>Nine Indian students for Intel show in Los Angeles

>Nine Indian students from different parts of the country will represent India at the 2011 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) to be held in Los Angeles, California from May 8-13.

These are students who are winners of the India Initiative for Research & Innovation of Science (IRIS), which is a public private partnership between the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Intel. The primary objective of IRIS is to promote science and scientific research amongst the young Indian innovators in secondary and higher secondary schools.

These students at ISEF will represent at the world’s largest pre-college science fair competition for students in grades 9-12. Bringing together more than 1,600 young students from more than 60 countries, ISEF 2011 is an opportunity for the best young minds in the world to come together to share ideas, showcase cutting-edge projects, and compete for more than US$ 4 million in awards and scholarships.

Over 1,300 IRIS project entries were received from across the country under 10 categories that included a range of solutions in the field of physical and life sciences, mathematics, engineering and social sciences. Out of these, 88 projects were showcased at IRIS 2010 held at the Nehru Science Centre in Mumbai, Maharashtra and six projects by 9 students were short listed to represent India at ISEF, according to a press release.

Mr. Ashutosh Chadha, Director – Corporate Affairs Group, Intel South Asia. “ISEF encourages students to tackle challenging scientific questions through authentic research practices to solve the problems of tomorrow.”

Source: Business Line, April 20, 2011

>IIM-Bangalore & Intel tie up soon to promote Next Big Idea

>The Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) on Monday announced a new initiative, Next Big Idea, aimed at fostering greater entrepreneurial growth across the country. IIM-B will partner with global chip maker Intel and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to nurture innovative ideas culled from business plan competitions until they can be turned into sustainable businesses.

“No idea is a bad idea, this initiative is part of our strategy to building the entrepreneurial ecosystem,” said K. Kumar, Chairperson, N.S. Raghavan Center for Entrepreneurial Learning, IIM-B. “The design of the programme views business plan competitions as a means to the development of successful ventures and not an end in itself,” he added.

Through this platform any individual or team can post their innovative ideas and seek mentoring, access to incubation and angel funds to convert an idea into a business. “It is an inclusive approach and sharing of best practices. And we will nurture broad range of ideas from areas such as biotechnology, education, clean technology, telecom, software, electronics, manufacturing and even social ventures,” said Chandar Sundaram, Consultant at IIM-B.

“We need to bring this awareness among entrepreneurs that there is lot of government support available to them,” said Dr. Anita Gupta, head for micro enterprise and skill development at government-run DST. She said that DST provides a funding of Rs. 40 crore (Rs. 400 million) each year to support various ventures and ideas and so far around 1,500 startups have been supported and funded in the last 10 years.

The next stage in The Next Big Idea initiative will be an intensive training workshop for 40 winners of business plan competitions conducted by partnering academic institutions, direct entry teams and nominated teams. After short listing to 10 finalists, the most promising teams will be selected, and sponsored to attend an international business plan competition in the United States.

Source: The Economic Times, January 27, 2011