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<ul><li>Gujarat Mahila Housing Sewa Trust and <keyword id="5252225" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="villgro-innovation-foundation" source="Orion">Villgro Innovation Foundation</keyword>, are currently leveraging artificial intelligence to address the threats of water scarcity and flooding across the country.</li><li>These non-profit organisations have recently been selected among 13 local sustainability organisations to receive support from the APAC Sustainability Seed Fund.</li></ul>New Delhi, Two Indian organisations, Gujarat Mahila Housing Sewa Trust and Villgro Innovation Foundation, are currently leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), <keyword id="294572" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="machine-learning" source="Orion">Machine Learning</keyword> (ML) and Internet of Things (IoT) to address the threats of water scarcity and flooding across the country, <keyword id="6355629" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="google" source="Orion">Google</keyword> has said. These non-profit organisations have recently been selected among 13 local sustainability organisations to receive support from the APAC Sustainability Seed Fund to explore new use-cases for AI, ML and IoT models that can help manage water supply and inundation risks across the country. "<keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>'s population could be susceptible to severe water-related challenges across its vast geographic landscape and many climatic zones, if global temperatures cross the threshold temperature rise of 1.5 degree Celsius, which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change expects could occur within this decade," said Sanjay Gupta, <keyword id="191922" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="country-head" source="Orion">Country Head</keyword> and Vice President, Google India. The tech giant supported the APAC Sustainability Seed Fund, founded by the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), with a $3 million grant by Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm, in partnership with Asian Development Bank. This fund enables local organisations working hard to develop solutions for sustainable practices and combating the effects of climate change across APAC, be it heat waves, rising sea levels or loss of biodiversity. Gujarat Mahila Housing Sewa Trust is focused on empowering and equipping women across India to build sustainable and gender-inclusive cities, providing training and technical expertise in construction, technology, and urban governance. With the grant, the organisation aims to develop an AI-enabled model for building climate resilience in Amalner, Maharashtra to serve as an archetype for a small urban town in India. "The project will pioneer the mapping of land use and catchment areas to predict their susceptibility to floods and inundation, which will contribute to protecting natural drainage systems," said Gupta. The grant is supporting Villgro Innovation Foundation's partnership with 'CultYvate' to develop a mobile and browser-based application, IoT sensors, satellite data, and AI/ML models that will provide farmers in India with real-time insights and advice for irrigation management. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/what-are-vishing-scams-that-start-with-a-namaste-and-end-with-monetary-losses/articleshow/99762900.cms">What are ‘vishing scams’ that start with a Namaste and end with monetary losses</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/sony-wh-ch720n-headphones-review-featherweight-comfort-and-impressive-sound/articleshow/99911412.cms">Sony WH-CH720N headphones review: Featherweight comfort and impressive sound</a>

