It was great addressing 6000 students at Karunya University, inaguration Mindkraft 2017. Great to see them attentive for an hour on frugal innovation for smart India and how not to ignore the billion in the process.

#KarunyaUniversity management fest themed frugal innovation for smart #India will make the Prime Minister’s vision a reality

The three Day National Level Techno-Management Fest “Mindkraft 2K17” based on the theme “Frugal Innovation for Smart India” to be held from 23rd-25th March, 2017 was formally inaugurated by Professor Nagaraja Prakasam, Founder Chairman of Native Angel Network, Bangalore on 23rd March 2017 at University premises. He has invested in 20 start-ups and believes in the mantra and according to him”Start-ups should be the focus of India’s strength”. He also narrated the success stories of people of India who had obtained patent for their small innovative ideas and later they were commercialized because of its social importance. The chief guest motivated the students to think simple ideas and translate in to useful innovative products that would benefit the society at large. He also added that in order to sustain in this competitive world students should think of becoming an entrepreneur than looking for employment.

Dr.S.Sundar Manoharan, Vice Chancellor of the university welcomed the gathering and in his speech he stated that the spirit of students in making techno-products is increasing year after year. The Registrar Dr.C.Joseph Kennady introduced about the chief guest by briefing the achievements and accomplishments. Dr.Jibu Thomas faculty coordinator of Mindkraft 17 read the report on Techno Management fest- Mindkraft 17 to the august gatherings.

This is a Techno Management fest attracted 1300 participants from other colleges across India and similarly the event witnessed 500 internal participants too. The highlight of first day was the project exhibition in which more than 70 innovative products were displayed by the student participants. To name a few, air engine bike, smart shower, electricity generating doors, traffic signal priority system, smart parking facilities, sun-friendly umbrella, herbal biscuits, biofertilizers, waste water treatment plant systems, lichen power for removal of biofilm formations in catheter tube, instant coconut milk power, thermotorch and so.

During this exhibition, students had an opportunity to show case not only their talents at the same time they were able read others creative work. This paved a way to kindle their young minds by giving deeper understanding of the subject and also obtained insight into various fields of engineering, science and management. In addition to the research paper presentation (both oral and poster), the other events that are conducted are Futsal street, Aquarush, RC-Car, Auto-expo, Battle Programmer, Food Trivia, Robomaze, Bob the Builder, short film and photography competition.

Round Table on sustainable cities in New Delhi. Great to know Telangana has a green channel for startups who want to bid for Govt. projects.

“Why create a single enterprise worth thousand crores….why not a thousand enterprises worth a single crore ?”…..the defining philosophy of our theory of change for positively transforming the craft sector by creating equitable value across stakeholders.
The key component of the narrative at ‘The Craft Catapult’ Delhi Roundtable Meet yesterday led by Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship‘s Startup Oasis where the dialogue panned ground realities, situations, and concerns over the product- market fit, need for appropriate and timely design intervention, effectively countering competition, particularly from the factory made, artisan and stakeholder incomes, long gestation periods and resultant irregular cash flows, craftspeople motivation and orientations, use of technology to maximize process efficiency, ‘one of a kind’ vs ‘volume’ production
There was plenty of cross-learning and education geared towards evolving an ecosystem for creating, incubating, nurturing and accelerating, ethical, eco-friendly, value-oriented businesses by startups working in the craft environment.