Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) Pune Launches India’s First Dedicated Climate-Tech Incubation Hub

Key facts

• The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), has launched a dedicated Incubation Center for Startups in Weather and Climate.
• The incubation facility is a core pillar of the National Enterprise for Atmospheric Technology (NEAT), a flagship vertical under the MoES 'Mission Mausam' programme.
• The centre was inaugurated by Dr. M. Ravichandran, Secretary of MoES, during the 'Weather and Climate Innovation Meet for Startups and Entrepreneurs (WISE-2026)'.
• The initiative aims to create scalable solutions for sectors including agriculture, renewable energy, aviation, urban planning, healthcare, disaster management, water resources, food security, and logistics and transportation.
• The MoES defined four strategic pillars for the weather intelligence ecosystem: Advanced Observations, AI-Driven Modeling, User-Specific Applications, and Dissemination and Last-Mile Delivery.
• The government has provided open-access scientific resources including remote sensing datasets, atmospheric reanalysis data, weather observations, climate modeling resources, and forecast archives.
• Institutions participating in WISE-2026 included the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), India Meteorological Department (IMD), National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), IISER Pune, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Gandhinagar, ICRISAT, and IITM.
• Key emerging applications identified include precision agriculture advisories, AI-based disease forecasting systems, renewable energy forecasting, urban flood prediction models, heatwave risk analytics, climate insurance products, smart disaster warning systems, and water stress prediction platforms.