How 2 Indian organisations are using AI to fight climate change in India

<ul><li><keyword id="1096883" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Villgro">Villgro</keyword>’s annual conference will witness the culmination of iPitch – Villgro’s annual deal discovery platform, with investments of over INR 4 Crores being announced</li><li>Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and Villgro to launch ‘Powering Livelihoods’, a multi-million dollar programme to support large-scale commercial deployment of clean energy-based livelihood solutions </li><li>‘Farming Futures: Emerging Social Enterprises in India’ to be released at the event </li></ul><keyword id="153607" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="social-entrepreneurship">Social entrepreneurship</keyword> is the need of the hour in India, where innovation needs to reach out to the depths of the country. Villgro, India's oldest and one of the world’s largest social enterprise incubators, enables these entrepreneurs and is back with its annual Unconvention conference. Slated to be held at Taj Yeshwantpur, Bangalore on 6th-7th December 2019, the event will witness the confluence of over 700 delegates comprising <keyword id="484405" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Social-entrepreneurs">social entrepreneurs</keyword>, CSR professionals, impact investors, policymakers, and academia, to discuss the present and future of social entrepreneurship in India and globally. Themed ‘Innovation for All’, this year’s event will highlight the power of low cost innovations and making them accessible to the next billion. The two day conference’s second day is focused on parallel sector tracks of Education &amp; Employability, Agribusiness, Healthcare, and Energy &amp; Cleantech and deep dive into innovations in technology, partnerships, financing and policy for start-ups across agribusiness, health, education and energy domains. It will provide the backdrop for the launch of the joint initiative of Villgro and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) – ‘Powering Livelihoods’. The multi-million dollar programme will focus on bridging the commercial valley of death by providing financial, capacity-building, and sectoral growth support to enterprises deploying clean energy-based livelihood solutions. . The unique, paradigm-shifting program will be launched by Arunabha Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer, Council on Energy, Environment and Water. Numerous innovative and interactive sessions including Investor Speed Dating, Mentoring Forum, Innovation Hallway, and masterclasses on Being Compliance Ready by SpiceRoute Business &amp; Data Protection Law by Gamechanger Law Advisors will make Unconvention a hard-to-miss opportunity for entrepreneurs looking to connect, network and grow. The conference will also mark the culmination of Villgro’s iPitch – a unique investment discovery platform that identifies and invests in for-profit social enterprises across sectors of medtech, edtech, employability, cleantech, and agritech. Upto 10 investments, to be announced at the event, will receive a total of over INR 4 crores in investment along with capacity-building support. Speaking on the event, Srinivas Ramanujam, COO, Villgro Innovations Foundation, said, “Villgro has been championing social innovations for 20 years now, and the theme of this year’s conference, therefore, came from our approach and will focuses on insightful conversations about the need for holistic innovation – technological, financial, value chain and policy – to help promising start-ups across sectors thrive in the competitive Indian and subsequent global markets.” Unconvention will also feature insightful keynote sessions by Dr. Devi Shetty, (Founder - Narayana Health), NK Chaudhary (Chairman &amp; MD, Jaipur Rugs), Bindu Ananth (Chairperson, Dvara Trust), Shobhini Mukerji (Executive Director, J-PAL), Varun Jhaveri (Officer on Special Duty to CEO, Ayushman Bharat - PMJAY, Government of India), Sridhar Venkat (CEO, The Akshaya Patra Foundation), Sharad Sharma (Co-Founder, iSPIRT), Reshma Anand (CEO, Hindustan Unilever Foundation) and Joe Madith (Chairman &amp; Founder, Gram Vikas), among 80+ other key names. It will also witness a book launch - Farming Futures: Emerging Social Enterprises in India – by Ajit Kanitkar and C. Shambu Prasad. The event will present a unique opportunity for new and established entrepreneurs to catalyse the ecosystem through exhibiting and networking with potential partners, investors, mentors or even customers. Note: Business Insider India is the media partner for the event

