25 March, 2018
India has emerged as a powerful developing economy over the last 70 years. However, it continues to face some of the trickiest development challenges that require the combined might of youth, entrepreneurship and innovators to develop sustainable solutions. To bridge the gap and take India to the next level, the need of the hour is to come up with innovative solutions to the various socio-economic challenges thereby impacting lives of people at large. Government of India is actively encouraging Entrepreneurship development and is working closely with key stakeholders in the eco-system to develop multipronged strategies to energise youth to take entrepreneurship as their preferred choice through innovative programmes like Start-up India and Stand up India. Smartfifty (http://www.smartfifty.com/) is one of the biggest StartUp Hunt in India. It is an initiative aligned with the country’s focused approach to promote entrepreneurship leading to social development.
In September 2017, IIMCIP in association with the DST, GoI launched a grand startup challenge called – Smart Fifty – to identify fifty smart ideas/solutions for India in the areas of Sustainability, Health Care, Agriculture, Smart Cities, Fintech, Analytics and Education. Smart Fifty is a major initiative to identify, recognize and reward aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs and innovators aiming to create large scale positive change in India. The Hunt is aimed at strengthening the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s Startup India mission.
We received an overwhelming response from across the country with over 15,000+ teams participating in the challenge. After several rounds of screening top 400 team got shortlisted across 4 regions in the country and undergone through another round of screening. The top 3000 teams got the opportunity to participate in the Regional Rounds day 1 held in Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. In the regional round –Day 2, top 400 teams pitched their idea to a panel of Jury members and subsequently top 50 teams were shorlisted. 10 teams from International rounds joined this 40 in the semi-final.
In the second phase of Smart Fifty was the StartUp Boot Camp, a four day program held at IIM Calcutta Campus from 19th – 22nd March , 2018. Top 50 teams were mentored at IIM Calcutta for a week and a Jury identified 10 investible ideas. Mentors conducted intensive sessions with the top 50 teams to help refine their business plans as well as sharpen their presentation skills. Post the semi-finals at IIMC 10 teams got selected for the grand finale which took place at the NDTV studio in Delhi on 25 March 2018.Top 50 teams got assured funding of Rs. 0.4 million each.
During the Boot Camp the partcipants were trained to present 2 minutes pitch for their semifinals. Some eminent speakers during the BootCamp were Chandrasekhar Ghosh( CEO- Bandhan Bank), Dr.Sameer Gupta ( Healthcare),
Dr. N Venkatesh Prajna (Aravind Eyecare), Prof. Leena Chatterjee (IIMC ), Rohit Jain(Singhania Partners), Satya Narayanan(Career Launcher), Prof. Ashok Banerjee (IIMC) and many more.
Key Benifits of the Boot Camp :
Discover how to evaluate business ideas, diagnose and solve business problems, and determine strategic growth opportunities.
Gain a deeper understanding of market forces and competition, and how to think beyond market constraints.
Develop the ability to scale up further, faster, and more effectively.
Understand how to facilitate partnerships with key stakeholders.
Acquire the leadership skills necessary for managing innovative organizations.
