Disclaimer: The views and policy recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or official positions of India We Deserve.

During the BRICS Summit in New Delhi on 12 and 13 September 2026, the grouping backed the establishment of a digital platform called the BRICS Incubator Network, intended to connect start-ups and business incubators across member nations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to it at the Leaders’ Session of the BRICS Business Forum, alongside the BRICS MSME Portal and the proposed BRICS Startup Innovation Fund, as initiatives to connect start-ups and MSMEs with markets and finance.

The BRICS Incubator Network is officially described as a digital network designed to connect National Nodal Agencies, selected incubators and start-ups across BRICS countries. It is intended to facilitate registration and linkages with participating incubators and enable qualified start-ups to be referred to incubators in other member countries.

To understand what this could mean in practice, consider a simple example.

Suppose Jude is a start-up founder in Country A who wants to expand his business into Country B. Today, he would have to identify incubators that accept foreign start-ups, find the right people to contact, research the local market, understand available programs, and identify potential investors.

The BRICS Incubator Network aims to bridge this gap. If Jude’s start-up meets the relevant criteria, the network could refer it to an incubator in Country B, which could then help with local market knowledge, business connections, mentoring, and access to investors.

Start-up in Country A → BRICS Incubator Network → Incubator in Country B

One distinction is important. This is something BRICS is aiming to build, not an initiative whose results can already be evaluated. The New Delhi Declaration welcomes the establishment of the Incubator Network, giving it leaders-level backing, but it has not yet publicly demonstrated a track record of start-ups moving through the system.

The same is true of the BRICS Startup Innovation Fund proposed alongside it, although that initiative is at an even earlier stage. The Declaration welcomes further consideration of the fund but does not specify its corpus, structure, or launch timeline.

So, at this stage, we are evaluating an intent and a proposed structure—not demonstrated results.

Why Is This Important?

BRICS currently comprises 11 countries: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the UAE.

According to the Government of India, these member countries collectively account for approximately 49.5% of the world’s population, 40% of global GDP and 26% of global trade.

For a start-up looking to expand internationally, that represents a significant opportunity. BRICS includes major consumer markets, natural resources, technological capabilities, capital, and widely different development experiences.

The combined population is roughly 3.9 billion people. But the bloc’s economic weight is not evenly distributed. China alone accounts for a very large share of BRICS GDP, while India is another major contributor. The remaining nine economies vary considerably in size.

For a start-up, those differences matter. Entering Indonesia is not the same as entering Ethiopia, Brazil or the UAE. A common network may help founders find the right door, but it cannot make eleven very different markets behave as one.

India itself has experienced extraordinary growth in its start-up ecosystem.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry reported 1.59 lakh DPIIT-recognised start-ups as of January 2025, up from around 500 in 2016, with more than 16.6 lakh direct jobs created between 2016 and October 2024.

Those numbers have continued to grow. According to the Startup India portal, DPIIT recognitions have crossed 2.35 lakh, while direct jobs created stood at more than 23.36 lakh as of 31 March 2026. FY26 was the strongest year for the initiative, with more than 55,200 start-ups recognized during a single financial year.

India is widely regarded as the world’s third-largest start-up ecosystem, behind the United States and China, and is home to more than 100 unicorns.

And these numbers tell us only about India.

China has a much larger base of start-ups and unicorns than any other BRICS member. Brazil, Russia and South Africa also have sizeable ecosystems of their own.

According to the StartupBlink Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2026, India ranks 21st and Brazil 26th, while South Africa ranks 52nd and remains Africa’s highest-ranked ecosystem. Saudi Arabia recorded the fastest growth among G20 countries in the index this year, at 97%—an important reminder that the newer BRICS members are not merely passengers in this ecosystem.

One caution is necessary when comparing these figures. Different organizations define and count a “start-up” differently. The same country can therefore show very different numbers depending on the source. Cross-country comparisons should always use a consistent source and methodology.

With this scale and diversity, it is natural to consider what advantages a functioning BRICS innovation network could offer its participating countries.

Potential Advantages

1. Employment Creation

One of the most basic potential benefits is employment creation.

With unemployment remaining a challenge in many parts of the world, the network could create jobs in both the private and public sectors.

As start-ups expand internationally, they may require dedicated teams to manage overseas operations, market entry, compliance, partnerships and other aspects of international expansion.

The public sector may also have employment and institutional requirements. A dedicated department working at the intersection of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry could be established to provide better navigation, coordination and guidelines.

A foundation for this coordination already exists because the network is intended to operate through National Nodal Agencies. Each participating country will therefore need designated officials to make the system work.

2. Cross-Border Payments and Revenue Opportunities

International expansion can also create additional revenue opportunities for participating start-ups.

But earning money in one member country while operating or spending in another introduces another challenge: cross-border payments and currency conversion.

This is where another BRICS initiative becomes relevant.

The BRICS Payment Task Force is working on cross-border payment mechanisms intended to make transactions faster, cheaper and more transparent. The New Delhi Declaration also discusses greater use of BRICS local currencies in trade and investment.

A start-up earning in one member currency and paying suppliers, employees or partners in another will feel the cost of every conversion. Progress on payments could therefore matter almost as much to a founder as access to the incubator network itself.

3. Better Products and Greater Innovation

Consumers could also benefit through improvements in product quality and innovation.

When a start-up enters a second market with different customers, price sensitivities, regulations and competitors, it is often forced to improve its product and business model.

The benefit can flow both ways. The start-up gains access to a new market, while consumers in the receiving country gain access to a product or solution that did not have to be developed locally from scratch.

