BPCL and IIT Kanpur Host MC²+ Ignite Outreach Event

KANPUR:
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), a Fortune Global 500 company and a Maharatna PSU, in collaboration with IIT Kanpur, today organised the MC²+ Ignite outreach event at IIT Kanpur, bringing together policymakers, industry leaders, academia, researchers and startup founders to accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship in India’s energy sector.

The event brought together over 400 startups, researchers, students and academicians, providing a platform for discussions on India’s growing energy requirements and the need to build a robust innovation pipeline that can take technologies from laboratories to real-world applications. Participants were also briefed on MC²+ Ignite, its focus areas and selection criteria, as well as the broader vision behind the MC² Foundation.

The event was graced by Awanish Kumar Awasthi, Advisor to Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh; Alok Kumar, Principal Secretary, Planning and Programme Implementation, Science and Technology, Government of Uttar Pradesh; Sanjay Khanna, Chairman and Managing Director, BPCL; Professor Manindra Agrawal, Director, IIT Kanpur; Padma Vibhushan Prof. M.M. Sharma, eminent energy sector mentor; Senthilkumar G R, Head (Corporate Strategy), BPCL; and Bharat Newalkar, Head (R&D), BPCL; Professor Raja Angamuthu, Associate Dean, (R&D) and Professor in charge IOTA- IIT Kanpur; Dr. Ashutosh Agnihotri, CEO, SIIC-IIT Kanpur; along with industry leaders, academicians, startups and researchers.

Awanish Kumar Awasthi, Advisor to Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh, said, “It gives me immense personal pride, as an alumnus of IIT Kanpur, to congratulate BPCL on bringing MC²+ to this prestigious campus. Uttar Pradesh has consistently supported the growth of its innovation ecosystem, and this initiative, bringing together energy majors, academia and startups, is a natural extension of that momentum.”

“The state is already deepening its partnership with IIT Kanpur across multiple frontiers — from a dedicated Centre of Excellence in Drones to collaborations in green hydrogen, deep-tech startups, the U-Hub innovation ecosystem and quantum computing. Areas such as Compressed Biogas, green hydrogen and mobility particularly excite us, and I believe Uttar Pradesh’s startup policy can add real value to the founders in this ecosystem.”

“It is particularly gratifying that Neeraj Mittal, who is leading this initiative, is himself an alumnus of IIT Kanpur. Uttar Pradesh looks forward to working closely with MC²+ Ignite to make this initiative a resounding success.”

Alok Kumar, Principal Secretary, Planning and Programme Implementation, Science and Technology, Government of Uttar Pradesh, and an alumnus of IIT Kanpur, said, “MC²+ is a remarkable initiative, and it aligns closely with what the Uttar Pradesh government is already doing to promote startups and create opportunities for them to grow. We recently rolled out our new Startup Policy, which not only increases the scale of support but also brings patient capital to the table, with investments of up to ₹40 crore in a single startup. We also offer matching grants for startups that win national challenges, along with accelerator programmes and other support mechanisms. We are also introducing a procurement policy specifically designed for startups. The idea behind MC²+ is exceptional, and the synergy with what Uttar Pradesh is building is unmistakable.”

Addressing the gathering, Sanjay Khanna, Chairman and Managing Director, BPCL, said, “You bring the ideas, we bring the challenges. Startups bring speed and bold, deep-tech thinking; academia brings research depth and talent; and energy majors bring real infrastructure, real pilot sites, mentorship and a validated route to market. This is exactly what MC²+ is built to do — bring these strengths together on one national platform, so that replication and scale-up across the entire industry becomes far easier, and every startup that succeeds here becomes part of something much bigger than itself.

MC² has arrived at exactly the right moment, a moment when India’s energy transition and the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat are converging like never before. As India’s energy sector grows at this pace, I am confident we will see some of the country’s first energy-sector unicorns emerge from platforms like this one. There is no shortage of hard problems waiting to be solved – indigenous catalysts, hydrogen, low-carbon energy, AI and data analytics, predictive reliability, carbon capture, crude sludge and desalter technologies, intrinsically safe robotics for tank inspection, and many more. This is where India needs new ideas, and this is the platform built to take them from prototype to scale and, in time, to build indigenous strength across other industries as well.”

Padma Vibhushan Prof. M.M. Sharma, eminent energy sector mentor, said, “We must focus on emerging technologies that can significantly reduce energy consumption and emissions across the energy, refining and petrochemical sectors. Key advancements include next-generation carbon capture systems, membrane-based separations, lithium recovery technologies and novel materials such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for energy-efficient hydrocarbon separations. Continuous innovation in so-called mature process technologies can deliver substantial reductions in capex, energy use and carbon footprint. We must also maximise resource efficiency through waste heat recovery, hydrogen utilisation and circular carbon pathways.”

Professor Manindra Agrawal, Director, IIT Kanpur, said, “A great deal of research in our country’s laboratories never sees the light of day – it stays locked within four walls, far from the market. This is India’s biggest innovation challenge: value realisation is not happening at scale. MC²+ is here to take up that challenge- backed by eight leading energy majors and driven by the leadership of Shri Neeraj Mittal, Secretary, MoPNG, an alumnus of IIT Kanpur. When institutional strength meets this scale of collaboration, the outcomes for India’s energy sector will be transformative.”

The event also featured founder stories from energy-tech startups, with entrepreneurs sharing their journeys of building ventures from the ground up, including the challenges, breakthroughs and conviction required to develop solutions for some of the energy sector’s most complex challenges.

This was followed by a panel discussion titled “Built, Not Imported: Startups and Energy Majors Powering India’s Energy Future,” featuring startup founders Arun George, Genrobotics; Dr. Akshay Jain, Cancrie; Ankit Jhanwar, DashamLabs; Dr. Arnab Dutta, UrjanovaC; Varun Kumar, Detect Technologies; Uddhav Kumar, Lynkit; and Ankush Sarkar, H2Power Energy. The panellists discussed the realities of scaling deep-tech energy ventures in India, including the transition from prototype to pilot and ultimately to commercial deployment, while highlighting the importance of industry partnerships, access to real-world infrastructure and stronger pathways for indigenous technologies to reach the market.

The day also included a technical roundtable between BPCL’s technical champions and professors from IIT Kanpur, focusing on aligning research priorities with the thematic areas identified under MC²+ Ignite and exploring opportunities for deeper industry-academia collaboration.

The outreach event saw participation from IIIT Lucknow, CIPET, HBTU and Kanpur University, reflecting growing engagement from academic institutions in developing solutions for India’s evolving energy landscape. The interactions provided startups and researchers with an opportunity to engage directly with industry and academia and gain insights into the challenges and requirements involved in taking energy technologies from innovation to deployment.

MC²+ Ignite is India’s flagship energy innovation accelerator supporting deep-tech startups developing technologies for the energy sector. The programme seeks to identify and enable high-potential innovations addressing critical challenges across the energy value chain and support their journey from prototype to pilot and commercial deployment.

Applications for MC²+ Ignite are open until September 15, 2026. For more information and to apply, visit www.mc2plus.in.