India's AI-Focused Innovation Sprint Network

India's Innovation
Pipeline Is Open.
Finally.

5.7 crore MSMEs  ·  1.5 million graduates  ·  One structured bridge. Starting now.

India's MSMEs have operational problems they've learned to live with — not because solutions don't exist, but because the right technology has never been applied. ForgePoint changes that. We diagnose your operational challenge, build an AI solution using India's best AI talent, and validate it on your shop floor — in 12–16 weeks. AI isn't where we end up. It's where we start.

The talent pipeline and the industry pipeline both exist. What has never existed is the structured bridge between them.
Bring a Problem → See How It Works
Problem by Problem◆ Academia by Academia◆ Sprint by Sprint◆ Manufacturing◆ Textiles & Apparel◆ Distribution & Retail◆ Food Processing & Agri-Tech◆ Working Prototypes◆ Demo Day◆ Problem by Problem◆ Academia by Academia◆ Sprint by Sprint◆ Manufacturing◆ Textiles & Apparel◆ Distribution & Retail◆ Food Processing & Agri-Tech◆ Working Prototypes◆ Demo Day◆
The Problem

India's Best Engineers Are Solving
Problems That Don't Matter.

1.5M+
Engineering & Science grads completing a final-year project every year (AICTE)
5.7Cr+
Registered MSMEs seeking affordable R&D (Udyam, 2024)
<1%
Graduate projects that ever reach commercial deployment

The MSME Side

India's MSMEs sit on unsolved operational and technical problems — automation they cannot deploy, AI they cannot afford to explore, process inefficiencies that consultants would charge lakhs to address. Their budget does not extend to formal R&D. Their networks do not reach the right talent.

The real blocker is structural: no credible way to act, individuals who absorb the risk of failed pilots, and innovation that is always optional when production targets are not.

The Academia Side

1.5 million engineering and science graduates complete a final-year project every year. Less than 1% reach commercial deployment. The rest are graded, filed, and forgotten. Students build what influencers suggest — not what industry needs. The talent is ready. It just has no direction.

The gap is not talent. It is not intent. The gap is a structured connection that does not exist — and because it does not exist, the cycle compounds every year.

ForgePoint is the missing layer.

We seed industry problems into curated talent pools, manage structured delivery end-to-end, enforce IP frameworks, and close every sprint with a commercially meaningful Demo Day conversation. We are not a better version of what exists. We are the layer that was missing.

The Model

Problem-First. Sprint-Based.
Outcome-Tracked.

Not a consultant report. Not a vendor demo. Not a hackathon that ends on Sunday. A structured sprint — from problem diagnosis to working prototype, validated on your shop floor, with a pilot pathway built in from day one.

SEED
Diagnose the Real Problem
You bring an operational challenge. ForgePoint runs an AI Readiness Diagnosis — a structured assessment of your problem, your data, and your operations. The output is a clear answer: AI-ready now, or here's what needs to happen first. Either way, AI is where we're taking you. The only question is how many steps to get there.
Teams receive a real brief. This is the moment the problem gets a solution direction.
CURATE
Build the Right Team
Best-fit participants selected from our curated talent pool across post-graduate institutes, engineering colleges, and early-stage startups. Selection is on skill-problem fit, not college brand. IP & NDA framework signed before work begins.
Selection is competitive. Being chosen means something. Teams arrive motivated, not defaulting.
SPRINT
12–16 Weeks. Structured. Accountable.
Weekly check-ins, mentor access, and daily ForgePoint oversight. G1 mid-sprint pivot point — all teams re-confirm direction. Industry contact limited to 6–8 hours total across the sprint. ForgePoint manages all delivery complexity.
At Gate 1, teams re-confirm their approach. Urgency and structured course-correction — not cuts.
PILOT
Demo Day → Shop Floor Decision
Industry partner attends Demo Day with a pre-committed pilot conversation. A working prototype is demonstrated — not a PowerPoint, not a simulation. The pilot conversation was built into the model from day one.
A real client in the room. Not a certificate — a career or commercial moment.

Sprint duration is locked at SEED stage.

Duration is determined during the SEED stage, based on the nature of the problem. ForgePoint does not curate a team until the problem brief and sprint type are determined.

The Network Behind the Sprint
See the full ecosystem map
MSME partners · Industry mentors · Domain advisors · Engineering colleges · Startups · Student teams — and how they connect.
→
AI. Not Sometimes. Always.

Operational Problems.
AI Solutions.