4. Credibility for Smaller Start-ups

Another potential advantage is reputation.

A start-up referred through a government-backed network, screened by a nodal agency, and accepted into a recognized incubator abroad may carry an additional credibility signal when speaking with investors, customers, and business partners.

For a small founder without an established international network, that signal could be valuable.

Potential Disadvantages

1. Not Every Idea Travels

Markets could become saturated, and not every business model will work equally well in every country.

Some products are inherently tied to local infrastructure, regulations, or consumer behavior. For example, a fintech company built around one country’s payment rails or identity system may have little relevance in another market.

A referral network alone does not automatically create demand.

2. Unequal Competition

Emerging domestic industries could also face challenges.

A young sector in a smaller BRICS economy could suddenly find itself competing against a much better-funded entrant from a larger economy before local companies have had sufficient time to develop.

The economic strength of the 11 BRICS members is not evenly distributed. As a result, the start-up movement may not be evenly balanced either. Smaller ecosystems could potentially receive substantially more companies than they send abroad.

The network will need to consider that imbalance as it develops.

3. Tariffs and Regulatory Barriers

Tariffs, duties, regulatory requirements and other trade barriers could discourage start-ups from expanding even when an incubator is available to assist them.

This is one of the most significant gaps.

The New Delhi Declaration itself expresses concern about unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures that distort trade. BRICS therefore recognizes that trade barriers are a problem.

Less clear is what member countries are prepared to do about barriers affecting businesses moving between their own markets.

4. Geopolitical Uncertainty

Geopolitical uncertainty could also affect how effectively the network operates.

Sanctions regimes, visa restrictions, border tensions and payment restrictions affect different combinations of these eleven countries.

A digital referral platform cannot eliminate those realities.

5. The Risk That Nobody Uses It

Finally, there is perhaps the simplest risk of all: the platform gets built, but businesses do not use it.

BRICS already has a Startup Knowledge Hub and a Startup Forum. The Incubator Network will therefore be judged not by whether the platform exists, but by the quality of the incubators that participate, how quickly referrals are processed, and the outcomes achieved by the start-ups using it.

Suggested Policy Changes

Any new initiative has advantages and disadvantages. Policy changes can also improve its chances of success.

Here are some measures BRICS could consider.

1. Rethink Tariffs and Duties for Participating Start-ups

If BRICS wants innovation to move more easily between member countries, it could begin with targeted measures rather than attempting an ambitious bloc-wide trade agreement.

For example, goods or prototypes moving between member countries under a recognized incubation program could receive a reduced duty band, subject to appropriate value limits and safeguards.

This would be a limited, testable way to determine whether targeted trade incentives encourage start-ups to expand across BRICS markets.

2. Make Travel and Immigration Easier for Founders

Incubation is not entirely remote.

A founder may need to attend a demo day, meet a customer, visit a factory, speak with investors or spend time working with an overseas incubator.

BRICS countries could therefore consider easier travel arrangements or a multi-entry business visa category linked to participation in the Incubator Network.

The New Delhi Declaration already encourages greater mobility among young innovators and researchers. A dedicated mechanism for participating founders could make that objective practical.

3. Create Uniform Documentation — A “BRICS Start-up Passport”

This is perhaps the policy change I would push hardest.

A founder should not have to submit essentially the same information repeatedly to different nodal agencies and incubators across 11 countries.

Some groundwork for greater standardization already exists. The Declaration discusses digitization of trade documentation, mutual recognition under Authorized Economic Operator programs, and guiding principles for credit-assessment frameworks for export-oriented MSMEs.

BRICS could build on this by creating a common recognition certificate—something similar to a BRICS Start-up Passport—accepted by participating nodal agencies and incubators.

A verified start-up could complete a standard set of documentation once rather than beginning the process again every time it enters another BRICS market.

4. Publish the Numbers

I would add one more requirement: publish the results.

BRICS should report how many start-ups register on the network, how many are referred to another country, how many incubators accept them, how long those referrals take, and how many participating businesses remain operational after one or two years.

It should eventually also report measures such as investment raised, jobs created, and successful market entries.

Without transparent outcome data, none of us will be able to determine in 2028 whether the initiative actually worked.

So, Can BRICS Build an Innovation Ecosystem?

The honest answer is that it is too early to say—and that is fine.

What exists today is an intent, political backing, and an emerging institutional structure. What we do not yet have is a demonstrated track record showing that start-ups can successfully move through the network and expand into other BRICS markets.

The Startup Innovation Fund is even less developed, with its structure, funding and timeline still to be determined.

But the Incubator Network’s basic design is sensible.

It does not attempt to harmonize the laws of 11 countries or create a common market overnight. Instead, it tries to solve a narrower problem: a founder in one country often has no easy way to find the right door in another.

That may sound like a small problem, but solving it could be genuinely useful.

The next twelve months will be the real test.

We should watch which countries establish effective nodal agencies, which incubators actually participate, how quickly referrals are processed, whether start-ups use the network, and whether the proposed Startup Innovation Fund moves from “further consideration” to a clearly defined and funded mechanism.

Just as importantly, the initiative will have to survive the transition from one BRICS chairship to the next.

International initiatives often succeed or fail not when they are announced, but when the summit ends, and responsibility for implementation passes to the institutions expected to make them work.

If the BRICS Incubator Network can survive that test and begin producing measurable outcomes, BRICS may have created something genuinely useful.

If not, it risks becoming another promising idea that never moves beyond a summit declaration.