The grand finale of the Texas Instruments India (TI) Innovation Challenge Design offered Rs. 3.5 crores to the top 10 wining teams as a token amount for startup funding.
Texas Instruments India (TI) announced the top 10 winning teams for the India Innovation Challenge Design Contest 2017 (IICDC 2017), one of India’s most popular design contests for engineering students. The winners qualify for an INR 3.5 crore start-up seed fund from theDepartment of Science and Technology (DST) and an opportunity to be incubated at IIM Bangalore’s innovation and entrepreneurship hub – N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL).
The announcement was made during the grand finale held at IIMB on August 10 (Friday), 2018, in the presence of Dr. S. D. Shibulal, Co-founder of Infosys and Amarendra Sahu, CEO & Co-founder of NestAway Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Dr. Anita Gupta, Adviser and Associate Head, National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, Douglas Phillips, WW Director, University Marketing Program at Texas Instruments, Sanjay Srivastava, Director Marketing, University Program at Texas Instruments,Professor Suresh Bhagavatula, Chair, NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at IIMB and Professor Gopal Naik, Dean Faculty, IIMB were also present at the event.
The winners
Indian Institute of Technology from Kharagpur, West Bengal secured the Chairman Award for Technical Innovation on ‘Battery Health Management System with Integrated Charger’. Sir M Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology from Bangalore, Karnataka, won the first runners up award for their innovation ‘Underwater and Airborne Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle’ and Bhartiya Vidya Bhavans Sardar Patel Institute of Technology from Mumbai, Maharashtra was adjudged second runners up award on their innovation ‘Health Set’.
The competition was tougher this year with more than 15,380 students from 965 colleges participating. Altogether 30 teams made it to the finals after a rigorous selection process. The final 10 winners were chosen after many rounds of discussions and deliberations by a panel of
eminent judges.
Congratulating everyone associated in making the contest such a huge success, Sanjay Srivastava said, “IICDC has grown bigger each year, crossing new milestones. This year’s edition has also witnessed 34 patents filed by the participants across domains like agriculture, health, vehicle safety, IOT, automation, security, and eco-friendly appliances. This is a big achievement. It speaks about the strength of the idea and quality of the innovation. It also shows that the contest is fostering a start-up culture in the deep tech engineering space. I am confident that winners of the 2017 edition will push the envelope on innovation and go on to launch products that make a real difference.”
Mr. Gunit Singh Chabbra from IIT Kharagpur, one of the team leaders of the winning team said, “To be one of the top 10 winning teams is absolutely thrilling! IICDC is a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experience and I would encourage students who love technology, have a great idea and want to be entrepreneurs, to definitely give it a shot. Of course, this is a tough competition but the learning is immense – you get to meet and compete with some of the best minds in the country. Besides, there are rewards at every step – from certificates, cash prizes to mentoring from industry experts. For now, we are enjoying this big moment and looking forward to starting our entrepreneurial journey!”
TI’s collaboration with IIMB and DST has helped nurture young engineers through this contest. In a yearlong challenge, the participants were mentored by TI and IIMB. TI provided technical resources and guidance throughout the contest, from free tools, technical guidance and mentoring, to helping student develop their prototypes. DST provided funding of INR 3.5 crores to the student start-ups, which went towards the product development process and seed fund. The online platform MyGov, promoted active participation of the students in the contest, helping them register for the contest from all different corners of the country through the MyGov portal.
