EDII Ahmedabad hosted the first ever SSIP Annual Conference on Student Innovation, Start-ups and Ecosystem...
SSIP Annual Conference at EDII Ahmedabad
EDII Ahmedabad hosted the first ever SSIP Annual Conference on Student Innovation, Start-ups and Ecosystem
Government of Gujarat, under Student Start-up and Innovation Policy (SSIP) Cell and Gujarat Knowledge Society (GKS) organized an SSIP ‘Annual Conference’ on ‘Student Innovation, Start-ups and Ecosystem’. This conference was first of its kind in India to promote students startup initiative and the first conference was conducted at EDII during 6-7 June, 2019. This will go on to become a flagship program under the SSIP every year. The core idea of this endeavor is to provide a platform to academic researchers, practicing professionals and others to present their research ideas around the theme of startup and innovation.
The SSIP Annual Conference on Student Innovations, Start-ups and Ecosystem was inaugurated in the presence of (5th from L) the Chief Guest Shri Bhupendrasinh Chudasma, Hon’ble Minister of State, Education; (from L to R) Dr. Sunil Shukla, Director, EDII; Smt. Avantika Singh Aulakh, CEO, GKS, Commissioner, Technical Education, Govt. of Gujarat; Ms. Anju Sharma, Principal Secretary to Education Dept., GoG; Dr. J. N Singh, Chief Secretary, GoG; Ms. Vibhavariben Dave, Minister of State for Women and Child Welfare Education (Primary and Higher) and Pilgrimage Dept.; Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE; Shri Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-founder, Infosys and Chairman, Axilor Ventures and Dr. H Purushotham, Chairman, NRDC
Shri Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Hon’ble Education Minister, Gujarat State was the Chief Guest at the Conference; while Smt Vibhavariben Dave, Hon’ble Minister of State, Education and Dr J. N. Singh, Chief Secretary, GoG were Guest of Honours. Smt. Anju Sharma, Principal Secretary, Education Department, Government of Gujarat and Smt. Avantika Singh Aulakh, CEO, GKS Commissioner, Technical Education, Government of Gujarat were the key people behind organizing this conference. Other prominent speakers present at the inaugural session were Shri Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-founder, Infosys and Chairman, Axilor Ventures; Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE; Dr. H. Purshotham, CMD, National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) and Dr. Sunil Shukla, Director, EDII.
Shri Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Hon’ble Education Minister, Government of Gujarat, addressed the audience with his own definition of SSIP as ‘solution of any problem is Startup.’
“Be it any sector like agriculture, servicing or industry, innovative ideas stand as bread and butter for people. Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India has worked hard to increase employment in all these three sectors since the time when he was the Chief Minister of the Gujarat state. Today, we can witness innumerable innovative ideas and start-ups in many fields. We hope to fulfill the vision that Indian youth is not a job seeker, but a job giver. Education Department in Gujarat has conducted series of interventions to create end-to-end ecosystem for student innovation and start-ups. These interventions have received attention from academia, industry and public policy makers at national and international level, “said Shri Chudasama. The Hon’ble Minister also shared a few examples of unique start-up ideas which are very helpful to society at large during his inauguration address.
Dr J N Singh, Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat said “Under Chairmanship of Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and other senior cabinet ministers, Union Cabinet took an important decision to form a subcommittee primarily focusing on employment and skill development. Perhaps for the very first time, a high powered body has been made. The motive behind the formation of the body is majorly for employment generation among the youth. We are proud to have a solid democratic dividend which any country rarely has. We are fortunate to be in Gujarat, a state which has tremendous entrepreneurial culture where everyone helps each other to develop their business.”
Smt. Anju Sharma, Principal Secretary, Education Department, Government of Gujarat, during her address said, “Education department aims to benchmark the best performing ecosystem to instill a culture of excellence and drive collaborative competition in the ecosystem. We will also be offering monetary and non-monetary awards/citations to attract more student led innovations.” She also mentioned that there are more than 100 colleges registered so far under SSIP in India; wherein 74 institutes are placed in phase 4. Under these, 400 innovative projects and more than 500 patents have been registered under the same. Various start-up eco-channels such as, Start-up Programmes (for students in their first phase), Start-up SATHI (where the entrepreneurs can leverage best mentors for their start-ups), Start-up BLOOM (where more than 45 patents have been registered), Start-up MART (an ecommerce platform cum marketing space for star-ups), Start-up PROMOTION and Start-up MANAK (for facilitating certification related formalities) and many more channels are introduced by the Government of Gujarat with an aim to achieve best for the budding entrepreneurs. She concluded her speech by mentioning that the Government of Gujarat is bringing a paradigm shift in higher education system which will help in job creation by the younger generation.
Shri Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-founder, Infosys and Chairman, Axilor Ventures in his address said, “Entrepreneurship is a cultural behavior. In Indian economy, 70% of the Start-ups are referred to as Small and Medium enterprises with an average of 20 employees. We also need significant start-ups in rural areas of the country for the rural upliftment.”
Prof Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE highlighted that in last 5 years there has been extra ordinary growth in terms of innovation and startup culture. He said, “After introducing Smart India Hackathon, we have received immense support of young entrepreneurs with their creativity and innovative ideas and few of them have been implemented by the Government of India. More than 5 crore jobs could be created through start-ups alone and the winning Gujarat model should be exported across the country.”
Under SSIP, Government of Gujarat has a goal of harnessing and up-scaling 500 students’ startups in the next 5 years. “During the last decade, new entrepreneurs who do not belong to traditional business communities have begun to emerge in large numbers. It has been observed that academic institutions are increasingly becoming a medium for such entrepreneurs. This has led to a spur in youth creativity and innovation” said Smt. Avantika Singh Aulakh, CEO, GKS, Commissioner, Technical Education, Government of Gujarat in her vote of thanks.
The Conference included launch of Mobile-based Attendance System and i-Hub film, along with unveiling of i-Hub brochure. 11 student start-ups, 5 young innovators along with 3 institutions, 3 universities and 10 mentors were presented with ‘SSIP Prashansha Award’. A start-up exhibition was also conducted during the conference at the EDII campus wherein the start-ups showcased their innovative products.
The two day conference also witnessed a series of panel discussions on various topics pertaining to start-ups, innovation and technology and around 7 paper presented on ‘Intellectual Property Rights’ and ‘Best practices in promoting student innovation’ . A demo day was also conducted on the second day of the conference wherein 12 start-ups pitched their ideas for 3 minutes each in front of the investors present at the event. The two day conference concluded with a great success.