AI Summer Residency by IIMA Ventures

• Student founders or individuals building AI products, seeking a structured summer residency.

About this scheme

AI Summer Residency is a high-intensity, 4, 6 week in-residence program hosted at the IIM Ahmedabad campus for exceptional STEM undergraduates committed to building AI-first use cases and solutions. Designed and delivered by IIMA Ventures in collaboration with the Krishnamurthy Tandon School of Artificial Intelligence, the program blends the deep-focus environment of an AI lab with the structured rigor of a top-tier accelerator.

The residency is structured into three progressive phases. The first phase centers on team formation and idea discovery, where participants collaborate with other serious builders, explore multiple whitespace opportunities, evaluate potential use cases, and refine a sharply defined problem statement supported by a strong "why now." Weak ideas are deliberately stress-tested and eliminated early.

The second phase is a rapid build sprint focused on designing and developing a functional MVP within weeks. Participants receive hands-on technical mentorship across areas such as LLM operations, vector databases, agentic workflows, infrastructure trade-offs, and AI tooling decisions. The emphasis is on building solutions that extend beyond hackathon prototypes and classroom experiments into systems capable of real-world deployment.

The final phase culminates in validation and showcase. Teams conduct validation sprints, measure real usage, refine pitches, and prepare structured data rooms. They present their work to founders, corporates, and ecosystem stakeholders connected to IIMA Ventures.

The residency provides cloud credits, AI tools, and LLM/API credits, alongside direct access to AI founders, technical architects, and GTM specialists. By combining immersive in-person collaboration, technical mentorship, and structured exposure to real users, the program is designed to help participants transition from curiosity-driven experimentation to durable, AI-led innovation.

Who can apply

• Open to STEM undergraduate students.
• Applicants should be comfortable building end-to-end prototypes.
• Intended for individuals serious about developing AI-first use cases or solutions.
• Suitable for undergraduates interested in entrepreneurship or early-stage AI roles.
• Participants must be available for a 4, 6 week in-person residency at IIM Ahmedabad campus.

Eligible entity types: Individual Innovator

Benefits & funding

• 4-6 week residency with hands-on technical mentorship, idea discovery, MVP development, and validation sprints.
• Benefits include cloud, AI tool, LLM/API credits, direct access to AI founders/specialists, networking with corporates/stakeholders, and an immersive lab/accelerator environment at IIM Ahmedabad for AI-led innovation.

How the application process works

The journey below is informational, compiled from the official program guidelines. Applications are submitted directly with IIMA Ventures, in your own name.

1. 1

   Applications are evaluated by IIMA Ventures on the applicant's STEM background and genuine commitment to building AI-first solutions.

2. 2

   Shortlisted candidates are assessed on their ability to thrive through the program's three phases of idea discovery, MVP build, and validation.

3. 3

   A small cohort of exceptional STEM undergraduates is selected for the 4, 6 week in-residence program at IIM Ahmedabad.

Frequently asked questions