Ksolves India Limited, iLink Digital, Havells, Metro University, Electropreneur Park-STPI, Amity University, KIET University, and Inderprastha Engineering College, underscored the need for structured mentorship, incubation support, industry exposure, and investor access for emerging innovators.
Building Bharat’s Innovation Decade
The six-month hackFront India Innovation League is expected to serve as a launchpad for promising ideas, helping innovators transform concepts into scalable businesses, employment-generating ventures, and solutions that contribute to nation-building.
Speaking about the initiative’s long-term vision, organizers said that while Bharat Innovates is currently showcasing India’s innovation excellence to the world, hackFront India aims to discover and nurture the innovators who will represent the country on global platforms in the years ahead.
By strengthening employability, entrepreneurship, mentorship, and incubation support, the initiative seeks to contribute to what many are calling “Bharat’s Innovation Decade”, a period where India’s young innovators play a defining role in shaping the country’s economic and technological future.