Young innovators are mentored by MHRD –IIC

India’s leading B-School, S. P. Mandali’s Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research (WeSchool), empowered young talent from across 50 higher educational institutes in a regional mentoring session, held today as a part of the Proof of Concepts (PoC) contest. An orientation session on IIC 2.0 (Institution Innovation council)   and ARIIA 2020 (Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements) by Institution's Innovation Council – MHRD, Innovation Cell was also held for faculty from higher educational institutes from Maharashtra and Goa. 

Around 110 students from North Western Region participated in this nationwide PoC contest. At the inaugural ceremony, Chief Guest, Mr. Sanjay Inamdar, Chairman, AICTE start-up policy implementation committee and Prof. Dr. Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, S.P. Mandali’s Welingkar Institute of Management (WeSchool) inspired the youth with an advice on decision-making and problem solving skills.

Speaking at the function, Prof. Salunkhe said: "We are proud to partner for the one–day regional mentoring session on proof of concepts (PoC's) for budding entrepreneurs and we are confident that such initiatives will catapult India’s economy, ranking in innovation index and research to the next level. These initiatives will encourage start-ups by helping them connect with start-up ecosystem and enable easy access to funds. Here, academia, industry and government can further provide suitable tools and mentoring to inculcate critical and creative thinking among the budding entrepreneurs.”

An energetic team led by Mr. Satya Ranjan Acharya, Associate Sr. Faculty of Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India and Mr. Dipan Sahu, Executive Consultant, Student Start-up Policy Implementation Unit, AICTE addressed on topics of streamlining innovation and start-up ecosystem in Higher Educational Institutions. 

The student orientation workshop revolved around entrepreneurship and start-ups. It delivered the know-how on opportunity identification, idea generation, viewing, analysing and resolving a problem creatively. The second part of the workshop included venture opportunity profiling, five questions framework – industry & market, unit economics, competitive advantage, leadership team and talent management.