Gujarat to organise conference on student innovation

In a one of its kind event, the state government is all set to host an annual conference on Student Innovation, Start-ups and Ecosystem (SSIP). The conference, which is being organized by the Student Start-up and Innovation Policy (SSIP) cell and Gujarat Knowledge Society (GKS) aims to promote students startup initiative which will be held every year.

The conference will be held at Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) on June 6 and 7 in which a total of 155 start-ups and 118 young innovators from across the country will participate in the event along with 18 academic institutions, 9 universities and 79 mentors. A total of 11 student start-ups and 5 young innovators along with 3 institutions, 3 universities and 10 mentors will receive SSIP Prashansha awards.

Prominent speakers at the event include Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman, Axilor Ventures. Former Executive Co-Chairman, Infosys, Dr Saji Gopinath, CEO, Kerala Startup Mission; Yashraj and Yuvraj Bhardwaj, 18-year old twin brothers who are founders of Zenith Viper; Sanjay Kumar, Founder, Start-up Village, Kritika Murugesan from NASSCOM, 10K

Start-ups, Sanjay Randhar, MD, GVFL and professor Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE among others.

On day 1, the conference will host round table discussion on 'Developing roadmap for Gujarat Innovation Hub' and 'funding for startups in Gujarat' as well as sessions on 'Opportunity and Challenges in developing a world-class innovation and startup ecosystem in India'.

"Under SSIP, Government of Gujarat has a goal of harnessing and upscaling 500 student startups in the next 5 years. During the last decade, new entrepreneurs who do not belong to traditional business communities have begun to emerge in large numbers. It has been observed that academic institutions are increasingly becoming a medium for such entrepreneurs. This has led to a spur in youth creativity and innovation" said Avantika Singh, Commissioner, Technical Education, Government of Gujarat.