Winners to receive seed funding of INR 2 crores & product development fund of INR 1.5 crores from DST and incubation at NSRCEL
22 July, 2017, Bengaluru: “Many business plans of the competition came up with solutions for socially relevant problems in the areas of agriculture, health, wearable tech, etc. In the finale today, the top 10 innovative ideas have been chosen to script chapters in the Make in India story,” said N S Raghavan, Patron, NSRCEL, and Member, Board of Governors, IIM Bangalore, during the grand finale of the India Innovation Challenge Design Contest (IICDC 2016), held at IIM Bangalore on July 22 (Saturday).
The top 10 teams of the IICDC 2016 were announced during the finals. The winners will receive seed funding of INR 2 crores and product development fund of INR 1.5 crores from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India (GoI), and mentoring and incubation at the NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore, which hosted the event today.
For a full list of the awards, click here
Problem-solving is key
The ideas for the innovations of the contest address the problem-solving needs across 19 sectors of the Make in India initiative, including a water mapping system that provides accurate data to identify wasteful sources of water, a prosthetic hand to improve amputee function, a garbage bin system that turns waste into reusable material, a wearable device for pregnant women to monitor their real-time body parameters to help them have a healthy pregnancy, etc.
N S Raghavan described how the IICDC and IIM Bangalore’s NSRCEL nurture entrepreneurial spirit and work towards the future of innovation in the country. “NSRCEL has distinguished faculty who are focused on teaching and research of entrepreneurship. NSRCEL also has special initiatives on women entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship.” He spoke in particular about the Management Programme for Women Entrepreneurs (MPWE). “MPWE has trained and empowered more than 1000 women in India. I would also like to talk about the Women’s Start-up Programme, supported by Goldman Sachs, which encourages women to initiate, ideate, and implement their dream ventures.” He announced that NSRCEL has plans to launch a larger start-up programme which is spread across the whole country, in November this year. He also spoke, at length, about the social incubator launched in collaboration with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, which, he said, will resolve urban poverty-related issues. “NSRCEL is today recognized as a centre of excellence in India, creating and nurturing the entrepreneurial ecosystem, thanks to the dedicated academicians and researchers, eminent panel, mentors and experts, distinguished alumni network, and strong government support.”
TI’s take
Earlier in the day, Sanjay Srivastava, Director Marketing, University Program, Texas Instruments India, while recalling the IICDC 2016 journey, said that the year was eventful and exciting for the IICDC, in terms of scale and impact. “We have seen creations and innovations from students in agriculture, medicine, etc. With our technology and with support from NSRCEL and the Government of India, we are sure these students have the potential to make fundamental changes in society. If technical innovation is supported by strong business guidelines, it can reach the masses of the country.”
Dr. Peter Balyta, President – Education Technology & VP of Academic Engagement & Corporate Citizenship, Texas Instruments Inc., said that while interacting with students he observed that they exemplify exactly what TI aims to do for global education, that is, to provide hands-on experiential learning opportunities that allows students to turn ideas into innovation, and help shape the future.
To the gathering of students, he said: “There is no shortage of student ideas to make our world safer, healthier, greener and even more fun. We want you to practice engineering concepts and put your mind to solve tomorrow’s real-world problems. Each of you have raised the bar of what technology can do.”
‘Leverage IIMB’
Prof. G. Raghuram, Director, IIM Bangalore, spoke about the synergy between NSRCEL, IIMB and TI for the competition. He stated that the contest is all about partnership and that the focus on social purpose of the innovations is very encouraging. “This will help address issues of the bottom half of the population. NSRCEL’s initiatives on entrepreneurship, the institute’s course on entrepreneurship, IIMB’s Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on entrepreneurship, all these amount to internal partnership. I welcome all of you to leverage IIM Bangalore. We are with you in this incredible journey of Start-up India and Make in India”.
Harkesh Mittal, Advisor & Member Secretary at the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, said: “India is celebrating innovation and entrepreneurship and today’s event is part of the larger event happening all over the country. We partner with the private sector because we want to bring commercial and business knowledge to start-ups.” To the enthusiastic participants he said, “It is important to know that entrepreneurial efforts may not succeed in the first attempt – failures will be there. Stand up and walk ahead.”
