AI Summer Residency
IIMA Ventures
AI Summer Residency: Stages and Timelines
All that you need to know about AI Summer Residency
About the Program:
The AI Summer Residency is an exclusive, build-focused program designed for exceptional STEM undergraduates. This is not a lecture series - it combines the deep-work, zero-distraction energy of an AI lab with the rigor of a top-tier accelerator. It is built to help students move beyond hackathon demos and classroom learning to build MVPs and AI-first use cases that solve real-world problems.
The Residency Journey:
- Phase 1 | Team & Idea Discovery: Meet serious builders, form complementary teams, explore real market whitespaces, evaluate use-cases, and kill weak ideas quickly. Walk away with a sharp problem and a clear target user.
- Phase 2 | Build Sprint: Work in a zero-distraction setup to design and build an MVP or PoC in weeks, not months. Receive hands-on technical guidance on LLM Ops, vector DBs, agentic workflows, and infra trade-offs.
- Phase 3 | Validation Showcase: Run validation sprints, track real usage, and convert progress into sharp pitches. Present your work at a showcase with feedback from founders, corporates, and the IIMA Ventures team.
What We Offer (Perks):
- Residency: Sponsored 4-6 weeks of in-person stay, on the IIM Ahmedabad campus.
- Tools & Infrastructure: Cloud credits, AI tools and LLM/API credits
- Elite Network: Direct access to AI founders, technical architects, GTM specialists
- Community: Peer group of high-agency builders
Who Should Apply?
- STEM Undergrads: Who live in code and are comfortable building end-to-end prototypes
- Serious Builders: Obsessed with real-world problems, not just the latest AI buzzwords.
- Future AI Leaders: Who want to seriously explore entrepreneurship or early-stage roles in AI.
When does it all start?
- Application Deadline: March 31st, 2026
- Program Timeline: May second or third week to Mid-June (4 to 6 weeks)
- Location: IIM Ahmedabad Campus
- Program's page: https://iimaventures.com/programs/ai-summer-residency/
Questions? Get in touch:
- Email: programs@iimaventures.com
Important dates & deadlines?
-
31 Mar'26, 12:00 AM IST Registration Deadline
-
31 Mar'26, 11:59 PM IST Application Deadline
Contact the organisers
Send queries to organizersDownload attachments
About IIMA Ventures
Built at IIM Ahmedabad, IIMA Ventures (Formerly known as CIIE) is the country's leading entrepreneurship centre and early stage technology investing platform. IIMA Ventures backs fearless entrepreneurs building disruptive solutions and stands with the startups at their risky early stages when they need more support while there is hardly any available. Through the continuum of incubation, acceleration, capital and insights - IIMA Ventures offers everything it takes for these driven entrepreneurs to make a superlative impact.
Among its various initiatives, IIMA Ventures has been the pioneer of accelerator programs across a variety of sectors such as ICT, Healthcare, Food and Agriculture, Mobility, Financial Services, etc., conceptualised and hosted India’s first climate-focused fund, mentored over 7000, accelerated over 1500, provides catalytic capital to over 700 startups, and inspired over a million with our publications including ‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish’ and ‘Startup Compass’.