Collaboration with IIM Bangalore and Department of Science & Technology to support the winning teams with funding close to Rs 3.5 crores
India, Bangalore, 8th Sep 2016: Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI), along with Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), announced that the registration for the challenge is going live for the 2016 India Innovation Challenge on mygov.in portal. Registrations will close on September 30, 2016.
Registrations for India Innovation Challenge are open to engineering students across all recognized institutes of India. This platform allows engineering students from colleges and universities across the country to display their ideas and concepts that have the potential to solve pressing problems across various sectors and to help bring positive change to the lives of millions of people. This contest aims to propel the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative through student start-ups and contribute to the country’s manufacturing ecosystem.
Texas Instruments has been organizing Innovation Challenge since 2009. The last six editions of the contest have witnessed innovative and out-of-the-box thinking from participants to create cutting-edge solutions to real-world problems. The challenge, which lasts for ten months, will include the top teams who will be able to get their start-ups incubated at IIMB’s reputed incubation center, the Nadathur S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL).
TI will provide technical resources and guidance throughout the challenge, including tool support and mentoring to design, make prototypes and to create the final product. DST will provide funding of INR 3.5 crore to the student start-ups, which will go toward the product development fund of INR 1.5 crore and seed fund of INR 2 crore for the top teams to incubate their start-ups. The Challenge will be provided a platform through MyGov, which can reach out to large number of citizens.
The contest follows TI’s efforts toward industry-oriented and hands-on engineering education to foster innovation in students. Annually, TI trains a large number of engineering students on state-of-the-art technologies through labs, workshops and integration of TI technology into engineering coursework and curriculum.
“At Texas Instruments India, we believe in fostering student innovations through our university programs. These programs strive toward inculcating experiential learning amongst engineering students and help strengthen the education community as a whole. TI has seen great talent in the past six years through our design contests. We are proud to host it this year along with our associations with IIMB, DST and MyGov. We are thankful to each of our partners to make this a collaborative and resourceful platform to mentor young engineering minds, helping them incubate and build their start-ups in the manufacturing ecosystem,” said Sanjay Srivastava, Director – University Program, Texas Instruments India.
Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Gaurav Dwivedi, CEO, MyGov, said, “MyGov is excited to partner with DST and TI India to help bring talented minds to one platform and be part of mentoring sessions with IIMB and DST to encourage government’s Make in India program. MyGov will help connecting with the best minds from the engineering colleges across India to present their start-up ideas and help them make their dreams to reality by nurturing the best idea that has the potential to bring a change in the lives of millions.”
Professor Suresh Bhagavatula, Chairperson, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Development, at IIM Bangalore, said, “IIMB sees an exciting opportunity through this collaboration with TI on the Innovation Challenge by coming across unique entrepreneurial ideas from the best talents of the country and helping them incubate the ideas and transform them into successful enterprises. We would like to welcome the students to register and experience the entire process of helping them make their dream a reality.”
“DST plays a pivotal role in promoting science and technology in the country. Collaborating with TI and its India Innovation Challenge provides tremendous thrust to the development of technology among young engineering students. With IIMB offering their expertise with business mentoring and incubation support, we aim to take another step forward to encourage students, to bring fresh ideas, solutions to one table. Considering the association with MyGov will also help take the challenge to next level”, said Mr. H.K. Mittal, Advisor and Head, NSTEDB, DST, GOI.
