2010 Cyber International Genius Inventor Fair in Korea (CIGIF 2010)

Korea Invention News is opening and hosting the first ever international invention fair in Korea called: 2010 Cyber International Genius Inventor Fair in Korea (CIGIF 2010). They are inviting invention geniuses and talents from all over the world. 

Indian innovators can submit application online thro Indian Innovators Association, representing India. The participation fees for students are$120/- and for other independent innovators $150/. The Indian Innovators Association is NOT charging any service fee.

For details see: http://www.kinews.org/

For information contact: President Soung-Mo Hong,Korea Invention News,kinews7@gmail.com

Startup Exit Strategy Thought Piece V7.6

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Startup Exit Strategy Thought Piece V7.6

View more presentations from VentureArchetypes LLC.

iBridge-online community of university researchers

The iBridge^SM Network provides the centralized online source for research and innovations.Through the iBridgeSM Network, researchers and those seeking innovations can easily search for and obtain the resources they need.

Winners of Google’s Project 10to the 100

150000 ideas received from 170 countries, 16 put on vote . Final 5 were rewarded with $10 million. 

see details:   http://www.project10tothe100.com/index.html

WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM by Steven Johnson

Peter Alwin wins Electrolux Design Lab 2010 Contest with ‘The Snail’ Portable Induction Heating Concept

Peter Alwin, studying at the National Institute of Design in India, was awarded first place in the 2010 Electrolux Design Lab competition. The Snail, Peter’s micro induction heating concept, beat a field of 1,300 entries and seven other finalists at 100% Design, London 23rd September 2010.

Read more

Discovery Driven Growth

In this book, Rita McGrath and Ian MacMillan show how your company can achieve ambitious growth targets without  hugely expensive and uncontrolled gambles.The techniques presented are appropriate for new growth initiatives: new ventures, new businesses, new product lines, new franchises, new locations, new markets, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and even potential mergers.

One of the framework given in the book is Opportunity Portfolio, a visual map of major initiatives going on in the firm. It looks at initiatives in the context of uncertainty , market and organizational uncertainty Vs Technical and execution uncertainty.Core enhancement launches characterized by low uncertainty on both parameters are projects that improve the profit streams and growth of the core business.Investments in improving operational efficiency ,upgrades in IT, supply chain etc fall in this category. At medium level of uncertainty we have Platform launches and Adjacency, requiring substantial investments to establish firm on new growth area on scale. Positional options are minor investments to develop options for future.Scouting options on the other hand deal with market uncertainties.   Stepping stones are projects with high uncertainty both in technology and market.

The book if full of practical steps on corporate venturing.

Genpact NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours 2011

The annual Honours aim to showcase projects that demonstrate best practices through exemplary use of ICT in areas of social transformation.Last date: 1st October 2010;

Details: NASSCOM

Q Prize

Qualcomm Ventures is awarding $750,000 in seed capital via a series of six regional business plan competitions and one grand-final competition. Eight finalists will be selected in each region and the winner given the opportunity to receive $100,000 in convertible note funding plus an opportunity to compete for an additional $150,000 in our Grand Prize Competition. last date: 14th December 2010.

URL: http://www.qualcomm.com/ventures/qprize/2010/

Metamorphosis 2011

Metamorphosis aims at establishing marriage between innovative excellence and sheer business acumen making complimentary thinking a reality.The Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club (EVC) at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad invites Students to participate in this unique contest.  The contest is funded and co-partnered with Foundation for MSME Clusters (FMC) and IKP Knowledge Park .

URL:http://www.isb.edu/metamorphosis/index.html

Eureka 2010

Eureka! 2010, Asia's Largest Business Plan Competition is inviting Entrepreneurs from all over the world. Eureka! is second largest in the world in terms of participation, resources and prize money.
50 Top teams will be shortlisted and provided mentoring from Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors and experts in various fields of Industry. After refining their B Plans, top 8 teams out of 50 will be shortlisted and provided further mentoring, and the top 3 will be chosen as winners. Last date 4th October 2010.
For more info, please visit: http://www.ecell.in/.

Technovation 2011 awards

There are awards for `Best electronic product of the year', `Start-up to watch', `Technovisionary' and `Technomentor'.Last date:15th November 2010.Apply on line:
http://isaonline.org/technovation_2011/index.html

The Great Brain Race by Ben Wildavsky

In the background of our plans to create Innovation Universities, this book serves as useful reference document compiling and analyzing similar attempts made across the nations to create Elite Institutes.

Students and faculty at research institutes everywhere are conscious that they are in direct academic competition that extends beyond campus gates. What the global universities promise to do , as nations make sizable investment in education , compete to nurture human capital and send students and researchers back and forth to universities around the world, is to go one step further: from brain drain to brain circulation to brain growth.

 The three most important higher education trends in the last half century- mass access, growing reliance on merit principle and significantly greater use of technology- will all be accelerated by globalization. The book examines the phenomena of branch campuses,   almost all established by Western universities, which have proliferated largely in Middle East. Of the 162 such campuses, notable are castles built in Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Saudi Arabia. They are liberally funded by the Kingdoms with grants to parent US institutes, bonus to faculty and all construction undertaken by state. The cost per student is estimated at half million US dollars per year - not a model that can be emulated in India. The other extreme is Chinese strategy of long term contracts with researchers of British universities. The Britishers know the contracts are one sided, the aggressively ambitious China will extract what it can from each partnership. This also cannot be replicated in India. The third model is distance / online education that is demand serving and cannot expect to produce Elite Institutes.

Elite institutes are by definition exclusive and as nation we need to ask the question- do we want exclusive institutes with huge endowments, full autonomy and where only the merit matters?

USA invests billions in new energy Research and VCs take manufacturing to China

US Secretary of Energy Steve Chu is concerned that the research funded by state might instead produce manufacturing efforts overseas while the US economy failed to capitalize on DOE’s investment. Billion dollar question "how to ensure that innovative research funded through entities like the new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is taken up by venture capitalists and companies to effect economic transformation in the US".
Read: nature.com

'Dance Your Ph.D.' Finalists Announced - ScienceNOW

Have U attended a presentation of PhD thesis in Science. See the difference when presented in dance form.
'Dance Your Ph.D.' Finalists Announced - ScienceNOW

Design Clinic Scheme for MSMEs

The scheme aims at improving designs in 200 clusters with design sensitization workshops and support for 100 student designers , 300 professional designers. NID is the nodal agency. Contact:

Shashank Mehta, shashankatniddotedu

The Deadly Corruption of Clinical Trials

Carl Elliot, Bioethics Professor exposes clinical trials and raises fundamental question -When you risk life and limb to help test a drug, are you helping science—or Big Pharma?

This case is from USA on testing anti psychotic drug on mentally disturbed patient. The picture shows mother and son- son died and mother received legal notice from University. What is happening in India?

Read the story:

http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/09/dan-markingson-drug-trial-astrazeneca?page=1

Omnivore Capital

Omnivore Capital backed by Godrej invests in agro tech start-ups at early stage.The team includes Atish Babu of Nexus Venture partners, Mark Kahn of Gogrej Agrovet. Focus areas:  

   Agricultural Financial Services,  Agriculture Services, Animal Science, Aquaculture & Mariculture, Biofuel Biotechnology, Farm Equipment, Plant Science, Water management etc .

Investment will be $1M to $3M in Series A/B rounds.

Details: http://www.omnivorecap.com/Omnivore_Capital/Investments.html

The Innovations for Everyone contest

VW and Natgeo bring this competition. Volkswagon will reward each of 3 winners with a cheque of Rs 3 lakhs. Films of 3 initial winners will be showed on National Geographic Channel and viewers will vote for the best. The final winner will take home Volkswagon car.

last date: 18th October 2010.

URL: http://www.innovationsforeveryone.com/Home.aspx

Open Innovation at Medtronic

Medtronic, manufacturer of Pacemakers invites `ideas' from independent innovators. Check for procedure at:

http://www.medtronic.com/innovation/idea-submission/procedures.html

LG Cubes Design Innovation awards

Designs invited from design students/ professional or design enthusiast. Min age 18 years. Designs can be for use at Home, Office or Travel under categories Health, Energy, Entertainment, Comfort & Usability. There are Mega prizes separate for Students and Professionals. Last  date 30th Sept 2010. check Details:

Drinking water from Alaska

We may soon be buying pure drinking water brought all the way from Alaska.

Read the announcement:

 http://www.s2cglobal.com/2010/07/s2c-global-announces-india-world-water-hub/

International Investor Form:Destination India 2010

Genius Incubator, UK is organizing an International Investors Forum: Destination India on November 11th and Smart Money & Genius Ideas on November 12th at Taj President, Mumbai.

Day 1 will bring together key decision makers from the European and Indian PE and VC diaspora to debate and define the future of venture investing in India. Day 2 will showcase hand-picked investment opportunities to global investors and HNWIs. Details:

http://destinationindia2010.com/home/agenda

India Future of Change

In a world that is fast globalizing and is supercharged with information, it calls for innovative efforts on behalf of the change leaders to look, sound and feel different. ‘India – Future of Change’ is one such effort that seeks to emphasize India’s position as a catalyst of change.

The three-year India Future of Change Contest Series is a multi-disciplinary contest series across schools in India and Overseas.

The purpose will be an exchange of ideas about emerging India’s present perception and future plan of action. It will be, apart from an academic exercise, a livecwire discussion between the youth and established professionals from the field . Knowledge Partners include Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) – Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), Industrial Design Centre (IDC) IIT - Bombay supported by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
URL: http://www.indiafutureofchange.com/contests.htm

ACM Challenge of Code 2010

ACM ( Association for Computing Machinery) Bangalore launches "Challenge of Code" which will celebrate and award innovative/ quality projects in the open source domain.

• Organizations can submit ideas online at http://ideas.intuit.in/
• Partcipating organization should assign a Project Manager to administer the project.
• ACM Bangalore will notify the project manager of acceptance.
• Selected organizations can create their projects on Intuit’s Brainstorm platform.
• Individual developers and programmers than vote on the Intuit platform to work with a particular organization leading to the formation of teams.
• If the organization finds the individual competent enough to work on the project then the organization invites the individual to work on the project and the participants are notified of acceptance.
• Participants get familiar with the organizations they would be working with
• Participants start working with the concerned organization on the official start date of the challenge
• ACM Bangalore will provide the platform for the participants to work
• Participants and organizations give midterm gate reviews and evaluations
• Final work will be reviewed by the judges selected by ACM Bangalore team and the best entries will be awarded as determined in the sole discretion of the Judges. 

Technologies from Russia

The Russian Technology Transfer Network (RTTN) was founded in 2002; it is an association of 68 Russian Innovation Centres from 25 regions of Russia and CIS, specialized in technology transfer area.See technologies on offer at:
http://www.rttn.ru/profiles?type=2&lang=eng

Barefoot college,Rajasthan

The Barefoot College has been pioneering solar electrification in rural, remote, non-electrified villages, since 1989. The College has demystified solar technology and is decentralizing its application by making it available to poor and neglected communities. Fabrication, installation, usage, repair and maintenance of sophisticated solar lighting units is placed in the hands of rural, illiterate and semi-literate men and women . 

Read: http://www.barefootcollege.org/sol_approach.asp

The Buckminster Fuller Challenge

The Buckminster Fuller Challenge is an annual international design Challenge awarding $100,000 to support the development and implementation of a strategy that has significant potential to solve humanity's most pressing problems. It attracts bold, visionary, tangible initiatives focused on a well-defined need of critical importance. Winning solutions are regionally specific yet globally applicable and present a truly comprehensive, anticipatory, integrated approach to solving the world's complex problems.
last date: 4th October 2010. Discounted entry fee for students:$50/-
URL:http://challenge.bfi.org/

The Importance of Frugal Engineering

The term frugal engineering was coined in 2006 by Renault Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn to describe the competency of Indian engineers in developing products like Tata Motors’ Nano, the pint-sized, low-cost automobile. Vikas Sehgal, Kevin Dehoff, and Ganesh Panneer of Booz & Company develop this concept further in this article.

Read : The Importance of Frugal Engineering

BioGenesis-The Euro Indo Health cluster

Biocluster is to boost the development of the Life Sciences industry and to facilitate businesses between Universities, Hospitals, Pharmaceutical Companies and other related entities by bringing them in a close proximity.This Biocluster is a Hyderabad-European venture and is launched with the name of “BioGenesis – The Indo-European Health Cluster”. The objectives of BioGenesis health cluster are:

• To integrate and develop synergies between firms, laboratories, and training facilities setting up a network between interested organizations and develop partnership projects.
• To develop new innovations in the health service.,
• To enhance the visibility within the national health sector as well as international health and life sciences industry.
• To accompany the development of business and increase employment opportunities nationally.

With these objectives in place, the participating members will have the following advantages:

• Being a part of this Health Cluster, participating members will gain more visibility and become more noticeable in their respective business domain.
• Members will be able to resolve their problems – technological as well as management – within the cluster.
• Members will also gain from the knowledge transfer within the cluster.
• Members will have a steady network with other members.
• Members will not only gain visibility within the nation but will also become conspicuous internationally.

Apart from the above advantages, the cluster will also help members in:

• renting office and lab space
• financing
• managment
• marketing and legal affairs

Contact: Renaissance Innovation Center , #151, Motilal Nehru Nagar,
Begumpet, Hyderabad-500016,
T : + 91 40 4004 5868
F : + 91 40 4004 5869
E : info@biogenesis.in
URL:http://www.biogenesis.in/softlanding.html

GE Ecoimagination Challenge

GE Ecomagination Challenge, invites all innovators above age of 18 to share their best ideas on how to build the next-generation power grid. There are three categories for submission:

Challenge 1: Create - Renewable Energy
Challenge 2: Connect - Grid Efficiency
Challenge 3: Use - EcoHomes/EcoBuilding.

The entry receiving the most user-submitted votes, will receive, subject to GE’s review for appropriate content, a cash award of $50,000. GE will also present each of five innovation challenge award recipients with $100,000 in cash, for a total of $500,000, to acknowledge these entries as examples of outstanding entrepreneurship and innovation.
Judges may also award one or more entrant:
* GE Scientific Merit Award to work with the GRC
In addition The evaluation committee will consider one or more of the following for selected entrants:
* An equity investment by GE or others
* A cooperative agreement to develop a product or technology
* A review of your product or service for possible qualification to be a part of the GE Ecomagination program.

Any individual 18 years old or older can participate, as can any organization. Enter as many ideas as you wish between July 13 and September 30, 2010.

URL:http://challenge.ecomagination.com/ideas

Innovator of electronic products is looking for business partner

Innovator Prem Singh,  President award winner, has come out with several innovations like IP based switch. See them at:
http://www.ipindiarobotic.com/product.html


Interested in partnering? Contact prem@ipindiarobotic.com