The Hindu Business Line : Pune to host ‘Innovations 2009’

Pune Jan. 6 ‘Innovations 2009’ jointly organised by the IIT Bombay Alumni Association - Pune Chapter and TiE along with Praj Industries and Persistent Systems will be held in the city on January 10 and 11 at the Dewang Mehta Auditorium of Persistent Systems.

It will be presenting 15 innovative products or processes developed by the technocrats. Mr Ajay Phatak, President, IIT Bombay Alumni Association, Pune Chapter, said the innovations would be showcasing solutions from fields such as healthcare, clean technology for sustainability, information and communication technology and biotechnology.

Out of the 15 innovators selected this year, five are from bio-medical and pharmaceuticals, three from chemical and biotechnology, three energy and environment and four from the information and communication technology products.

They are from cities such as Chennai, Bhopal, Dhule, Kolhapur, Navi Mumbai and Pune. January 10 would start with a session by Mr Sudhir Sharma, Founder of Elephant Design and Elephant Varsity on the topic ‘User Driven Innovation Process’.

The short-listed innovators will then present their ideas in the rapid-fire format, where each of them will get six minutes to present followed by an interaction with the audience.

An exhibition showcasing products/ideas of the participating innovators will also be organised at the venue.

Venture Capitalists

Some of the venture capitalists who are participating in ‘Innovations 2009’ include California and India-based Nexus Capital and Canaan Partners.

This is the second time that Nexus Capital is participating in this event. Day II will be a Mentoring Session ‘Innovation to IPO’, which would be a learning capsule of four-five hours on the vital aspects of starting a new enterprise where they would be exposed to ‘how to’ create a business plan, explore funding options, create a go to market strategy, deal with legal/regulatory aspects and more.

Professor Nikhil Khatau, Mr Sriram (CEO of Crossword) would guide the participants and Mr Baba Kalyani, Chairman of Bharat Forge, will round the event up with his closing address on the second day.

While sharing the success of the previous Innovations events, Mr Phatak said that two participants from the earlier events had received TePP (Techno Entrepreneurship Promotion Programme undertaken by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Reasearch) funding. Mindfarm Novatech (Innovations 2007) received the TePP Phase I funding and is now on the verge of closing the phase II funding.

Mechanical water level gauge (Individual Innovator Innovations 2008) has also received TePP Phase I funding, Mr Ajay added.

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