Startup Programmes · 3 Months
Pre-Incubation
Validate the problem, AI feasibility and early product direction.
Who Should Apply
Founders at the earliest stage: you have identified a real problem and believe AI can meaningfully address it, but are still validating the approach, the product direction and early customer signal.
You May Be A Fit If
- You can clearly articulate the problem and who has it
- You have a working hypothesis for how AI helps solve it
- You have not yet built a working product, or have only an early prototype
- You are actively testing assumptions with real users or domain experts
What You'll Work On
- Sharpening the problem statement and who it is for
- Testing whether AI is the right approach, not just a feature added on top
- Building or refining an early prototype or proof of concept
- Running structured conversations with real users or domain experts
- Defining what a credible MVP would need to prove
What CAIK Can Enable
- Founder and problem-validation mentorship
- AI feasibility review from the Centre's technical community
- Structured customer-discovery guidance
- Access to mentors and domain experts relevant to your problem area
- Light compute for experimentation, where technically justified
Compute, cloud and sandbox access is need-based and subject to technical suitability, programme relevance, availability, and approved usage and allocation policies. It is not an entitlement.
Expected Outcome
A validated problem, a technically credible AI approach, and a clear MVP direction.
Completing Pre-Incubation does not automatically carry a startup into Incubation. Progression is evaluated afresh, on merit, at the next stage.
Not Sure This Is The Right Stage?
Other founders on the same application also consider:
Incubation
6 Months
Build and validate the product, pilots and commercial pathway.
Acceleration
Minimum 6 Months
Scale adoption, enterprise and government access, investment readiness and market expansion.