IIT Roorkee PhD student wins 24H Chrono Entrepreneurship Challenge
Roorkee: The Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) PhD student Mr. Repaul Kanji won 24H Chrono Entrepreneurship Challenge held in December 2017, at IISER, Pune. Mr. Repaul then received the opportunity to visit France and participate in the final edition of the competition and explore the best innovation hubs, FabLab for a week.
The 24H Entrepreneurship Challenge, or ‘24H Chrono de ’Entreprenariat’, is a concept created by the French National Agency for Research and Technology (ANRT) and Novancia Business School to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship among PhD students, and to equip audacious researchers with the necessary skillset to take their most innovative ideas from laboratory to market. It is organized every year in France since 2011 and came to India for its vibrant innovation and entrepreneurship environment. It is a flagship project of “Bonjour India”, a platform which will celebrate the Innovation and Creativity of the long-lasting partnership established between France and India from November 2017 to February 2018.
This first Indo-French edition was organized in the framework of “Bonjour India 2017/2018”. Co-organised by ANRT, Novancia Business School and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, with the support of the French Embassy in India, the event this year took place on the campus of IISER Pune in early December. It offered ingenious and bold Indian PhD as well as Master students a unique platform to develop their business skills and to engage with Indian and French companies eager to detect fresh ideas and talents. The team with the best project wins a one-week trip to France to visit leading innovation hubs.
A total of 56 students from all over India participated from reputed institutes like IITs, CSIRs etc. These students were selected from applications that were invited in October. Further these 56 students selected were divided into 8 teams, comprising of 7 member each and each of the members had a different area of expertise. Mr. Repaul along with two other students from IIT Roorkee (Vasundhara Jain, MTech Scholar, Biotechnology Department, and Pritam Singh PhD Scholar from Biotechnology Department), one each from IIT Delhi (MTech), ICT (PhD), IIT Indore (PhD) and CSIR-CFTRI Mysore. Each team were given 24 hours only to figure out an idea and establish it as a business plan with all necessary strategies like financial planning, exit strategies, marketing and sales strategy etc.
All along the competition, participants were guided by mentors and experts who helped them elaborate their business model, and received training by experts selected among professionals from the public and private sector, learning about legal, commercial, and financial aspects.