The Power of Ideas 2010: Fostering a Culture of Innovation

The Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India is offering guaranteed funds worth Rs 5 crore for the ‘Power of Ideas’ initiative. The Power of Ideas initiative, being launched on June 22, 2010 is India’s largest entrepreneurial platform that encourages, nurtures and grooms business ideas by connecting them with relevant mentors, incubators and investors. This unique public-private-academia partnership means there is real money and real expertise powering The Power of Ideas 2010.

The Power of Ideas was first launched by The Economic Times in 2009, in the middle of a global economic slowdown, to boost sentiment and encourage India Inc to approach the slowdown differently. Over 12,500 business ideas were received and of these, 1,000 shortlisted participants were taken through Group Mentoring sessions and Elevator Pitches. A final list of 254 thus arrived at were put through a phase of one-on-one Mentoring prior to presenting their ideas to investors. Till date, nearly 20 ideas have received funding and several more are in advanced stages of talks with investors. This year, the objective is to formalize the initiative, transforming it into an entrepreneurial ecosystem that will drive the economy forward.

Working alongside will be the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. Started as an incubating lab of IIM Ahmedabad, CIIE is today a domain expert, with experience in mentoring, hand-holding and making entrepreneurs investor-ready. In the last few months, CIIE has been sewing together a system comprising of mentors and investors who will evaluate every single business summary that comes to The Power of Ideas 2010. Just to ensure that more dreamers get to meet investors, CIIE has also worked out a unique ten-day incubation programme at its campus for all candidates who make it to the final cut-off list of The Power of Ideas.

Details of Programme structure include a Discussion Board for like-minded people to come together and exchange ideas (ideasXchange); Learning Center featuring select literature on entrepreneurial subjects issues and a comprehensive Directory featuring contact details of the who’s who of the entrepreneurial system; and Essential Toolkit- a single window to access everything one needs to know about basics of starting up – government policies, applying for patents, registering one’s company, making an elevator pitch, the ideal business plan, et al.

Source: Press Information Bureau
Date: June 21, 2010