This conference wants to farm the future for India’s social entrepreneurs

●Themed ‘Innovation for All’, the event focused on amplifying impact through revolutionary technologies ●Villgro announced total funding to the tune of INR 4 crore through iPitch. Winners included BeAble Health, Kritsnam, Cultyvate, along with several other social impact startups ●30+ pertinent panel discussions around social innovations in agritech, medtech, cleantech &amp; employability were hosted by 100+ industry experts December 07, 2019: Villgro, India's oldest and foremost social enterprise incubator, successfully wrapped up its Unconvention 2019 conference on 7th December 2019. As always, the event was a high-decibel confluence of leading social entrepreneurs, CSR professionals, investors, policymakers, and academia. Aimed at understanding the crucial nature of constant innovation to power the next phase of social entrepreneurship, Uncovention’s 10th edition was indubitably a resounding success. <a name="m_-6531833679794319461_m_6042435902640344815__gjdgxs"></a>Day 1 of Unconvention started with a power-packed mentor meet – a workshop with former, current and potential Villgro mentor who discussed the importance and challenges of mentorship, specifically in the social sector. This was followed by several round-table discussions around the conference theme – Innovation for All: Amplifying impact potential for philanthropic capital. These discussions were aimed at donors looking at diversifying their impact portfolio. The opening address, describing the prolific 20-year journey of Villgro, was then presented by R. Ramaraj (Senior Advisor, Elevar Equity &amp; Board Member, Villgro); NK Chaudhary (Chairman &amp; Managing Director, Jaipur Rugs), then hosted a fireside chat covering the importance of low cost innovation to create large-scale impact. This was followed by a discussion on making innovations accessible to next billion, comprising Sharad Sharma of iSPIRT, Bindu Ananth of Dvara Trust, and others, moderated by PR Ganapathy (Regional Director India, Stanford Seed). The event then gave way to the most sought-after part of Unconvention. The winners of iPitch, Villgro’s investment discovery platform were announced. This year, backed by donors like Hindustan Unilever Foundation (HUF), and iPitch investment partners like Menterra, Upaya Social Ventures, Beyond Capital Fund, the total investments worth 4 crore were offered to early-stage start-ups such as Kritsnam Technologies, Oscillo Machines, Lal10, Flexmotiv and more. Arunabha Ghosh (CEO, Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW)) &amp; Paul Basil (CEO, Villgro) then launched the multi-million dollar 'Powering Livelihoods' initiative by Villgro &amp; CEEW. The next set of sessions included the much needed masterclass on “Data Protection Law” by Unconvention’s Legal Compliance Partner GameChanger Law Advisors. Shobini Mukerji (Executive Director, J-PAL), Shama Karkal (CEO, Swasti Health Catalyst), and Aparajita Agrawal (Former Co-founder &amp; Director, Sankalp Forum) covered diverse topics. These included access to capital for social sector start-ups, creating awareness and market access, and innovative financing models. The day wrapped up with a networking session dubbed as ‘Investor Speed Dating’ which entailed one-on-one conversations with industry-leading investors. Day 2 of Unconvention commenced with a closed door session with select medtech entrepreneurs and Dr. <keyword id="172787" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Devi-Shetty">Devi Shetty</keyword> (Chairman and Founder, Narayana Health), followed by his keynote address. He highlighted the key learnings from his 20-year journey with Narayana Health. He was introduced by Dr. Paul Salins (Managing Director and VP, Narayana Health and Mazumdar Shah Cancer Centre). This was followed by another round of investor speed dating and a masterclass on Being Compliance Ready by Unconvention’s Financial Compliance Partner SpiceRoute Business. The day was dedicated to sector-specific sessions, focusing primarily on Education, Energy, Agriculture and Health. Commenting on the state of renewable energy in India, Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, CEEW, said, India alone has more than $50bn worth market for clean energy solutions for rural livelihoods. Powering Livelihoods, a joint initiative between CEEW and Villgro, aims to trigger the transformation of India's rural economy by scaling up the deployment of clean energy-powered livelihood solutions. By marrying CEEW's deep expertise in evidence generation and sectoral engagement with Villgro's years of experience in growing businesses, the initiative provides significant capital, capacity building, and ecosystem support to enterprises to scale up these solutions. Furthermore, there was an enlightening session on Energy and Cleantech addressed by some of the eminent personalities in the industry such as Tanya Kothari of Shell Foundation, Svati Bhogle of Sustaintech India Pvt Ltd. and Col. Manish Ahuja of PREFPL. The topics that were discussed in the session included leveraging energy innovations as a growth catalyst for India’s micro enterprises, entrepreneurship in times of climate change and future of clean mobility. The discussion around the education &amp; employability sector focused on Leveraging the gig economy for impact and Collaborating for tech for good. The speakers included Avishek Gupta of Caspain, Aparna Dua of Asha Impact, Rahil Rangwala of MSDF, Kevin D'souza of <keyword id="790242" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="WhatsApp">WhatsApp</keyword> and Nataraj S. Kuntagod, Accenture, among many others. For the health sector, the chosen topics of discussion were Ayushman Bharat and Digital Health and procurement policies that can revolutionize the sector. The speakers included Varun Jhaveri of Ayushman Bharat, Kiran Anandampillai, National Health Authority, Garima Sahai, <keyword id="170241" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Medtronic">Medtronic</keyword> Labs, among many others. Dr. Devi Shetty, Chairman and Founder, Narayana Health, advised the medtech entrepreneurs to have breakfast, lunch and dinner in the hospital with clinicians. It is said often but still not enough - you need to immerse yourself into the clinical workflow. Shaping the future of water footprint in agriculture and innovations in agri-supply chains to solve for agricultural losses were the topics covered in the discussion pertaining to the agriculture domain. The speakers included Reshma Anand Shivakumar of ITC, Rasika of Soulfull, <keyword id="80658" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Anil-Kumar">Anil Kumar</keyword> of Samunnati Finance, Hemendra Mathur of Bharat Innovation Fund, among 20+ others. As the event comes to its culmination, Paul Basil, Founder and CEO, Villgro, said, “Having successfully wrapped up the 10th edition of Unconvention, we cannot help but reflect upon this gratifying journey. We have come a long way and have empowered innumerable early-stage start-ups with seed funding and best-in-class mentoring, strategy-creating, GTM support, follow-on fundraising support. I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has joined us on this journey and all those who are present here today. Thank you for your unwavering support that has allowed us to catalyse multiple generations of social entrepreneurs and create an ecosystem of unbridled growth for all aspiring entrepreneurs. Together, we have – and will continue to – change the world!” (Business Insider India is a digital media partner in the event)

