IHH Healthcare, in partnership with its subsidiary Fortis Healthcare, has launched ‘IHH Catalyst | Fortis India Edition’, a national healthcare innovation platform aimed at fast-tracking the adoption of patient-centric, technology-enabled solutions across India’s hospital ecosystem.
The initiative aligns with the Government of India’s Startup India vision and forms part of IHH’s broader innovation strategy. It was initially introduced in October 2025 as the IHH Global Incubator and has now been formalised as IHH Catalyst to address a key challenge in India’s healthcare innovation landscape—scaling promising health-tech and med-tech solutions beyond pilots and proof-of-concepts into clinical validation, hospital adoption and system-wide implementation.
Anchored within the Fortis Healthcare network and supported by Plug and Play as programme partner, the platform will provide startups with structured access to hospital infrastructure, clinical expertise and global innovation networks, enabling real-world testing and faster execution.
India hosts one of the world’s fastest-growing healthcare startup ecosystems, yet large-scale adoption within hospital systems remains limited. IHH Catalyst has been designed to bridge this gap by offering defined pathways for validation and scale, while ensuring alignment with hospital workflows, patient outcomes and operational efficiency.
As the India anchor partner, Fortis will enable startups to work closely with clinicians and hospital teams across its network, ensuring solutions are tested in live clinical environments and aligned with care delivery needs.
The three-month hybrid programme will combine in-person immersion with structured virtual engagement. Selected startups will receive mentorship from IHH and Fortis leadership and clinicians, opportunities to pilot solutions in hospital settings, and support in areas such as regulatory readiness, data protection, cybersecurity and interoperability. The programme also offers pathways for long-term partnerships, scale-up and potential investment.
The inaugural cohort will focus on priority healthcare domains including patient journey and workflows, chronic disease management, multidisciplinary care, preventive and predictive care, and oncology.
Targeting early-growth to enterprise-ready startups, IHH Catalyst will begin in India and expand across other IHH markets, enabling Indian health-tech innovations to scale globally.