‘Choose challenging problems’
Chief Guest Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, faculty, IIT Madras, and Principal Advisor to the Ministry of Power and New & Renewable Energy for the Government of India, said. “We cannot copy the west. We need to think differently. If we do that, we will win and become world leaders. If entrepreneurial and technological challenges can be handled, then India will lead. We should have more risk-taking ideas. So keep trying, do not take up easy problems, keep working on difficult problems – then you can win by making a significant difference.”
Dr. Anita Gupta, Director & Associate Head/Scientist-F, NSTEDB, who was present at the event, gave away some of the awards.
Faculty members from IIMB’s NRCEL Prof. K Kumar and Prof. Suresh Bhagavatula were also present.
Shubra Bhandari, Human Resource Leader, Texas Instruments India, presented the Vote of Thanks and said the faculty, mentors and evaluators at IIMB and NSRCEL played a big role in winners being where they are today. She stated that it was also encouraging to know that a lot of applications came from different parts of India, not just the metros. To the participants she said, “Your enthusiastic participation makes such events a success. Do not stop at failures, the contest proves that you all are dreaming big, taking risks and raring to go.”
About the contest
The India Innovation Challenge Design Contest was launched by Texas Instruments India (TI) in association with the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) to provide young tech entrepreneurs with an ecosystem and support to nurture their entrepreneurial spirit and an opportunity to leverage their talent and convert their innovation into a start-up. This contest to nurture innovation is aligned to the goals of the Make in India program of the India government.
The contest, supported by MyGov., is aimed at students pursuing B.E./B. Tech, M.E./M. Tech and Ph.D. from Indian engineering colleges, who have a passion for innovation. Innovative products are supported with technical mentorship and resources from TI.
A total of 2500 projects were submitted by 11,000 student innovators and thinkers from 624 colleges across the country. The students have been going through a series of selection processes for the last one year. On July 22, the prototypes of the Top 20 teams were displayed at IIMB.
Winners to receive seed funding of INR 2 crores & product development fund of INR 1.5 crores from DST and incubation at NSRCEL
22 July, 2017, Bengaluru: “Many business plans of the competition came up with solutions for socially relevant problems in the areas of agriculture, health, wearable tech, etc. In the finale today, the top 10 innovative ideas have been chosen to script chapters in the Make in India story,” said N S Raghavan, Patron, NSRCEL, and Member, Board of Governors, IIM Bangalore, during the grand finale of the India Innovation Challenge Design Contest (IICDC 2016), held at IIM Bangalore on July 22 (Saturday).
The top 10 teams of the IICDC 2016 were announced during the finals. The winners will receive seed funding of INR 2 crores and product development fund of INR 1.5 crores from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India (GoI), and mentoring and incubation at the NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore, which hosted the event today.
For a full list of the awards, click here
Problem-solving is key
The ideas for the innovations of the contest address the problem-solving needs across 19 sectors of the Make in India initiative, including a water mapping system that provides accurate data to identify wasteful sources of water, a prosthetic hand to improve amputee function, a garbage bin system that turns waste into reusable material, a wearable device for pregnant women to monitor their real-time body parameters to help them have a healthy pregnancy, etc.
N S Raghavan described how the IICDC and IIM Bangalore’s NSRCEL nurture entrepreneurial spirit and work towards the future of innovation in the country. “NSRCEL has distinguished faculty who are focused on teaching and research of entrepreneurship. NSRCEL also has special initiatives on women entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship.” He spoke in particular about the Management Programme for Women Entrepreneurs (MPWE). “MPWE has trained and empowered more than 1000 women in India. I would also like to talk about the Women’s Start-up Programme, supported by Goldman Sachs, which encourages women to initiate, ideate, and implement their dream ventures.” He announced that NSRCEL has plans to launch a larger start-up programme which is spread across the whole country, in November this year. He also spoke, at length, about the social incubator launched in collaboration with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, which, he said, will resolve urban poverty-related issues. “NSRCEL is today recognized as a centre of excellence in India, creating and nurturing the entrepreneurial ecosystem, thanks to the dedicated academicians and researchers, eminent panel, mentors and experts, distinguished alumni network, and strong government support.”