With large-scale investments, insightful discussions and all-round innovation, Villgro wraps up Unconvention 2019

The $18 billion <keyword id="6354525" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Healthcare">healthcare</keyword> technology division of GE wants to route in $50 million worth of funds in global <keyword id="3172082" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="healthcare-startups">healthcare startups</keyword> via its first healthcare accelerator. 
 
The company claims the accelerator will target global health startups "with a vision to improve healthcare quality and accessibility in developing or low-resource settings – from education and training to disruptive, low-cost technologies and digital applications." 
 Portfolio companies from four social impact investors: Acumen, Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group, Unitus Seed Fund and <keyword id="1096883" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Villgro">Villgro</keyword>, will be among the initial applicants for the first accelerator program. But, Five.eight will not be limited to these companies. It will have a total of 10 startups in its initial program. 
 
How the associated startups will benefit 
 
GE Healthcare and each startup will focus on commercially scaling healthcare innovations for emerging economies, with the potential for GE Healthcare distribution of the startup product, or integration of the service into GE Healthcare’s Affordable Care Portfolio. In addition, potential funding of up to $5M/per startup will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis as the collaboration between GE Healthcare and each startup evolves. 
 Startups will get to leverage from GE’s <keyword id="2093663" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Innovation-Network">Innovation Network</keyword> – a connected ecosystem of accelerators, startups, and innovators working on technologies that disrupt and grow markets through digital transformation. They will have access to Innovation Network programming and resources as well as connectivity to other GE global innovation centers in Helsinki, Cardiff, Istanbul, Calgary, Johannesburg, Dubai and more. 
 
The Accelerator is also open to partnerships with global health startups directly, or other players within the global health ecosystem, including academia, NGOs or other healthcare providers. Interested applicants are encouraged to contact five.eight; applicants will be evaluated and accepted on a rolling basis. 
 
Ineterstingly, the first company signed on to join five.eight is Tricog, a Bangalore-based startup focused on improving survival rates of heart attacks in India by decreasing the average time between symptoms and treatment. Using cloud-connected ECG devices in medical centers, Tricog helps doctors diagnose a patient within minutes of their arrival at a clinic, improving access to quick, accurate and affordable diagnosis, which can lead to significant mortality reduction. As the first startup in five.eight, GE Healthcare and Tricog will collaborate on scaling Tricog’s solution to more markets globally. 
 “Globally, it’s estimated that more than 5.8 billion people in the world lack access to quality, affordable healthcare,” said <keyword id="163031" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="John-Flannery">John Flannery</keyword>, President &amp; CEO of GE Healthcare. 
 
