Intel India in collaboration with Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Indo-US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF) announced successful certification of 6 Master Trainers who were selected from a large pool of faculty to participate in a global class of 50 faculty and business incubator managers, gathered from various corners of the world. This exclusive Technology entrepreneurship training was
organized at the University of California , Berkeley by Intel to demonstrate and share tools & methodologies that enable entrepreneurial training and development in higher education.
The above program is part of the DST, Intel Technology India and IUSSTF signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) (April 2007) to jointly organize Technology Entrepreneur Programs. The endeavor is to develop an ecosystem that encourages innovation and entrepreneurship among young professionals. This public-private partnership involves an investment of over Rs. 2.1 crores by the three organizations for the year 2007, to encourage entrepreneurship as a career option for college students and aspiring startups. The partners believe that the dynamic exchange of
knowledge and information with premier institutions in India and USA through proposed programs, will create sustainable, long-term networks and platforms that would help foster a culture of technopreneurship in Indian academia.
The objectives of the program are as follows:
- Create an entrepreneurial ecosystem in India
- Boost entrepreneurial spirit in Indian academia & scientific enterprises
through the Business Plan competitions
- Build a curriculum on Technology Entrepreneurship for Indian academia
Speaking about the program, Rahul Bedi, Director, Corporate Affairs, Intel said, "We believe technology is the key to global competitiveness in today's world. For countries to become or remain competitive, their universities must produce a pipeline of technical innovators who contribute to the advancement of local technology, and the local economy. In an effort to encourage technology entrepreneurship programs in India, we are partnering with like minded bodies - Department of Science and Technology and Indo-US Science and Technology Forum to encourage programs that build local innovation capacity through entrepreneurship so students and young professionals can create entrepreneurial spirit and activity throughout the country.”
"The program was very useful. It gave direct exposure to teaching methodology, and an understanding of the overall university ecosystem for entrepreneurship. The program provided a platform to interact with International faculty from many countries who brought in tremendous value from their respective areas of specialty," said Poyni Bhatt, Chief Administrative Officer, Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, IIT Bombay who was one of the Indian participants at UC Berkeley.
Under this initiative, at UC Berkeley, six selected Indian participants underwent two weeks of training on rigorous details of entrepreneurship education and ecosystem. With the help of the program, participants have been provided skills to become "master faculty" and train others in their communities on entrepreneurial education. The 'master faculty' will now carry out four regional training programs to teach
technology entrepreneurship to academicians in the country. The academicians, who will be trained, will further train students and encourage a culture of entrepreneurship in the country. This will ensure proliferation and adoption of technology entrepreneurship curriculum at a much faster rate and scale. The 4 regional training programs are being held in the months of May, June, July, August 2007. By the end of the year, the program aims to build a pipeline of 10 certified master trainers and 80 regional trainers. |
