The entrepreneur cell (E-Cell) of IIT-B has managed to collect sponsorships worth `40 lakh as part of its business plan competition “Eureka” on September 2. This is by far the highest amount collected by any organisation as prize money for its competitions. `40 lakh will be divided among many individual competitions that will be part of Eureka.
A new feature of the competition is that the winners will be given an all-expense paid trip to Silicon Valley in the US, where they would be able to pitch their winning ideas to IT companies.
Speaking about the additions to the competition, Vivek Saraswat, manager, Eureka said, “While there is little change in the format of the competition, its popularity has seen many corporates coming forward to sponsor some of the events. As a result, we have been able to increase the prize money and introduce new prizes in some other segments.” The overall sponsorship collected last year amounted to `23 lakh.
While the competition is being organised by the technological institute, entries are open to outsiders too. “There are different segments wherein outsiders can also take part in the competition and pitch their ideas to the panelists. If the panelists approve of the idea, the team will be provided training and mentoring by experts from the institute and industry, before reaching the final stage of the competition,” Mr Sara-swat said, adding, “The idea is to get participants to come up with fresh ideas that will help
simplify the process, which is otherwise cumbersome.”
The finals will be judged by well-known industrialists and heads of corporates. According to the organisers, the winning team will take home `5 lakh and tickets to Silicon Valley. At Silicon Valley, they will participate in international entrepreneurship workshops and also get an opportunity to pitch their winning ideas to the IT industry there. “The competition commences on September 2 and the finals will be held at the end of the year,” added Mr Saraswat. ip for IIT-B contests