“We’ve had a continuous commitment to improving healthcare for those who need it most, but we know we cannot do it alone. Through five.eight, our goal is to fuel the greater global health ecosystem, partnering with social impact investors and global health startups, in order to maximize impact and outcomes for populations with the greatest need," he added. 
 
“Collaborating with investors allows us to work with some extraordinary entrepreneurs that have promising technologies to extend our portfolio of affordable solutions,” said Terri Bresenham, President &amp; CEO of GE Healthcare’s Sustainable Healthcare Solutions, which develops the company’s affordable care portfolio of high-value, low-cost technologies and healthcare delivery solutions for emerging markets. 
 
“Our goal is to define the next generation of care delivery technologies that can deliver impact where it matters,” he said.

This company is aiming to pump $50 million into global health startups

New Delhi, Dec 23 () Reliance Jio on Monday announced '2020 Happy New Year offer' as part of which it will offer smartphone customers one year of "unlimited services" for Rs 2,020.
 Reliance Jio's limited period offer will be available from December 24 to first week of January, sources said, adding that the offer is for smartphone as well as JioPhone users.
 In case of smartphone customers, the offer packs in 1.5 GB data per day, and unlimited voice calls within the Jio network. For calls to other networks, a Fair Usage Policy (FUP) of 12,000 minutes will be applicable. Subscription to Jio apps will be complimentary.
 Sources said Jiophone users will get a new JioPhone alongwith 12 months of unlimited services for Rs 2,020. Jio will offer 0.5 GB data per day for such users.
**** 
* CEEW ties up with VIF for clean energy solutions
 The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) has joined hands with Villgro Innovation Foundation (VIF) for clean energy solutions.
 While CEEW is an independent policy research institution, VIF is a social enterprise incubator.
 "The 'Powering Livelihoods' initiative aims to provide dedicated capital, technical and sectoral growth support to at least five enterprises which are deploying innovative, clean energy-powered livelihood appliances, and shall enable them to undertake large-scale commercial operations over a period of next three years," CEEW said in a statement. MBI ABI RVK

Jio unveils '2020 Happy New year offer'

Some of the biggest names from the startup ecosystem are in the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IIM+Bangalore&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">IIM Bangalore</a> campus today, either giving speeches in the auditoriums or judging competitions and providing mentorships within closed doors to startups and students from across the country, as the ninth edition of their National Annual <keyword id="107737" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Entrepreneurship">Entrepreneurship</keyword> Summit ‘Eximius’ kickstarts. 
 
The summit themed ‘The Time Is Now’ has names like P Chidambaram, Kunal Kapoor, Devdutt Patnaik among others associated with it, and this extravagant show has been put up by The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Cell in association with the NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IIM+Bangalore&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">IIMB</a>. 
 One look at the array of events shows that like every year, this year too Eximius USP of holding the event is to get the biggies under one roof and encourage students from across the country with failed start-ups or who aspire to have startups, to be able to meet investors like <keyword id="720079" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="IvyCap-Ventures">IvyCap Ventures</keyword> and Shark Tank during competitions or mentorship sessions. The exchange of ideas will enable these students to be better prepared before they take on the entrepreneurship journey. The competitions will have participants solving a range of problems faced by start-ups and entrepreneurs in marketing, operations, finance, sustainability and fund-raising. Several online and on-the-spot events such as quizzes and simulation games mark the event. 
 
