Chitkara University launches ‘India Innovation Championship -2021’
Since its inception, Chitkara University has always promoted an entrepreneurial mindset in teaching, research and training. To take the baton ahead, Chitkara University has launched the ‘India Innovation Challenge- 2021’ – one of the largest funding fest and university driven platform for upcoming start-ups.
Curated & coached by Orbit Future Academy, and backed by seasoned angel investors, VC partners SucSeed Indovation Fund (Hyderabad) & Modular Capital, accelerator partner 100 Watts (Pune), industry bodies like FICCI & MeitY start-up hub, the Government of Himachal Pradesh, Chitkara University’s Research and Innovation Network (CURIN) and Chitkara University NEW Gen-IEDC, the challenge seeks to drive entrepreneurship and accelerate promising Research, Innovation, Demonstration and Development (RID&D) in technology, across India.
IIC-2021 has been designed and curated to provide the innovators and thinkers to compete in a grand event to get mentored for their new & novel ventures by fast-tracking impact savvy innovations. The Championship is open to innovators, entrepreneurs, designers, thinkers, students, engineers, scientists, coders, trainers, academicians from any background.
Backed by angel investor funds, government grants and cash prize from Chitkara University, this platform will identify problem statements and give birth to innovations and innovative solutions. The infusion of funds at an early stage will help propel the new start-up.
With approx. INR 1 crore in total prize and grant money, the innovators will be competing for angel investors fund worth INR 40 lakhs from the Orbit Future Academy and Angel Investors network, INR 10 lakh cash prize from Chitkara University (to be distributed among top three innovations selected by the jury.), Government Grants (MeitY Start-up, Newgen IEDC & Start-up Himachal) for Prototyping and Venture commercialization up to INR 50 lakhs.
With United Nation’s Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) at the fore, the IIC-2021 aims to identify innovators who can build commercial ventures for a better India and help create promising Start-ups and a better world to live in.
The IIC-2021 has been conceptualized around the SDG’s and designed to cover eight broad themes ranging from healthcare, education, clean technology, tech start-ups, rural development, clean energy solution, and environment.
The event has been incepted to accomplish the broad goals around these themes. Ideas & Enterprises in these themes will seek to accomplish: Healthcare – Creating a state of art for managing health care services, Education- Developing modern calculated solutions for a better education system, Clean Tech – Identifying a new way to manage(package) and purify water, Tech Start-ups – Creating intelligent devices by incorporating the latest technologies to address some pressing issues, Rural infrastructure – Creating facilities to enable improvement in the livelihood of the rural population, Agriculture – Providing product or service that can improve the productivity, Clean Energy Solutions- Innovate ideas to produce and manage renewable resources, and Environment – Creating improved management solutions to protect the environment.
In addition to the financial support, the selected ‘Top 25 innovative’ ideas will also have exclusive optional access and scholarship for a 3-week signature Accelerator program run by Chandigarh Angels Network (CAN). The Top 5 ideas from the CAN accelerator program will also get an opportunity to pitch for angel investment in a special session hosted for IIC 2021 in front of 40 angel investors of Chandigarh Angels Network. All this will be topped by a 12 months structured incubation and mentoring program offered by Chitkara University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship Education and Development (CEED).
The CEED incubation and mentorship program is one of the most active, well connected and comprehensive programs in the region. The 12-month incubation and mentorship program at CEED will cover a 360°comprehensive incubation support ranging from the ground report & deeper validation of the idea, customer & market surveys, reassessment of the problem statement, appointment of the dedicated mentor to the team, building of POC & prototype, defining the sales pitch & curating the team, formalizing the founders’ agreement, branding and communication for the market, support in formal company formation and compliance prototype testing, validation and market response, making the first sale and accumulating customers, financial management & book keeping, and formal launch & commercialization.
The application window to participate in the IIC 2021 will be open from 25th December 2020 to 21st February 2021, with the Grand Finale scheduled on 15th April 2021.
Dr Madhu Chitkara, Pro-Chancellor, Chitkara University, on the unveiling ceremony of IIC-2021 shared that, “I congratulate the IIC -2021 support partners and the organizing team for leading the mission to enable start-ups to help create a better India through innovation and bringing funds in the tune of INR 1 Crore as grant money to promote entrepreneurship. From the very start Chitkara University has always strived to promote the spirit of responsible and innovative enterprise, through our centres like CEED, CURIN, and NEW Gen IEDC. This event is one giant leap towards making this region a hub -ups across the nation. We thank all our support partners for joining hands to unleash the spirit of innovation through IIC-2021.”
