Working towards the creation of a new class of entrepreneurs, the Designpreneurs, NDBI was founded in 2004. It has successfully graduated 14 firms out of the 17 that have been incubated. These incubatees of NDBI have created 30 new jobs and generated revenues of Rs 6 cr (Rupees 60 million).

In the process of being registered as a Section 25 company, NDBI is hosted by The National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, internationally acclaimed as one of the foremost multi-disciplinary institutions in the field of design education and research. The institute functions as an autonomous body under the department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. NID is recognized by the Dept. of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR) under Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India, as a scientific and industrial design research organization. NID has been a catalyst in disseminating design awareness amongst Indian industry, as its graduates are active in every sphere of economic activity in the country. NID has been a pioneer in industrial design education after Bauhaus and Ulm in Germany and is known for its pursuit of design excellence.

NDBI is an initiative of NID set up with the support of Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, New Delhi. The mandate of NDBI is to nurture a culture of entrepreneurship in the creative minds of young designers, so that their ideas metamorphose into newer and niftier products or services capable of being marketed and sold.