Eximius is featuring at least 150 start-ups and in over 30 events, and Business Insider is in the campus to cover some of the best sessions. Here’s a sneak peek into what is unfolding at the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IIM+Bangalore&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">IIM-B</a> campus: 
 
Speaker List: Eximius 2016 will host eminent speakers including P Chidambaram (former Finance Minister of India); Duvvuri Subbarao (former RBI Governor); Dr Jacob Crasta (Prime Minister's SME Council); Dr P Namperumalsamy (Padma Shree Awardee, Chairman, Aravind Eye Care); Dr <keyword id="160324" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Devdutt-Pattanaik">Devdutt Pattanaik</keyword> (bestselling author); Shradha Sharma (Co-founder YourStory); Sujayath Ali (Co-founder CEO Voonik); Kunal Kapoor (actor and co-founder Ketto.Org); Mukesh Singh (co-founder &amp; CEO Zopnow); Piyush Mishra (actor) and Anshu Gupta (founder Goonj). 
 
Flagship events 
Bzzwings: Bzzwings, the business plan contest, encourages individuals to conceptualise, ideate and take the plunge. Winning teams will get incubation at IIMB’s NSRCEL. Prizes worth Rs. 40 lakh will be given away in this contest. 
 
Fast Forward: Fast Forward is targeted at business ideas built around information technology that can impact millions and start a revolution. It offers exclusive mentorship to selected teams. The winners of Fast Forward will get prizes worth Rs. 2.5 lakh. 
 
The Other Incentive: The event is aimed at promoting and supporting social entrepreneurship. This is for ideas where revenues and bottom-line profits are hygiene factors and social impact is the key measure of success. The event is being organised in association with Villgro, a leading social incubator. Social entrepreneurs could win an incubation opportunity of up to Rs. 65 lakh from Villgro and prizes worth Rs. 80,000. 
 
The Game of Clicks: The event bridges the gap between students and start-ups. In this marketing challenge, teams compete in real-time for digital marketing. It gives students the opportunity to collaborate with start-ups to develop their marketing strategies. Each student team works closely with a start-up to develop and implement its digital marketing strategy over a period of three weeks. The winning teams get a chance to win prizes worth Rs. 50,000. 
 
Wipro Earthian Sustainability Quiz: Governments, organisations and leaders across the world are thinking about sustainability. Eximius 2016 will present the Earthian Sustainability Quiz in association with Wipro, based on sustainability and the environment. Prizes worth Rs. 1.1 lakh are to be won. 
 
Bootcamp Kiosk: Early stage start-ups can showcase their business models and company goals at the Startup Bootcamp. The bootcamp will give start-up founders the chance to demonstrate their vision to a captive student community of future business leaders and entrepreneurs. Additionally, start-up founders will get a chance to imbibe key lessons from industry veterans and investors. 
 
Workshops: This year the bootcamp workshops will be conducted by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IBM&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">IBM</a>, Greg Maron (co-founder <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Zoomcar&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Zoomcar</a>) and HeadStart Network, India’s leading community for start-ups. The workshops will cover diverse themes such as innovative business models, leveraging start-up ecosystems, start-up marketing, scaling and building an empowered venture. 
 
<a href="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/insideiim/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/26020014/IIM-Bangalore.jpg">Image Source</a>

IIM Bangalore unveils 'Eximius' with some of the biggest names from the startup industry

Yes, you are reading it correct. The land of rajwadas, which is well-known for its appetizing cuisines and royal forts, might soon become a startup hub. According to reports, the state government is planning to establish around 500 <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=startups+">startups </a>by 2020. 
 
Under its startup policy, which is expected to be announced next week, the state has already shed Rs 55 crore for the coming five years, reported The Economic Times. 
 
Veenu Gupta, Principal Secretary, Industries at Government of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Rajasthan+">Rajasthan </a>says, “We plan to bring investments of up to Rs 500 crore in next five years and help set up at least 500 startups in the state, with the help of India's leading venture capital firms, accelerators and tech companies." 
 Gupta, who is also the Managing Director for <keyword id="6355588" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rajasthan">Rajasthan</keyword> Industrial development and Investment Corporation (RIICO) says that the government will provide an assistance of Rs 10 lakh per startup in the form of equity or loan. 
 The partner organisations like Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad's Centre for Innovation, Incubation &amp; <keyword id="107737" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Entrepreneurship">Entrepreneurship</keyword> will do the screening of startups. 
 
