Saurabh Agbi

Accomplished Innovation and Incubation Leader with over 15 years of experience in Innovation Leadership, Startup Incubation, Entrepreneurship Education, Policy Making and Consulting. Adept at project management, strategic leadership, organization development, stakeholder engagement, reporting to Board of Directors and funding agencies, forging international and national partnerships and driving business growth. Worked with Department of Science and Technology (NM-ICPS & TTI), NITI Ayoyg (AIM), Startup India, Min of E&IT.

Govt. of Chhattisgarh, IIT Mandi and IIIT Delhi to set up Technology Business Incubators and Innovation Hub. Expertise in supporting, monitoring and evaluating R&D projects and Startups in emerging technology areas such as AI/ML, HCI, AR/VR, Blockchain He has published a book "Startup Investments for Incubators: How Incubators Can Evaluate, Fund, and Scale Early-Stage Startups". Awarded by Business World as 40 under 40 Leader for his leadership in setting innovation ecosystem in India.

Project Manager Chief Minister Advisory, Chhattisgarh at Ernst & Young LLP (2026-03 – Present)

• Building and operationalizing data-driven governance systems, including dashboards, review mechanisms, and monitoring frameworks to enable evidence-based decision-making and continuous program improvement.
• Leading multi-stakeholder partnerships with NGOs, development agencies, and private sector organizations to design and scale high-impact education programs aligned with state priorities.
• Managing large-scale program implementation by overseeing planning, budgeting, partner performance, and execution—ensuring timely delivery, scalability, and measurable outcomes.
• Enabling systemic capacity building within government, institutionalizing processes, strengthening leadership capabilities, and embedding sustainable reform practices for long-term impact.
• Reporting to Principal Secretary, Chief Minister Office. Also Coordinate with Special Secretary and Joint Secretary, Chief Minister Office.

CEO at IHUB ANUBHUTI IIITD FOUNDATION (2022-11 – 2024-02)

• Led the establishment of Innovation Hub under NM-ICPS by DST in the area of Cognitive Computing and Social Sensing.
• Supported 20+ Research Projects and 35+ Startups to develop commercial products.
• Played instrumental role in setting up first CoE of Google in Indian academic center in area of AI and cognitive computing.
• Developed Medical Cobotics Center in partnership with IIT Delhi innovation hub to encourage innovations in Medical cobotics and digital medical technologies.
• Forged partnership with AIIMS delhi, MAX healthcare, HDFC Bank, Ministry of Rural Development, NHAI, Govt. of Assam to develop technologies for public good.

Director (Part-Time) at IHUB ANUBHUTI IIITD FOUNDATION (2024-02 – 2024-11)

• Guided the team for designing and running mentorship programs for Research Projects and Startups
• Guided the team for selection of Startups under Startup India and other startup schemes.

Head IIT Mandi Catalyst at IIT Mandi (2020-12 – 2022-11)

• Built team of 25+ to support 250+ startups through more than 15 Government Startup schemes
• Managed HIM Startup Yojana for Himachal State Government
• Handled startup programs for TiH at IIT Mandi in the area of Human Computer Interaction
• Executed Startup programs of DST, Startup India, MeiTy, Himachal Govt. and HDFC Bank

CEO at AIC- Great Lakes Balachandran Incubator (2019-11 – 2020-10)

• Led the establishment of Incubation center under Atal Innovation Mission by NITI Ayoyg in the area of AI/ML.
• Supported 100+ Startups to develop commercial products.
• Conducted Grand Challenge in Digital Health in partnership with VIRTUSA technologies and Mehta group of Hospitals, More than 500 participants developed prototypes.
• Took Course on Entrepreneurship for PGDM class of 2018-20.
• Set up the AI/ML Lab for Prototype Development.

CEO (interim) & Program Director at AIC@36Inc (2017-10 – 2019-11)

• Led Startup agency for Government of Chhattisgarh.
• Led the establishment of Incubation center under Atal Innovation Mission by NITI Ayoyg.
• Supported 150+ Startups to develop commercial products.
• Executed Incubation and Acceleration programs to develop entrepreneurship. Executed Social Entrepreneurship Development program for Bastar based Startups.
• Ran Awareness campaign across educational institutes in Chhattisgarh for Innovation and startup development.

MIS Consultant at CG State Marketing Federation (2017-07 – 2017-10)

• Helped State Govt. of Chhattisgarh to develop GIS-based rice procurement system.

Founder at Catalyst Education (2012-04 – 2017-06)

• Designed and implemented career competency development programs targeting students and professionals.
• Partnered with IMS India to create a global test-prep facility in Raipur.
• Developed self-study modules and served as a faculty member for professional skills training.

Assistant Systems Engineer at Tata Consultancy Services (2008-01 – 2009-09)

• Handled 30+ Mainframe applications for USA based Automobile client.

Post Graduate Diploma in Management in Management – Indian Institute of Management Raipur (2010 – 2012)

Post Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Rights in Intellectual Property Rights – IGNOU

B.E. in Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering – Bhilai Institute of Technology (2003 – 2007)

Higher Secondary School Examination – S.S. Kalibadi H.S. School (2003)

High School Examination – S.S. Kalibadi H.S. School (2001)