AICTE & Ministry of Education Innovation Cell organises Innovation Design and Entrepreneurship Boot camp at SNU

The Department of School Education and Literacy, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) & Ministry of Education Innovation Cell in collaboration with CBSE and NCERT organised a 2-day “Innovation, Design and Entrepreneurship Boot Camp” for Schools Principals/Teachers (Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools). This initiative aimed to nurture the innovation, design, and entrepreneurial skills of Teachers from schools.

The bootcamp was organised at Sister Nivedita University by SNU – Institution’s Innovation Council and conducted by Dr Irfana Rashid of Wadhwani Foundation.

The Bootcamp was inaugurated by Swami Vishokananda, Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Vivek Tirtha, Prof Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay, Vice Chancellor, Sister Nivedita University and Shri Yogesh D Brahmankar, Innovation Director, Ministry of Education, Innovation Cell, Government of India. 134 principals and senior teachers from various schools of West Bengal had registered but finally 100 participated in the program.

During this two-day bootcamp, participants received training in adopting a human-centric approach to identifying opportunities, mastering design thinking tools, and enhancing skills necessary for developing customer-centric products or services.

Additionally, they explored fundamental business models and conducted preliminary calculations for their ideas / start-up concepts. The bootcamp also sought to enhance participants' understanding of the Indian entrepreneurial landscape and patent filing opportunities for school children, and the support framework provided by the Government of India.

The event had a series of group activities, immersive working sessions, and engaging workshops, all tailored to ignite creativity and problem-solving skills. With an emphasis on fostering collaboration and interactive learning, participants explored into the "why," "what," and "how" of innovation. Throughout the program, attendees gained valuable insights into the significance of innovation in education, uncover practical strategies for driving change, and harness the power of entrepreneurial thinking.

Apart from Dr Irfana Rashid of Wadhwani Foundation the other sessions organised by Sister Nivedita University were as follows:

Shri Sudip Paul, Asstt Director, MSME-DFO, Shri Smarjit Mitra, Merchant Chamber of Commerce, Shri Vibhor Tandon, Mantras Foundation took part in a Panel Discussion on the session on “Overview on Grants and Funding opportunities for student start-up”.

Dr Ananda Mitra, Professor, Wake Forest University, Dr Rupma Chakraborty, Professor, Shri Sikshayatan and Prof Raj Sekhar Aich, Professor, Sister Nivedita University deliberated in a Panel Discussion on “Showcasing Innovative Benchmarking Practices in Entrepreneurship Education”.

The participants were taken around the Incubation Centre of Sister Nivedita University where they were taken around to see work on innovative ideas in progress. In particular the projects that got the most significant acclamation were the portable EV charging device, Bluetooth based Agriculture Irrigation system and solar generated charging device.

Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Workshop conducted on the second day was inaugurated by Prof Dhrubojyoti Chattopadhyay, Vice Chancellor of Sister Nivedita University and Shri Manjit Nayak, Director, Software Technology Parks of India-Kolkata. Prof Dhrubojyoti Chattopadhyay in his inaugural address mentioned that this workshop coincided with the 166th Birth Anniversary of Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose and how Sister Nivedita had inspired Acharya Bose to go for a patent of his invention. Shri Nayak in his address detailed the Government Schemes under STPI offered for Start-ups and incubators.

Shri Yogesh D Brahmankar conducted the workshop where 108 professors from various Institutions took part. The participants were majorly from the Institution's Innovation Councils of the respective Institutions. Shri Brahmankar spoke about the Smart India Hackathons, KAPILA and other current and upcoming Government policies for innovators. He also mentioned the need for more Incubation Centres.

Dr Sonali Roy CEO of RISE Foundation, IISER also spoke about the opportunities available for research and collaborations at IISER.

The boot camp ended with Dr Yogesh Brahmankar taking feedback from the participants which were overwhelmingly good.

On behalf of Sister Nivedita University, Ina Bose, President, SNU Institution’s Innovation Council assured mentoring and hand holding support to the participating schools for establishing innovation, design and entrepreneurial ecosystem in their schools.