Apart form Rajasthan, only Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have launched a dedicated policy for tech-based startups. 
Moreover, the state plans to set-up about 50 incubators in the coming five years and it intends to take help of partner organisations like Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund, IIM-A's CIIE, Rajasthan Angel Investors Network (RAIN) and Chennai-based Impact investment firm Villgro. 
 Rajasthan currently possess venture-funded startups including CarDekho and Culture Alley, besides a tech park in Jaipur with firms such as Infosys and Genpact. Moreover, eCommerce firms like Amazon, <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, Urban Ladder and PepperFry too source a huge amount of textiles and furniture form the state. 
 
"A challenge for Rajasthan-based startups is visibility, which impacts fundraising and hiring. Initiatives like incubation could go a long way for VCs, talent, and potential customers to get to know of exciting startups here," said Nishant Patni, CEO of Jaipur-based language app startup Culture Alley, which raised $6.1 million (Rs 36 crore) in funds this year from New York-based Tiger Global Management and a few angel investors. 
 
<a href="http://media.indiatimes.in/media/content/2014/Dec/reuters-camel-600_1418819720.jpg">Image source</a>

Rajasthan to become north India’s startup hub in the next five years

When I entered the <keyword id="60501" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIM-Bangalore">IIM Bangalore</keyword> campus yesterday, right from the entry gates to the registration desk, at every point my mind asked a question where I was supposed to go, there was either a smiling IIM-B staff to escort or signboards to direct me. 
 I was aware that it is one of the biggest <keyword id="3549661" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startup-summit">startup summit</keyword> taking place in the country which is why my Editor flew me down to cover it, but having visited a few events in my journalistic career, I was still expecting arrangements here to be shoddy considering it was a student-led summit. Blame this cynicism for some of my past no-so-good experiences. Once down here, however, I was in for a pleasant surprise. 
 
Walking down the lush green lanes at IIM to the Main Building where <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/IIM-Bangalore-unveils-Eximius-with-some-of-the-biggest-names-from-the-startup-industry/articleshow/53571472.cms">'Eximius'</a> was underway, I already knew I was going to not just just a big, but also a well-managed event. Often, when going for such summits, one sails through a comfortable experience but fails to acknowledge the efforts that go behind putting the event together. And so, I decided to uncover ‘Behind the Scenes’ to understand what must have gone behind putting together Eximius – an event that has 150 college partners, over 100 plus corporate partners, 6 stalwarts as keynote speakers (including former Finance Minister <keyword id="43940" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="P-Chidambaram">P Chidambaram</keyword>, Rang De Basanti fame Kunal Kapoor, Actor-Singer-Theatre Director Mr <keyword id="127525" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Piyush-Mishra">Piyush Mishra</keyword> among others). 
 
It’s no child’s play really to host 37 events featuring 150 startups in a mix of sessions - mentorship, on-the-spot events like quiz and simulation games, workshops and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Bzzwings-The-Biggest-B-Plan-Competition-this-year-is-underway-at-IIM-B-and-the-Top-2-Startups-will-get-Funding-upto-Rs-40-lakh/articleshow/53581937.cms">B-plan contests </a>where over a whopping Rs 1 crore is up for grabs! Moreover, some of these sessions have had several rounds before Eximius started, and will have several others after this summit ends. It means continued and doubled efforts for the Organizing Team comprising 33 members - all first and second year Post Graduate Program students. The show they put up is for everyone to see and relish, but the journey to this was a rather difficult one. 
 
During my interaction with the organizers, I learnt that full-fledged work on planning the event began earlier this year, around the same time when several PGP students were underdoing rigorous internships. Kushal Singhal, the Sponsorship Head for Eximius, said, “We were working for the event despite putting 16 hours each day into our internships. We would just go to our rooms to get some sleep.” 
 
