NSRCEL announces the launch of Next Big Idea, a Business Plan Competition sponsored by NSTEDB- DST & Intel

Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) has announced launch of Next Big Idea, a Business Plan Competition, sponsored by National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) under the aegis of Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and Intel. YourStory is the media partner for this initiative.

"The process of taking the ideas to the next level and ultimately commercialisation, can be accelerated through provision of knowledge, expertise and policy support. This unique industry, academia and government partnership aims to provide precisely that under the Next Big Idea program" states Mr. Harkesh Kumar Mittal, Adviser & Member Secretary, National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board, Dept. of Science & Technology, Government of India.

Next Big Idea aims to encourage innovation, create structure and process for the Business Plan Competitions for leading academic institutions across the country so that the Innovative ideas born through these competitions are taken forward to become real businesses, Next Big Idea also aims to create a platform where any individual or team can post their innovative ideas and seek mentoring, access to incubation and angel funds to help them create a real business. “The need of the hour is not just help speed up venture creation but also nurture the right ideas which have potential to become disruptive businesses of tomorrow. This unique public private partnership under the Next Big ideas programs will provide potential entrepreneurs not just the opportunity to make their ideas into reality but will also provide them the opportunity to work with the ecosystem to make their future business sustainable” comments Mr. Rahul Bedi, Director Corporate Affairs, South Asia, Intel.

One more objective of this program is to build capacity in Academic Institutions that conduct business plan competitions thereby helping in bettering the quality of business ideas originated from there. The capacity building through Academic Institutions include offering financial support to their competition and conducting a two day fully paid conference at IIM Bangalore to enable sharing of information / best practices to conduct competitions. “Next Big Idea seeks to provide a perfect opportunity for entrepreneurs to showcase their idea and get its attractiveness and viability evaluated by experts in an extremely competitive setting” asserts Professor K.Kumar, Chairperson, NSRCEL.

Participation is open under 2 categories:

Champion of Champions category where the top 3 teams of any business plan competition held in India during April 2010 & December 2010 can apply. Last date for submission of Detailed Business Plan is January 15, 2011. Entries Open October 1, 2010.

Open Challenge category where any individual or team with a bright idea can apply. Last date for submission of Executive Summary of Business Plan is November 30, 2010. Entries open now!!!

The incentives to the 40 winning teams include a chance to be incubated and raise seed fund upto Rs. 50 lakhs from NSRCEL, 1 week of fully paid workshop at IIM Bangalore with intensive mentoring and an opportunity to interact with VCs; 10 cash prizes in the range of Rs. 25K to 1.5L and a sponsorship to participate in University of California, Berkeley Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge for Top 3 teams.

For more details, log on to www.nextbigidea.in or

Contact: Coordinator

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

Phone: +91-80-2699 3701

About DST: The National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), established in 1982 by the Government of India under the aegis of Department of Science & Technology, is an institutional mechanism to help promote knowledge driven and technology intensive enterprises. The Board, having representations from socio-economic and scientific Ministries/Departments, aims to convert "job-seekers" into "job-generators" through Science & Technology (S&T) interventions.

About the Adviser, Member Secretary, National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science & Technology, Government of India: Mr. Harkesh Kumar Mittal:

Mr. Mittal is a Management Graduate from IIM Ahmedabad with a basic degree in Dairy Technology. As Head of the NSTEDB he is instrumental in conceptualizing, planning and supporting Business Incubators in a variety of areas which include IT, BT, Materials, Design, etc. He has been able to setup approx. 50 Business Incubators in India successfully. He has helped some of the other countries in building incubators through sharing his experience 7 expertise in this area. He has over two decades of experience in Technology based Entrepreneurship Development; Skill Development; Trainers Training and Faculty Development; establishment of Entrepreneurship Development Institutions like Institutes of Entrepreneurship Development at the state level, Technology Business Incubators, Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Parks, Entrepreneurship Development Cells in the educational institutions; development of micro-enterprises; working for income generation activities for a wide range of communities and sections; development of mass media systems for enterprise development like distance learning, development of Industrial Clusters etc. He has been able to establish a number of Public Private Partnerships for promoting innovation and entrepreneurship with reputed private sector organizations like Intel, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, The Economic Times etc.

At present besides being the Member Secretary of NSTEDB he also looks after the work relating to National Innovation Project and Information Technology for the Department of Science & Technology. He was also the National Programme Director of the UNDP project on SKILLS which aimed to demonstrate that sustainable jobs can be created in innovative vocations through appropriate location specific, need based; competency linked training interventions using the conventional as well as on-line systems.

