Visit to AIC AARTECH

1st August, 2022 – Students members of BSSS’s Incubation Centre accompanied by Dr. Smitha Pillai, Nodal Officer, BSSS’s Incubation Centre and Mr Arun Panicker, Manager BSSS Incubation Centre visited AIC AARTECH, Mandideep, Dist- Raisen (M.P.). AIC-AARTECH is one of the first corporate Atal Incubation Centre being established under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), a flagship initiative of NITI AAYOG, Govt. of India.

The purpose of the tour was to give the students an overview of an incubator's operations and an opportunity to chat with the AIC-AARTECH team about their startup experiences.

On our arrival a warm welcome was accorded by the team of AIC AARTECH. A brief introduction about the R&D departmental activities was given by Mr. Himanshu Gupta. The lecture covered the present thrust areas in the R&D department's cutting-edge research undertaken at Aartech, with a brief description of upcoming projects at Aartech and also, their Startup-specific programs, Government-funded programs, DST and DRDO collaborated programs, were detailed.

The students were so enthused and asked many relevant questions which were well explained by the AIC AARTECH team. Mr  Himanshu Tiwari (head of the mechanicals) also detailed  about their upcoming project ‘Shaurya Stambh’  Its prototype is currently under LAB trials. The project is authorized by the government as a potential source of and acts as an alarm against forest fires, avalanches, and landslides in the harsh climatic conditions of Himachal Pradesh. Mr. Himanshu explained the whole process, starting from field research, public opinion, data requirements, and material acquisition, to the experimentation phase.

The team took us on a tour of their infrastructure where we were amazed to see various facilities of R&D, Manufacturing, Quality Testing, and Prototypes. Moving on to the next point, we were taken to the innovation lab where they showed their recent innovations, such as oxygen concentrator, and acrylic products. During the whole visit, simultaneous experiment demonstrations were carried out along with the lectures, and with complete discipline and coordination, students learned effectively and efficiently about the entire process.

The students had the chance to interact with several AIC-AARTECH start-up teams, and through that interaction, they were able to get answers to many of the questions they had about everything from research to the creation of prototypes and finished goods. Additionally, they learned the crucial safety precautions and guidelines that should be observed when engaging in entrepreneurial activity.

After the plant visit, a tea break was arranged at ZAYKA.

Finally, we went to the Arcadia. There we had an interactive session where an idea generation workshop was undertaken by Mr. Amit Raje (Founder & Director, AIC AARTECH). Mr. Raje shared his entrepreneurial journey. He welcomed the students with promising Start-up ideas to his AIC and briefed the facilities and other assistance he could provide for setting up of Start-Ups. He also interacted with some of our students who had their own Start-up ideas and cleared their doubts on R&D, costing, manufacturing, presenting their ideas, and also how to reach investors to avail funding for their ideas. This was meticulously depicted by Shark Tank Game; Mr. Raje asked the students with Start-up Ideas to pitch their idea in front of a panel (selected from the students) who were referred as Tanks. Every Idea was given 7 minutes of time, which also included the queries by the Tanks and the negotiation of Financials. Post the conclusion of the game Mr. Raje addressed about the game and his views on how one should pitch his/her idea to investors. A brief details of the game are as follows;

The students participated with enthusiasm and diligence. This Shark Tank Game was hugely liked by the participants. He mentioned his readiness to assist the students on their Start-Up Ideas and bid us with his best wishes. Dr Smitha Pillai, Nodal Officer of Incubation centre expressed her sincerest gratitude to Mr Amit Raje for his immense support and guidance during the BSSS Incubation Center's journey to achieve its entrepreneurial milestone.

At 5.30 p.m., the students parted ways with the enthralling knowledge and experience they had obtained from their tour to the incubation centre.