TI’s take
Earlier in the day, Sanjay Srivastava, Director Marketing, University Program, Texas Instruments India, while recalling the IICDC 2016 journey, said that the year was eventful and exciting for the IICDC, in terms of scale and impact. “We have seen creations and innovations from students in agriculture, medicine, etc. With our technology and with support from NSRCEL and the Government of India, we are sure these students have the potential to make fundamental changes in society. If technical innovation is supported by strong business guidelines, it can reach the masses of the country.”
Dr. Peter Balyta, President – Education Technology & VP of Academic Engagement & Corporate Citizenship, Texas Instruments Inc., said that while interacting with students he observed that they exemplify exactly what TI aims to do for global education, that is, to provide hands-on experiential learning opportunities that allows students to turn ideas into innovation, and help shape the future.
To the gathering of students, he said: “There is no shortage of student ideas to make our world safer, healthier, greener and even more fun. We want you to practice engineering concepts and put your mind to solve tomorrow’s real-world problems. Each of you have raised the bar of what technology can do.”
‘Leverage IIMB’
Prof. G. Raghuram, Director, IIM Bangalore, spoke about the synergy between NSRCEL, IIMB and TI for the competition. He stated that the contest is all about partnership and that the focus on social purpose of the innovations is very encouraging. “This will help address issues of the bottom half of the population. NSRCEL’s initiatives on entrepreneurship, the institute’s course on entrepreneurship, IIMB’s Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on entrepreneurship, all these amount to internal partnership. I welcome all of you to leverage IIM Bangalore. We are with you in this incredible journey of Start-up India and Make in India”.
Harkesh Mittal, Advisor & Member Secretary at the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, said: “India is celebrating innovation and entrepreneurship and today’s event is part of the larger event happening all over the country. We partner with the private sector because we want to bring commercial and business knowledge to start-ups.” To the enthusiastic participants he said, “It is important to know that entrepreneurial efforts may not succeed in the first attempt – failures will be there. Stand up and walk ahead.”
‘Choose challenging problems’
Chief Guest Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, faculty, IIT Madras, and Principal Advisor to the Ministry of Power and New & Renewable Energy for the Government of India, said. “We cannot copy the west. We need to think differently. If we do that, we will win and become world leaders. If entrepreneurial and technological challenges can be handled, then India will lead. We should have more risk-taking ideas. So keep trying, do not take up easy problems, keep working on difficult problems – then you can win by making a significant difference.”
Dr. Anita Gupta, Director & Associate Head/Scientist-F, NSTEDB, who was present at the event, gave away some of the awards.
Faculty members from IIMB’s NRCEL Prof. K Kumar and Prof. Suresh Bhagavatula were also present.
Shubra Bhandari, Human Resource Leader, Texas Instruments India, presented the Vote of Thanks and said the faculty, mentors and evaluators at IIMB and NSRCEL played a big role in winners being where they are today. She stated that it was also encouraging to know that a lot of applications came from different parts of India, not just the metros. To the participants she said, “Your enthusiastic participation makes such events a success. Do not stop at failures, the contest proves that you all are dreaming big, taking risks and raring to go.”
About the contest
The India Innovation Challenge Design Contest was launched by Texas Instruments India (TI) in association with the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) to provide young tech entrepreneurs with an ecosystem and support to nurture their entrepreneurial spirit and an opportunity to leverage their talent and convert their innovation into a start-up. This contest to nurture innovation is aligned to the goals of the Make in India program of the India government.
The contest, supported by MyGov., is aimed at students pursuing B.E./B. Tech, M.E./M. Tech and Ph.D. from Indian engineering colleges, who have a passion for innovation. Innovative products are supported with technical mentorship and resources from TI.
A total of 2500 projects were submitted by 11,000 student innovators and thinkers from 624 colleges across the country. The students have been going through a series of selection processes for the last one year. On July 22, the prototypes of the Top 20 teams were displayed at IIMB.