ForgePoint builds AI solutions for MSME operational problems. Not sometimes. Not where convenient. Every engagement ends with AI on the shop floor — and below are three problem classes where the ROI is clearest. They're illustrative, not exhaustive: if your problem doesn't fit neatly here, that's what the Discovery Sprint is for.

◎
Quality & Inspection Problems
Computer Vision
Skilled labour is scarce, inconsistent, and a single point of failure.
Vision-based inspection and AI-guided process consistency reduce dependence on tacit human knowledge — so quality holds regardless of who is on shift.
→ Quality inspection · Defect detection · Process monitoring
◈
Reliability & Maintenance Problems
Predictive Analytics
Machines fail without warning. Downtime is expensive. Maintenance is reactive.
Sensor data and pattern recognition identify failure signatures days before breakdown — shifting maintenance from reactive to scheduled, and scheduled to predictive.
→ Predictive maintenance · Anomaly detection · OEE optimisation
◇
Consistency & Yield Problems
Process Optimisation
Yield varies. Root cause is unknown. Every shift produces a different outcome.
Process parameter capture and optimisation models find the settings that consistently produce the best output — making that knowledge independent of any individual operator.
→ Yield optimisation · Parameter tuning · Root cause analysis
If foundation is missing
AI Readiness Sprint
4–6 weeks · Data architecture, process baseline, AI roadmap
→
AI on the shop floor
AI Solution Sprint
12–16 weeks · Working AI prototype on your shop floor

Two paths, one outcome: working AI on your shop floor. Some problems are ready to build today — we go straight to the Solution Sprint. Others need a data or process foundation first — we run the Readiness Sprint, then build. Diagnosis tells us which.

AI is always the destination.

Our Focus

Where India's Problems
Are Hardest

Four sectors where GDP growth, MSME density, and manufacturing ambition are highest — and where the gap between operational problems and available technical talent is widest.

⚙
Manufacturing
Industrial AutomationAI & VisionPilot-Ready
  • Automated visual inspection replacing manual line checker
  • Predictive maintenance on a specific machine from sensor logs
  • Defect classification from existing camera or image data
  • OEE dashboard with anomaly alert on a defined production line
▦
Distribution & Retail
High Data VolumeMargin-SensitivePilot-Ready
  • SKU-level demand forecasting across a distributor network
  • Shelf stock-out and planogram-compliance check from store imagery
  • Last-mile delivery route optimisation for a defined dispatch hub
  • Invoice and GRN reconciliation across multi-brand distributor ledgers
❋
Food Processing & Agri-Tech
Fragmented IndustrySME-DrivenHigh Variety
  • Foreign object or defect detection on a processing line
  • Shelf-life prediction model from existing sensor or lab data
  • Automated grading system for a specific produce type
  • Cold chain temperature exceedance alert and logging system
⬢
Textiles & Apparel
MSME-DenseExport-LedPilot-Ready
  • Fabric defect detection on looms or inspection tables via computer vision
  • SKU-level demand forecasting for apparel manufacturers serving retailers
  • Automated shade-matching and colour-variation check from camera imagery
  • Line-balancing and productivity analytics from existing shop-floor CCTV
Why MSMEs Choose ForgePoint

The Problem With Every
Solution You've Tried Before.

Consultants deliver reports. Vendors deliver demos. Hackathons deliver enthusiasm. None of them deliver a working solution on your shop floor. ForgePoint does.

The Consultant Problem
Reports don't run on your shop floor.
Consultants diagnose. They recommend. They invoice. Then they leave — and the problem stays. ForgePoint doesn't stop at diagnosis. We stay until there's something working in your facility.
No Time to Run a Project?
6–8 hours across the sprint. We do the rest.
ForgePoint manages everything — brief refinement, team selection, sprint delivery, IP and NDA, check-ins, and Demo Day facilitation. Your commitment is a scoping call, 6–8 hours of touchpoints across the sprint, and showing up at Demo Day.
No Path to Capable Talent?
The pilot team is already in the room.
The team that builds your prototype is present at Demo Day with a pre-committed pilot conversation. If it progresses, the same team continues — no re-briefing, no knowledge loss, no new engagement to negotiate.
AI. Always.
Every engagement ends with AI on your shop floor.
ForgePoint's AI Readiness Diagnosis maps your operational challenge to its AI solution — rejection rate reduction, downtime elimination, labour dependency reduction. If your problem is AI-ready, we sprint immediately. If it needs a data or process foundation first, we build that — then sprint. Either way, AI is where we're going.
The Team