He has been responsible for establishing networks with international development institutions like the World Bank and EU for bringing the global incubation knowledge to the Indian business incubators. He has worked with UNIDO for Cluster Development as a National Expert. He has helped many Governments to set up incubation facilities and advises them on building up a incubation system. At the National level he has linked activities of the NSTEDB with various developmental ministries and institutions. He combines a rare blend of working with grass root level institutions and at the same time work at the Policy level for helping shape up the environment for promotion of innovative ventures.

He represents India at various international forums on innovation, entrepreneurship, incubation etc.

For more information, visit www.dst.gov.in

About Intel: Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops processor technologies and supports global initiatives to continually advance how people work. Intel pushes the boundaries of innovation so our work can make people's lives more exciting, fulfilling, and manageable.

For more information, visit www.intel.com

About the Director, Corporate Affairs, Intel South Asia: Mr. Rahul Bedi:

Rahul Bedi is the Director, Corporate Affairs, Intel South Asia.

Rahul is responsible for Intel’s government engagements, education, environmental and rural inclusion programs, industry body relations as well as corporate social responsibility programs for South Asia including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Under his leadership, Intel has reached an enviable milestone of training more than a 1 million of India’s 6 million or so teachers in 21st century teaching skills using Information and Communication technology.

He is also the founder chairperson for the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, India as well as the Digital Energy Solutions Consortium. Both these leading initiatives work towards an energy efficient and low carbon future using information and communication technology.

Prior to this role, he was in charge of India Operations, with responsibility for ensuring that various aspects of running operations including people systems, process, risks & controls and infrastructure systems operated smoothly enabling various business units to function in an operationally excellent manner in India. In that role he led Intel India towards focused operational excellence.

From 2001-2005 Rahul was managing the business development for support & service for the Communications Infrastructure Group in Asia Pacific and Japan.

Before joining Intel, he has worked for HCL-Hewlett Packard and Nortel Networks in various engineering & management roles.

Rahul has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering at New Delhi.

About IIMB: The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) is a centre of excellence in management, recognized as one of the top 100 management schools in the world, with international standards of post-graduate and doctoral level teaching, executive education for senior and middle management, research and consulting. Set up in 1973, the sprawling 100-acre campus is a green oasis situated in South Bangalore, with excellent infrastructure, including the latest ICT and extensive library. The institute’s proximity to some of the leading corporate houses in the country gives the added advantage of Integrating classroom knowledge with practical experience.

For more information, visit www.iimb.ernet.in

About NSRCEL: The Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies was set up by IIMB in 1994 with a grant from Canara Bank to provide learning and knowledge resources to Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and to offer courses on Entrepreneurship and conduct research in related areas. A generous endowment from Mr. Nadathur S Raghavan, former Joint Managing Director of Infosys Technologies Ltd., in October 1999 provided the impetus for further growth of the Centre. Now known as the Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, the Centre aims to be a world-class Centre of Excellence for seeding, nurturing and promoting entrepreneurship with emphasis on startups and existing organisations. The activities of NSRCEL are varied and encompass areas such as teaching, research, short-term programs, seminar / panel discussions, incubation facility and other activities to support development of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs.

For more information, visit www.nsrcel.org

About the Chairperson, NSRCEL, Professor K. Kumar:

Professor K Kumar is Chairperson and Professor of Entrepreneurship in N. S. Raghavan Center for Entrepreneurial Learning at IIMB. He had earlier served as a visiting professor in the Corporate Strategy and Policy area at IIMB before taking over his current position. His current research and teaching interests are in the area of entrepreneurship and strategic management of new ventures, both in the entrepreneurial and large corporate settings. He also has a keen interest in the strategic issues impacting the growth and consolidation in the information technology and related services industry. He is actively involved in consulting with many corporate organizations and entrepreneurial ventures, guiding them in the areas of strategy, resource mobilization, organization building and managing growth.

Kumar has over 18 years of experience in the industry in various capacities. He was the first CEO of Trigent Software Ltd, a mid-sized, Bangalore based software services company, between 1995 and 2001 and later served it as President, between 2005 and 2006. His previous assignment was that of a Management Consultant at Tata Consultancy Services for over four years, wherein he was involved in assisting many corporate and family businesses in building and implementing strategies to cope with the liberalized and globalized environment.

He started his career with a two-year stint as a Marketing Officer with Crompton Greaves Ltd, responsible for marketing a wide range of power equipment. He spent the next three years during his career as an entrepreneur, and successfully co-promoted two ventures in the services and consumer products domains. He also served for a year as a Product Manager at Computer Point (I) Ltd, responsible for developing a nascent market for PC based software solutions, before moving on to pursue doctoral studies at IIMB.

Kumar has a B.E. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (Madurai University) and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from IIMB. He is a fellow of IIMB (equivalent of a Ph.D), with specialization in corporate strategy.

Phone: 080- 26993007

Email: [email protected]