Texas Instruments ‘India Innovation Challenge 2017’ to nurture engineering innovation among university students in India

Collaboration with IIM Bangalore and the Department of Science and Technology will mentor students and fund winning teams with INR 3.5 crore for start-up

Texas Instruments (TI) today announced the launch of the second edition of India Innovation Challenge Design Contest (IICDC 2017), with registrations for the contest opening on July 20th, 2017at www.ti.com/iicdc.  TI will continue the collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and Department of Science and Technology (DST) to nurture innovation and consistent with the goals of the  Make in India program. In the year long journey, IICDC 2017 will include an intense mentoring program for students.

Last year, IICDC 2016 attracted registrations from 11,000 engineering students across 624 colleges in India. Anamika Verma, an IIT Mumbai participant,   said: “IICDC has raised standards for other design contests in the country. TI, along with its partners, worked with us as a team. I would highly recommend students from engineering colleges to apply for IICDC 2017.”

During IICDC 2017, TI will provide resources and in-depth technical training program throughout the contest.    DST will provide INR 3.5 crores to the student start-ups for prototyping and seed funding.   NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore will provide business mentoring and incubation support. MyGov, the government’s online portal, will be extended to the participants for registration.

“TI believes in nurturing engineering students through our university program, especially through experiential learning.  IICDC is a great example of this.  We are thankful to all the partners for helping us build IICDC as a thriving platform for young minds to generate ideas and then launch their start-ups.” said, Sanjay Srivastava, Director, TI India University Program.

Professor Suresh Bhagavatula, Chairperson, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Development, NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) at IIM Bangalore, said: “IIMB sees an exciting opportunity through this collaboration with TI on the IICDC 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. With mentors from NSRCEL, we see a lot of growth and competitive opportunity for students who want to address critical problems through their innovations.”

“DST’s collaboration with TI’s IICDC provides impetus to the development of science and technology within the country.  With this, we encourage students to engineer path-breaking solutions that bring socio economic change.” said Mr. H.K. Mittal, advisor and head of NSTEDB, DST.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Gaurav Dwivedi, CEO of MyGov, said: “MyGov is glad to support DST and TI India in bringing innovative ideas from different corners of the country to one platform, thus further strengthening government’s Make in India program. The Innovative Platform of MyGov has been developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) that has great engagement and evaluation features to conduct such contests. The platform has hosted number of such innovative contests in recent years.”

 

About Texas Instruments: Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is a global semiconductor design and manufacturing company that develops analog ICs and embedded processors. By employing the world’s brightest minds, TI creates innovations that shape the future of technology. TI is helping approximately 100,000 customers transform the future, today. Learn more at www.ti.com. For more information on the global TI university program, visit www.ti.com/university.

About IIMB & NSRCEL: Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) builds leaders and entrepreneurs through holistic, transformative and innovative education. An EQUIS accredit school, IIMB is an acknowledged hub of academic activity in India and globally. IIMB’s research centres include the Centre for Public Policy, the Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, the Centre for Financial Markets & Risk Management, the Centre for Corporate Governance & Citizenship, the Centre for Software & IT Management, and the Centre for Supply Chain Management. The N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) incubates start-ups and provides free mentoring for budding entrepreneurs. NSRCEL currently incubates 18 start-ups – perhaps the largest number for an incubation center in an academic institution.  In 2016-17, NSRCEL conducted 500 mentoring sessions and over 50 events. Through its rapidly growing open mentoring initiatives, it is conservatively estimated that NSRCEL may have directly impacted in excess of 10,000 entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs or other participants in the ecosystem since it was established in 2000.

About DST: The Department of Science and Technology (DST) set up in 1971 by the Government of India plays a pivotal role in promotion of science & technology in the country. The department has wide ranging activities ranging from promoting high end basic research and development of cutting edge technologies on one hand to service the technological requirements of the common man through development of appropriate skills and technologies on the other. One of the mandates of DST is to support innovations, science and technology based entrepreneurship development and technology business incubation activity through National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (https://www.nstedb.com/). The board engages with academic and R&D institutions and also partners with leading industries to promote entrepreneurship across the country.

About MyGov: MyGov is a novel initiative taken by the Government of India to build a crucial partnership between Citizens and Government with the help of technology for materialising the real potential of India. Through this platform, the Government encourages public participation towards Good Governance by seeking ideas, suggestion and creative talent of citizens.  MyGov’s focus is to empower citizens to work hand in hand with government to channelize their collective energy into constructive nation building. National Informatics Centre (NIC) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has designed, developed and hosted the MyGov and twenty (20) of its Sub-Domains.