Built by People Who've
Worked the Problem

Kartikeyan K
Kartikeyan K
Co-Founder · Market Development & Industry Partnerships
28+ years of market development and business leadership across multinational industrial companies. As Regional Director at Intralox India, built India and South East Asia operations from scratch — USD 70M+ in new business, two new technology platforms introduced to Indian market. Earlier as Marketing Head (Abrasives) at 3M India and Sandvik Coromant. Leads go-to-market strategy and industry partnerships at ForgePoint.
Intralox 3M India Sandvik Coromant
Srinivasan Vaidyanathan
Srinivasan Vaidyanathan
Co-Founder · Sprint Operations & Delivery Architecture
26+ years across GCC institution building, Fortune 500 programme delivery, and strategic consulting. PgMP® · PMP® · Wharton ADP · BITS Pilani. Built a de facto GCC from 0→500 people and $100M revenue at NEC. Client footprint: National Grid, Arizona Public Service, 7-Eleven Japan (12,000 stores, $75M transformation), Voltas, Croma, PVR. Leads sprint operations and delivery architecture at ForgePoint.
Wipro NEC Goldratt Consulting
Prakash Doraiappa
Prakash Doraiappa
Co-Founder · Operations, Compliance & Governance
28+ years across finance, operations, and enterprise systems. Manages global Supplier Data Management for Oracle's Shared Service Center across 83 countries, leading a team of 14. Deep expertise in Source-to-Settle processes and P2P operations across acquisition integrations for Sun Microsystems, OFSS, and Siebel. Leads financial and governance infrastructure at ForgePoint.
Oracle Sun Microsystems
The founding team has collectively managed hundreds of people, delivered programmes worth millions of dollars, built organisations from the ground up, and navigated the operational complexity of large enterprises across multiple countries. When ForgePoint tells an MSME partner that a sprint will be managed, documented, and delivered — that assurance is backed by people who have done it at scale.

India's innovation deserves a path to market
— not a filing cabinet.

Sprint by sprint. Academia by academia. Problem by problem.

Unlock the Pipeline →
Get Involved

Work With ForgePoint.

ForgePoint runs on four kinds of partners. Pick your seat — or see the full ecosystem map →

Industry Partner
Bring Us One Problem.
Have an operational or technical challenge your team hasn't been able to crack? Submit it as a ForgePoint sprint brief. One scoping call. Attend Demo Day. We manage everything in between.
  • One scoping session to shape your problem into a sprint-ready brief
  • Modest Innovation Sprint fee — one person approves, no procurement needed
  • Pre-commit to a pilot conversation at Demo Day
  • Max 2 hours of access during the sprint — ForgePoint manages the rest
  • Output: a working prototype and a pilot-ready team
Startups
Compete for Your First Enterprise Client.
If you have the technical skills and the drive to work on real, unsolved industry problems — ForgePoint is the arena. Real brief. Real client at Demo Day.
  • Register your team — share your domain, composition, and technical strengths
  • IP and NDA framework signed upfront — sprint output jointly owned
  • Structured sprint with a Gate 1 pivot point and Demo Day with a live client
  • Industry partner pre-commits to a pilot conversation — a qualified lead, not a cold door
  • Sprint win = verifiable, client-validated output worth more than any hackathon certificate
Sector Advisor
Lend Your Judgment. Shape What Gets Built.
We are empanelling sector leaders who can validate briefs and mentor sprint teams. 4–6 hours per cohort — defined, bounded, and respected.
  • Review 2–3 briefs per cohort before sprint launch
  • One check-in per sprint team during the build phase — domain guidance, not project management
  • Named on the ForgePoint advisory panel — visible to all industry partners
  • Early access to sprint results and pilot intelligence before public case studies
  • Input on which problem types and sectors ForgePoint prioritises
Academia
Connect Your Students to Real Industry Problems.
If your institution has students with the technical capability and the drive to work on real, unsolved industry challenges — ForgePoint wants to hear from you. Register your interest and we will reach out when a sprint brief matches your students' profile.
  • Students work on real, scoped problems from actual companies — not simulated briefs
  • Every sprint closes at Demo Day — a live client conversation, not a grade
  • IP and NDA frameworks in place from day one — no ambiguity for students or institutions
  • ForgePoint manages all delivery coordination — minimal overhead for your institution
  • Sprint outcomes are verifiable, industry-validated evidence — worth more than any certificate