Nishank Bidamia, another core team member, said, “Event planning starts 5-6 month in advance and the idea is to conceptualize the event well. We have to make sure the problems statements are conducive enough for participants, the kind of crowd that we get are good for sponsors and several other such things. At the same time, we didn’t want to lose the entrepreneurship focus because our main intention all along was to keep Eximius more entrepreneurship-friendly this year.” 
 
However, real introspection on how to conduct Eximius 2016 had begun last August itself, when the 8th edition took place. 
 
Nishank explained how - "Last year, the first thing we did after Eximius got over was to review the event. We started telling ourselves where we had gone wrong. On the basis of this, we decided to improve on our mistakes in the next edition. So, we first went about solving these problems before planning anything new.” 
 
Once done, the team came up with some new sessions on social entrepreneurship, focusing on technology and digital marketing. Nishank took pride in adding that their hard work helped triple the prize money in competitions this year. No wonder, this team estimated the footfalls to be close to over 5,000 for just a two-day event. 
 
The Organizing team roped in two big incubators– NSRCEL which has a long term association as it works as IIM-B’s incubation cell, and Villgro which came onboard this year and claimed it was ready to provide incubation up to Rs 65 lakh if pitches by social entrepreneurs would compel them to. 
 “There are opportunities of up to Rs 1 crore for people to grab in our event. Besides that we also have IBM and <keyword id="1397792" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kalaari-Capital">Kalaari Capital</keyword> who will also be viewing entries. There again is a chance of getting VC funding here if startups impress them. We also started a monthly initiative called B-starters last year to promote entrepreneurship within the college. IvyCamp, a part of IvyVentures, was brought on-board so that people who want to be entrepreneurs in college and who aspire to be one in and around the college could get an opportunity to get access to mentors. We are carrying this association with them in Eximius where startups would get a chance to be mentored by the Ivy mentors,” said Nishank. 
 
The most startling fact is that they went contacting companies using social media. Kushal said, “We contacted companies through Linkedin. The IIM tag and the success of the previous Eximius editions helped us a lot in getting companies to sponsor the event.” 
 
Eximius has been growing by 15-20 per cent every year, and there was no reason for the organizing team who started looking for sponsorships in February this year, to believe that they would fail in their endeavour. But again, the journey was not a cakewalk and their sportsmanship reflects as they shared details with Business Insider. 
 
Kaushal Kishore, the Secretary of ENI club at IIM Bangalore, said, “For each sponsor we contacted, we had a list of at least 15-20 companies who rejected our proposal. Almost 35 companies rejected out proposal. Sponsorships side, we got rejections from on the event side as well. So, we must have contacted at least 100 or more personalities for speaker sessions. Some rejected the offer, some agreed but the time of the event did not suit them and so they turned the offer down, till ultimately when we zeroed in on the 10 eminent speakers that we have now.” 
 
Even as it was a nerve-wracking moment for these students, the best part is they all laughed about it while narrating their experience. Just three days before the D-Day as I got chatting with them, they were excited and nervous both. 
 
Kushal said – “We attend classes till 6 pm, then assemble for the event work. We stay up till 6 am in the morning. Even if we there’s time to sleep, we can’t.” 
 
But almost all of them pitched in to tell me what fun time they had attending classes, carrying out internships and doing submissions while working crazily for Eximius by staying up late, chatting and having meetings in the dead of the night alongside some music. 
 
Kaushal said, “A team of 33 have been handling this event and after passing out from college, we don’t think we will ever get a chance in life when such a dedicated team would ever come together again to drive an event or a project.” 
 
For someone who came here to cover the event, I see a larger thing that goes their credit - As innovative business models are being unearthed at the IIM-B campus throughout the day today, the team has been able to connect the student community and early-stage startups to the industry (mentors, investors and full-grown startups) inside their campus which can help ideas get transformed into empowered ventures. When we say India needs a startup ecosystem, this is what it means, except that it has to be done on a much larger scale, but with the same passion, dedication, willingness, commitment and goal. 
 
…..At least we know, India is going into the right hands. Kudos, TEAM EXIMIUS!

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