The idea of Design Alpha started with the quest – How to prevent setbacks and reduce failures that scientific and engineering entrepreneurs face in taking their work from the lab-to-market? Various university researches are funded, but the majority of the developed technologies are shelved. New ventures trying to commercialise a technology often face uncertainty in success due to the lack of a potential reliable partner – who can demystify the Proof-of-Concept to MVP journey. The cost of experiments is high, but the cost of failure is disappointing for many innovators who are invested emotionally in their dreams.

​Social Alpha CEO, Mr. Manoj Kumar and CTO Advisor, Dr. Suresh Nair both had experienced these shortcomings. They wanted to do something to support the entrepreneurs in building better products, devices, or equipment. The leadership at Social Alpha placed a framework for action, the thematic teams contributed to the framework of Design Alpha. The framework has now evolved into an action-oriented entity. Design Alpha was formed in 2017 and has executed 30 projects till mid-2021. It has expanded capabilities to execute complex projects and partner for R&D. Design Alpha supports deep-science and engineering development by offering knowledge and services. It plays an important role in the ecosystem building and converging the efforts of stakeholders.​