22nd – 26th June 2023: Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell & All India Council of Technical Education organized a five-day Innovation, Design and Entrepreneurship (IDE) Bootcamp in six different cities across India from 22nd – 26th June 2023. The bootcamp was delivered in IISER-B in Bhopal with the support of Wadhwani Foundation. From The Bhopal School of Social Sciences Incubation Centre the bootcamp was attended by Mr. Arun Panicer (Manager, BSSS Incubation Centre) and two incubatee start-ups Etash comprising of Ms. Anshulika Jain (B.A.Social Works 2023 pass) along with her partner Mr. Aditya Narayan and BeFrsher comprising of Ms. Anamika Sahu along with her partner Mr. Ansh Jain. Due to the exam schedule in the college, the students from 2nd and 4th semester were not able to participate in the bootcamp. There were more than two hundred participants consisting of college students with start-ups, school students, college faculties and school teachers who were also provided with food and accomodation in the IISER-B campus.
Mr. Naved Ahmed (Mentor, Wadhwani Foundation) who was assigned as the Nodal Officer for the IDE Bootcamp Bhopal commenced the bootcamp by welcoming all the participants. He briefed about the sessions that will be delivered in the five-days of the bootcamp, along with the outcome and what participants can expect from it. He also briefed about Wadhwani Foundation and their role in this bootcamp and their involvement in the Start-up and Innovation Ecosystem in India for the past decade.
The first day of the bootcamp was on “Design thinking for Entrepreneurs”. Mr. Naved Ahmed introduced and invited Ms. Geeta Sanjay (Guest Associate Mentor, Wadhwani Foundation), who was the expert for the first session of day one of the bootcamp. Ms. Geeta had delivered most of the sessions during the five day with her expertise in Design. In her first session, she also detailed on Entrepreneurship and there was an activity also based on the same. After the session by Ms. Geeta, the organizers invited and introduced Dr. Pankaj Parashar who is an innovator of a medical equipment and his stat-up based in Indore. He briefed on his Innovation and start-up journey, with detailing on the importance of design that helped in his innovation. He also detailed on various aspects and importance of design, along with steps of engineering a product through design, feasibility analysis, prototyping, gap identification, TRL level and product market fit.
In the afternoon at 3:00 pm the official inauguration ceremony of the bootcamp by Shri. Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Education was done from COEP, Pune. After the inauguration the minister interacted with hackathon winners attending the bootcamp in all the six centres across India.
After the Inauguration, organizers invited and introduced Mr. Raghu Pandey. Mr. Raghu is the founder of iMature.in a Bhopal based Start-up providing their service in Education Sector. His session was based on UI, UX and CX. His session was detailing on customer experience (CX) that a start-up or innovator should be aware of, in which a product/service awareness, interest, decision, purchase and retention is made. After the final expert session, there was a small idea pitching session after which the day was called off. Start-up participants were invited to pitch their ideas in front of all the participants and school students were asked to raise their queries in the idea to the founders.
Second-day of the bootcamp was focused on Human Centred Approach to Opportunity Discovery and various aspects through which it can be helpful in planning a Start-up. Participants had a power-packed day with enriching sessions, inspiring talks, and engaging activities.
Dr. Geetha Sanjay led an enlightening first session of day two on "Empathize: Design thinking process in problem-solving contexts" and "Design thinking approach to understand customers: Identifying your Customer Persona."
Mr. Raghu Pandey, shared valuable insights on "The Entrepreneurial Journey: How to Find the right path to Building a Start-up."
Mr. Naved Ahmed, shed light on "Understanding Markets, segments and Market Estimation."
Dr. Sandip Patil, Director of E-Spin Nanotech Pvt. Ltd., delivered a captivating Leadership Talk on "Insights from the design process to arrive at ideal solutions."
Prof. Vijay Kumar Gupta from the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design, and Manufacturing, Jabalpur, shared his expertise on "Ergonomics in product design and development."
Participants were exposed to an incredible blend of knowledge, leadership, and hands-on experiences throughout the day, followed by an exciting product pitching session.
The third-day of the bootcamp was focused on Building Sustainable Business Model. Also the teams were announced for the Start-up Pitch which was on fourth and fifth day of the bootcamp.
Mr. Naved briefed on the session from day one and two, also briefed on what are the expected outcomes from the session of day three. There after he invited Dr. Pankaj Parashar to start with the session, which was on Sustainable Development Goals. He details and discussed on various seventeen aspects of SDGs.
In the second session of the day Ms. Geeta Sanjay detailed on Value Proposition Canvas, which was also a practical session. In the session participants discussed and prepared value proposition canvas of the start-up ideas, with the assistance from the mentors.
The third session of the day was delivered by Mr. Naved, which was on Market Segmentation. This was also a practical session, where participants were asked to identify their potential customers and their target market.
The next and last session of session of the day was also continued by Mr. Naved, which was on Business Model. In the session he detailed on Business Model Canvas and Lean Model Canvas, by differentiating between the both and discussing on their application. The session also had practical exposure as the participants prepared Lean Canvas for their Start-up Ideas.
The first half of the Fourth-day of the bootcamp was focused on Grants & Funding Opportunities for Student Start-ups & International Markets. The day started with the session by Mr. Pradeep Ghosh from AIC Aartech, Mandideep (M.P.). The session was on various supports that are provided by the Government through various schemes such as AIC and Start-Up India.
The second-session of the day was delivered by Prof. Fayaz Ahmad Nika from Central University of Kashmir. The expert session was on the funding and grant support that a start-up or innovators can avail from the government through various schemes. He also detailed on the application procedure and eligibility criteria for the same. The third and last session of the day before the start of Idea Pitching Competition was by Prof. Avinash Sonawane from IIT Indore. The experts session was on detailing of International Market and how any innovator or Start-up can access and benefit from the international market. Also, he detailed on the support provided by the government, through which international market is accessible by the innovator or start-up.
After the session, the next one and half day was dedicated towards the Idea Pitching Competition. For the competition, teams were decided by the organizers in which the teams were constituted of one faculty, two students from college and one school student. The teams could plan and present any innovative start-up idea as per the team’s decision. There were almost fifty teams of which best five ideas presented were rewarded with certificates.
The five-day bootcamp concluded with awarding certificates to all the participants of the bootcamp along with the winners of idea pitching competition.
The five-day bootcamp organized by the Ministry of Education and AICTE was beneficial as the participants learned a lot from the industry expert mentors who are providing their service in the Start-up ecosystem. The key learnings from the bootcamp were: