Students Club for Augmenting Innovation

Organization: National Innovation Foundation (Website)

Students’ Club for Augmenting Innovations (SCAI) at grassroots is a body of students from India’s best management and technological institutes. National Innovation Foundation (NIF) is encouraging students to set up SCAI chapters at various schools, colleges and universities in order to provide Product Development, Business Development (setting up of ventures), Mentoring and Monitoring support to entrepreneurs/innovators/traditional knowledge holders at grassroots level in the country.

Professor Anil K. Gupta, President SRISTI and Professor Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, is the Executive Vice Chairperson of NIF.

The most significant outcome of SCAI would be that students from different Business Schools and Technical Institutes would come together for advancing the cause of grassroots innovators. This is an effort to link the informal knowledge system (grassroots genius) with formal knowledge system and thereby have a distributed knowledge system in place. Such an attempt would ensure the reach of economically poor-knowledge rich people to the masses and will also prevent the erosion of indigenous knowledge base.

This is an unprecedented event and has enormous potential to change the development paradigm. Contact scai at nifindia dot org to contribute to grassroots innovation.

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Code for Freedom

Suggested by Ashwin Bhat

Event: Code for Freedom Contest (Website)

Organised by: Sun Microsystems India

Key Dates:
Contest Period: August 15, 2007-February 14, 2008
Results: March 2008

For Whom:
You can participate in this contest if you are a student from a recognized university in India.

1. Read the rules and the FAQs.
2. Register for the contest.
3. Choose your open source project and know how to contribute: (OpenSolaris,Project GlassFish, NetBeans, Apache Derby, OpenPortal)
4. Join the http://groups.google.com/group/CodeForFreedom forum. You can post all your technical queries to this alias and participate in the Code For Freedom contest discussions.
5. Once you have installed the software and compiled the source code, you can request for a mentor from Sun. The mentor will help you thru the rest of the code contribution process.
6. Submit your contribution.
7. For any non-technical queries on code for freedom contact codeforfreedom@sun.com
   

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ISB Retail Club Paper Writing Competition

Event: Paper Writing Competition and Leadership Summit (Website)

Organised by: Retail Club, The Indian School of Business – Hyderabad

Key Dates:
Submission Deadline: November 21, 2007
Leadership Summit and Announcement of Winners: December 1, 2007

For Whom:
Open to all B-School students. Each team should constitute a maximum of 2 persons from the same institute.

The Retail Club at The Indian School of Business, Hyderabad invites papers for its paper presentation competition ‘Aurora 2007′ as part of its annual leadership summit ‘ILS 2007′.

Topics:

1. Learning from China’s success in organized retailing
2. Taking the franchised route to growth in retailing
3. Bridging the HR gap in Retail
4. The New Rules of Value Distribution
5. Organised retailing serving the bottom of the pyramid

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India Student Mathematica Competition 2008

Event: India Student Mathematica Competition 2008 (Website)

Organised by: Wolfram Research

Key Dates:
Competition: January 14-25, 2008

For Whom:
Resident citizens of India, ages 18 and up, who are currently enrolled in an undergraduate university program.

As part of a new educational initiative in India, Wolfram Research is sponsoring the India Student Mathematica Competition 2008–a unique opportunity to learn more about Mathematica and test your programming skills against other students from across India. We invite all Indian undergraduates to join the challenge and use the revolutionary new capabilities of Mathematica 6 to solve a set of unique real-world problems in mathematics and science.

The problems cover a wide range of disciplines, and each will test your ability to use Mathematica‘s rich programming environment to find the most elegant and efficient solutions possible. If you do not have Mathematica, a free time-limited trial will be provided once you register. For those not familiar with Mathematica 6, free online seminars are available.

The grand prize winner will receive a brand-new laptop computer equipped with Mathematica for Students. Four other winners will each receive a personal copy of Mathematica for Students, and all winners will also be considered for an internship at Wolfram Research, Inc., USA.

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Bangalore Barcamp 5

Suggested by Vikram S

Event: Bangalore BarCamp 5, IIM Bangalore (Website)

Dates: November 17-18, 2007

What’s a BarCamp?
An international network of user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants — often focusing on early-stage web applications, and related open source technologies, social protocols, and open data formats.

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Liberty & Society Seminar 2007

Event: The Liberty & Society Seminar, Chennai (Website)

Organised by: Centre for Civil Society

Key Dates:
Application Deadline: November 22, 2007
Seminar: December 13-16, 2007

For Whom:
College students (18-25 yrs of age) may or may not be enrolled in an undergraduate / post-graduate program or recent graduates from any discipline. With an open and curious mind, loads of enthusiasm and a strong desire for change.

The Liberty & Society Seminar is a four-day residential seminar with an aim to engage young people with social and economic issues through an understanding of public policy. LSS provides a greater understanding of the larger world-society, economy and the culture-within the classical liberal framework that emphasises limited government, rule of law, free trade, and individual rights.

It makes you exercise your grey cells where YOU do the talking; get to know reality with your own eyes; watch documentaries; have interactive discussions with experts and chit-chat over coffee and food!

LSS makes you an informed citizen, challenges your beliefs & develops critical thinking and makes you a change agent!

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Mood Indigo 2007

Suggested by Prashanth Dante

Cul-Fest: Mood Indigo, IIT-Bombay (Website)

Dates: December 26-29, 2007

Mood Indigo, the annual cultural festival of IIT Bombay is the biggest cultural celebration of the country. With a participation of around 60,000 students from over more than 450 colleges spanning the length and breadth of the nation, Four Days and Four Nights with the euphoric start and jubilant ending collaring every aspect of music, drama, dance, exhibitions, films and competitions, that have a distinct flavor and truly embodies the spirit of the youth.

KK, Shaan, Kailash Kher, Lucky Ali , Jagjit Singh, Pankaj Udhas, Parikrama, Indian Ocean, Hema Malini are a few names from the endless list who made this event the mightiest celebration of the year.

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India School Fund

Organisation: India School Fund (Website)

The India School Fund (ISF) is a nonprofit organization founded last year by five Harvard Business School students to ensure effective delivery of education in rural India to break the vicious cycle of poverty.

The ISF aims at educating next generations in rural India to not only read, write and count but also to see and evolve their environment in a spirit free of constraints and rich of cultural diversity.

If you are interested in volunteering in managing, teaching or fundraising, let the ISF team know what your interests and skills are in a letter attached with your bio data and send the document to volunteers at indiaschoolhousefund dot com

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FOSS.IN 2007

Suggested by Ashwin Bhat

Event: FOSS.IN, National Science Symposium Centre of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (Website)

Key Dates:
“Project Days” – December 4-5, 2007 (Tue and Wed)
The Main Conference – December 6-8, 2007 (Thu, Fri, and Sat)

For Whom:
Someone who possesses skills such as coding, testing, documentation, etc. that are useful for a FOSS (Free and Open-Source Software) project, wants to participate in a FOSS project or already contributes to a FOSS project.

FOSS.IN is one of the world’s largest and most focussed FOSS events. It is held annually in India. Over the years, it has attracted thousands of participants, and eminent speakers. The speaker roster usually reads like a “Who’s Who” of FOSS contributors from all over the world.

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Third International Conference on Public Policy and Management

Event: Third International Conference on Public Policy and Management (Website)

Organised by: The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

Key Dates:
Call for Papers: December 3, 2007
Registration Deadline: May 15, 2008
Conference: August 4-6, 2008

Public-private partnerships (PPP) have emerged as a major institutional mechanism through which governments around the world are seeking to innovate in the era of market reforms. The forms and objectives of PPP vary considerably, as do the types of partners that are involved. There is now significant body of experience that has accumulated, and cases of both success and failures have been observed.

This conference will address the emerging needs of different stakeholders concerned with the study and practice of public-private partnerships. Public managers and policy makers, as well as managers of business firms need to learn the key lessons from this experience. Academics and other analysts of public policy and management would find very useful a better awareness of current trends and innovations that are emerging in relation to PPP. There is also an increasing need for strengthening pedagogic capacity of public policy and management institutions for meeting training needs of practitioners. The conference aims to bring together researchers and practitioners in the fields of public policy and management to address the above needs.

The conference will focus on the following themes:

• Origins and Trends in the use of PPP: Learning from Country Experiences
• Issues in the Institutional Design of PPP: Lessons from Case Studies
• Effective Governance of PPP: Negotiations, Contracts and Procurement
• Participatory Governance, Stakeholders and Empowerment: PPP as a Mechanism for Development

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St. Gallen’s Symposium 2008

Event: St. Gallen’s Symposium 2008, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland (Website)

Organised by: The International Students’ Committee (ISC), St. Gallen

Key Dates:
Application Deadline: February 2, 2008
Symposium: May 15–17, 2008

For Whom:
Undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students in all fields of study enrolled at regular universities throughout the world, born in 1978 or after.

As the world’s leading platform for dialogue on key issues in management, the entrepreneurial environment and the interfaces between business, politics and society, the St. Gallen Symposium provides an opportunity for open and constructive discussions on the fundamental challenges faced by businesses and societies across the world.

Contribute your visions and entrepreneurial ideas to the theme “Global Capitalism – Local Values”. We expect a professional work such as an essay, a scenario, a project report or proposal, a multimedia presentation or an entrepreneurial concept. It should be constructive, provocative or instructive, inspiring thoughts and actions as well as introducing a new approach or unconventional ideas. All contributions will be evaluated according to specific criteria by a panel of professors, corporate executives, entrepreneurs and politicians.

The authors of the 200 best contributions will be invited to Switzerland to add their own perspective to the St. Gallen Symposium – in the company of 600 entrepreneurs, top managers, politicians and scientists from more than 60 nations. The most outstanding pieces of work will receive the St. Gallen Wings of Excellence Award, which is endowed with a EUR 20,000 prize, and will be presented to the audience by their authors.

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StartingBloc Institute for Social Innovation

Event: Global Institute for Social Innovation, London Business School (Website)

Organised by: StartingBloc – Created in partnership with the MIT Sloan School of Management, the first and only USA based 501c3 to educate youth on corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship.

Key Dates:
Dates: July 2008 (four consecutive days)
Application Deadline: December 1, 2007

For Whom:
StartingBloc aims to prepare outstanding undergraduate students and young professionals who will become the next generation of leaders in all three sectors—public, private, and social.

Editor’s Note: I have completed the StartingBloc Fellowship in 2007 – and will be happy to answer any questions about the program.

StartingBloc Institutes for Social Innovation are four-day fellowship programs in social innovation. At the Institute, candidates learn industry best practices around corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship, and sustainability. Corporate innovators, social entrepreneurs, and academics discuss cutting edge strategies around implementing social and environmental change through enterprise.

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TiE–ISB Connect 2007

Event: TiE-ISB Connect 2007 (Website)

Organised By: TiE, Hyderabad Chapter and the Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship at the Indian School of Business.

Key Dates: November 14-16, 2007

It is a forum that brings together early stage venture capitalists, start-up and growth stage entrepreneurs and academicians, on a common platform to interact and help build successful enterprises.

This year’s edition will have discussion tracks on diverse sectors including Mobile Convergence, Life Sciences and Health Care, Security and Biometrics, Retail Industry, Real Estate and Infrastructure, and New Media and Entertainment.

Each track will have a keynote address by a successful entrepreneur, a review of global trends in the sector by an analyst, and a panel discussion by venture capitalists and successful entrepreneurs on sector opportunities. Entrepreneurs seeking opportunities in these sectors may attend the event as delegates. The entrepreneur community can also benefit from two specific opportunities:

Investor Pitch – Presenting your project to potential investors.
Jumpstart your Venture – Workshop preparing the aspiring entrepreneur for an exciting journey

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