Hyderabad: IIIT-H Foundation has launched the nationwide DISHA programme to help engineering students commercialize their deep- technology ideas. This is expected to induce an environment of experimenting with ideas, nurture entrepreneurial skills among students, and create more potential start-ups.
Application to DISHA is open to all engineering students with ideas in the deep- tech domain (AR/VR, AI, robotics, computer vision and machine learning). Their ideas will be screened and selected at a hackathon by a group of panellists comprising of business and technology experts.
Those who make the cut will undergo a 5 week structured summer course where they will get to work on their ideas through continuous guidance. Speakers, mentors, technology experts, and service providers will be invited to conduct the sessions, helping students develop different business models and setting milestones. They will be given access to the research labs to work on their ideas and progress will be regularly assessed. The best 3 ideas will receive prize money of Rs.50,000 each at the end of the programme.
Also, the best student idea which shapes into a potential commercializable model will win a Rs. 5 lakh grant to help continue build the product and business, only if the student decides to launch a deep tech start-up with that idea, and get invited to IIITH-F’s AVISHKAR Deep-tech Accelerator Programme pitch day.