Mangaluru: St. Joseph Engineering College, Mangaluru, conducted PRIME-2024: An Accelerated Entrepreneurial Experience from June 22 to July 23, 2024, under the aegis of InnoVenture: SJEC Innovation Platform. The Demo Day of the activity was held on July 23, 2024, in the Kalam Auditorium on campus. Mr. Gaurav Kamath, Co-Founder of MicroDegree, and Mr. Dasharath Shetty, Partner at Raj Clay Products, graced the occasion as guests.
PRIME-2024 aimed at promoting a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship on campus. In this activity, the college provided a non-refundable seed capital of Rs. 500 to registered student teams to identify, develop, and sell a product or service to realize a profit. The only requirement of PRIME-2024 was that the product or service developed had to be sold. The one-month-long activity witnessed the participation of 61 teams comprising 208 students from various disciplines, including Engineering, MBA, and MCA. The teams were allowed to keep both the seed capital and the profits generated from their business ventures.
Demo Day featured the exhibition of all products and services developed and sold by the students. The exhibition also saw a considerable number of products being sold and bought by visiting students and faculty. Nearly 80% of the teams consisted of students from multiple disciplines, sharing their knowledge and skills for the betterment of the products.
The range of products on display was diverse and showcased technical ingenuity and business value, including NFC-integrated Singing Wall Posters, One-Touch Digital Business Cards by Team Whimsy, innovative LPG cylinder carriers, credit card-sized multi-utility scales, digital screen cleaners, coconut husk decors, auto LEDs, and 3D-printed shoelace clips.
The key achievements of PRIME-2024 are:
- Students experienced the challenges involved in innovation and achieved varied degrees of success in their efforts.
- PRIME-2024 helped InnoVenture identify a team of budding innovators and aspiring entrepreneurs whom the platform intends to mentor and support in kickstarting their dreams.
- PRIME-2024 successfully broke the stigma surrounding profits and business endeavors, helping students realize the importance of wealth creation in nation-building.
