The concluding day of Progressive Punjab Summit-2015 witnessed a most interesting and absorbing session on startups where youth from adjoining technical universities flocked to listen to 17 innovation ideas incubated during 3-long day startup accelerator held at IT park Chandigarh.The most interesting facet of this technical session was young innovators lecturing investors having more than 30 to 50 years’ experience in running and managing industries.The young innovators who have nurtured 17 innovations that are all set to change the face of world’s socio economic set up. Ranging from home kits for cervical cancer detection to managing the kitchen waste to handling the paucity of currency coins – the young innovators shared their vision for a different future enabled with low investment and high output ideas.
Yatin Thakur from Startup Weekend US said that the session Startups today was culmination of the Startup Weekend program organized on Oct 23 and Oct 24 startup activities and booster camps that were held across the Punjab in varied universities’ campuses selecting 17 teams that stood out in their innovation techniques that Progressive Punjab Investors’ Summit 2015 held in collaboration with the Startups Accelerator Chamber of Commerce (SACC). The ideas were churned out by the energetic youngsters who showcased their talent, which when implemented has the potential to change the way we think today.KS Bhatia from Pumpkart strongly felt that Punjab is leading the way by focusing on developing a suitable ecosystem by promoting entrepreneurial youth of Punjab through its favorable policies in setting up a business and ensuring a strong enabling eco system. Young investors thanked the deputy Chief Minister Punjab Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal for providing them platform for global exposure and opportunities.Innovation of home kits to detect cervical cancer in women at cost of 5$ was hailed as major revolution in field of medical sciences. Swaypay team presented its novel idea of offline wallet that would transform the way we handle currency coins today. The jury of event suggested Swaypay team to get its idea patented. Bento Tiffin team presented the affordable way of getting access to homemade food or tiffin system at just a click of the button, while Ctrl P team talked about providing Xeroxed papers at less than 50 P per copy.
Team of young innovators presented ways to create wealth from waste by collecting and processing kitchen leftovers into organic manure and another team presented innovative business idea of using Helium propelled balloons for displaying advertisements in commercial settlements like malls.Providing its critical feedback with shared their life-long experiences, the panel adjudged best and most sustainable idea of providing home kits for early detection of cervical cancer as the winner. The panel of experts who selected the winner included KS Bhatia from Pumpkart, Dr Dinesh Dua from Nectar Life Sciences, Rajeev Rai CEO and Founder QA Source, Prof Sidharh Singh from ISB, Samar Singla from CEO Clicklabs and Parag Gopal from HDFC.The Finance Minister, Government of Punjab Mr Parminder Singh Dhindsa felicitated the winners of competition with the Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Mr NK Sharma. Prominent among others present included CEO Invest Punjab Anirudh Tiwari, joint CEO Invest Punjab Mr Manjit Brar.During the Progressive Punjab Investors Summit 2015, Invest Punjab and SACC have joined hands to showcase some of the successful Punjabi startups and provide some of the budding startups a stage to present their ideas.The final selected idea(s) will be given support by facilitating tie ups with the financial institutions, providing working space in the incubation center and mentoring by some of the industry leaders in their respective sectors.