Six young entrepreneurs from the Start-up Village are all set to fly to Canada next month for interactions with innovation experts, investors and mentors, thanks to their smartphone app that improves skills of skateboarders.
The team behind the start-up firm Flip Technologies got the unique opportunity after their innovative product ‘Smart Riser’ (skateboard tracker) was ranked among the top five in the Next Big Idea Contest 2014 organised jointly by the Bombay Stock Exchange Institute, the Government of Ontario, Canada, IBM Global and Ryerson Futures Inc.
The Smart Riser has also been rated as one of the most interesting products by Intel, which will provide its latest Edison board to the students for prototyping and for development support.
Jibin Jose, Abimanyu Nair, Jishnu Vijayan, Balagovind Girish, Rohith Samuel and Abraham Alexander of Flip Technologies will attend a two week bespoke programme at Toronto’s Discovery District , which is the hotbed of innovation responsible for more than $1 billion of R&D annually – where they will meet sector experts, mentors, investors, experts in innovation ecosystem and scout for business development opportunities and networking.
“This is exactly the message we want to send out to youngsters in India. These student entrepreneurs are proof that if you have the idea, the enthusiasm and the drive, there is a world of opportunity awaiting you,” Startup Village Chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar said while hoping to turn Startup Village a breeding ground for more such products and innovations.
A product that provides diagnostics for skateboarding is not something that would naturally occur to Indians, let alone Keralites.
But you give the students the right exposure; they design something for the world,” said Startup Village Chief Executive Officer Pranav Kumar Suresh.
