Mangaluru: The inauguration of TechVision 2019 – ‘Elevate 50’ kick started at Sahyadri Campus with a brief introduction regarding SPSS as to how it has been evolved over the years. In the introduction, a gist of reformation of SPSS from the various ideas of SSTH which further leads to NAIN Projects and further to Startups was highlighted. A road map to innovation at Sahyadri and various activities planned for the execution of the same like SSTH, Social Innovation Projects and hands on Lab were presented before the guests and the gathering.
Dr Sandhya R Anvekar, Program Head Skilling, Karnataka Education and Technology Society (KITS), Department of IT and BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka, inaugurated TechVision 2019 – Elevate 50. Dr. Sandhya in her address put forth before the audience various schemes available under KITS which could be beneficial for the engineering students to acquire a seed amount to initiate a startup. Dr Sandhya also highlighted on how one could procure funding from NAIN for projects which have credibility to address problems of societal concern. Dr Sandhya congratulated the management for providing extremely superior infrastructure to incubate the ideas of students which could facilitate them to become successful entrepreneurs in the near future. She also mentioned that the startups, the projects which are being worked on in the campus and the facilities provided are of great standards and match up to the expectations of NAIN regulations which could make Sahyadri competitive enough to be addressed as the focal point of innovation.
Uday Birje, Co-founder and Director, Thinkstreet Technologies, addressed the gathering and spoke about the five main attributes required for a startup which includes idea, passion, hardwork, risk taking capacity and focus, and motivated the students to take up challenges and work on it. Vikram Rai, Co-founder of Vitor Health Science Pvt. Ltd addressed the gathering and congratulated the management and students for imbibing innovation as a part and parcel of the study. Dr. Manjunath Bhandary, Chairman, Bhandary Foundation, in his address highlighted about the main objective of introducing project based learning at Sahyadri which intents on identifying the root cause of a problem, finding an idea to address it and finding the relevant and optimistic solution for the same. Dr. Srinivas Rao Kunte, Principal, SCEM, proposed the vote of thanks.
The theme for TechVision 2019 is ELEVATE 50. Over the years TechVision has evolved to come to this stage where students are challenged to develop PRODUCT BASED STARTUPs which will be funded for their future development. Technical round 1 consists of project guide selecting the best innovative project. Further, technical round 2 is the Blind Technical Round, the projects are evaluated by external faculty. It is a blind review process where the identity of the students or the guide is not revealed in the oral presentation. Hence, in TechVision 2019, there will be two technical rounds followed by one business round. It is a rigorous process with careful evaluation based on rubrics. Each department selects 10 projects. From the overall five departments, there will be 50 projects. The next round Business Training prepares the project to pitch the product to investors/funding agencies. Final round is the Elevate 50 wherein based on the business training, the top teams will prepare their project pitch and business plan and present them to Elevate 50 Jury. This is purely a business round where only business parameters are evaluated. Out of Top 50, Top 20 will be selected depending on the Jury. This Top 20 will be given grants from the 20 lakhs pool to build the Student-Faculty start-ups.
Talk on ‘Startup to Scaleup’
How to start a startup by Prof. Uday Birje, Mentor for change, Attal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, Govt. of India. Professor Birje addressed the Elevate 50 participants on the importance of startups. He initiated by sharing an inspiring video of Sundar Pichhai about startup. While addressing the students, Professor mentioned the importance of startup in IT and non-IT fields. Professor Birje urged the students to be job creators rather than being job seekers. He stressed on the importance on being innovative which is essential for starting a startup. He also gave insights about the important key factors which are necessary for the success of any start up. The overall essence of the talk was the eye opener for students on how to convert their idea to a startup and how to scale it up.
