If you have an idea that you think can be developed into a business proposition, the E-Summit, to be inaugurated at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras on Friday, is the place for you.
Explaining the concept, IIT-M’s director Bhaskar Ramamurthi said E-Summit is a student-driven event where they would get the opportunity to interact with experts and professors to develop their ideas.
“We are keen to help students and youngsters who want to address a felt need in society in making a breakthrough,” he said. “The E-summit will be about design thinking and building on model ideas. For the past five years, the event was for students within the campus but since last year, we have made it larger, with more students and entrepreneurs,” said Ashwin Mahalingam, E-Cell faculty advisor.
The event will include workshops, a quiz for students to test their business acumen and a panel discussion on the various options in front of students — jobs, higher studies and entrepreneurship.
A host of programmes have been lined up: Pitchfest-where students can pitch their ideas; start-up boot camp-an interactive mentoring session from entrepreneurs; and an internfair to explore opportunities to intern with the best start-ups.
As of Thursday, as many as 90 teams had registered for the boot camp. Of this, 65 were from IIT-M and 35 from other colleges, said Mr. Ashwin.
Srinivasan Viswanathan, alumnus and mentor of IITM entrepreneurship forum, said that to foray into entrepreneurship, students need not just space and infrastructure, but also access to research, support from alumni and professors, besides angel investors to validate their ideas and get guidance. The institute’s entrepreneurship forum has been developed as a result of interest among a group of alumni settled in the US.
Typically for any start-up that has been offered space at the IIT-M’s incubation cell, the institution will offer support for 18 months to two years, said Tamaswati Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer of the cell. IIT-M’s research park has helped incubate 120 companies so far.
IIT expects at least 10% of the ideas generated at E-Summit to fructify into business proposals.
