iWeekend is an intensive event that brings together a highly motivated group of 50 entrepreneurs and professionals to select a couple of ideas and work together to launch a first version of the products (usually web applications), all in one weekend.The event promises to bring together an interesting mix of technology entrepreneurs, professionals, mentors and investors. It will be organized for the first time in India at NSRCEL@IIM Bangalore in Bangalore on 12 – 14 March 2010.

iWeekend is a non-profit organization started in Spain in 2008 with the mission of promoting the culture of entrepreneurship in new technologies. The event has been successfully organized in Spain,Mexico and Russia and has attracted a lot of support from public and private entities, including the Spanish government and some well known technology companies. In India, iWeekend will be organized thanks to the initiative of Nadathur S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (IIM Bangalore), Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (IIM Ahmedabad) on 19 – 21 March and TiE Delhi (The Indus Entrepreneurs, Delhi chapter) on 26 – 28 March.

Registrations are open for all the 3 events. Applicants are subject to a selection process before being confirmed to participate in the event. Confirmed participants pay Rs.750 as entrance fees which cover the costs of event registration and catering for the whole weekend.This is a rare opportunity and interested participants are requested to Sign up at http://iweekend.org/2010/bangalore/events/march/signup

The event is targeted towards professionals, freelance, students, of any age:programmers, designers, marketers, business folks, lawyers, etc. with a passion for technology, internet and the world of software. A total of 6 products will be created in the 3 events. The events will be broadcast through live streaming and twitter during the whole weekend at http://iweekend.org/2010/bangalore/, https://twitter.com/iWeekend

NSRCEL@IIMB is partnering with Ennovent, an international social venture capital firm, in promoting the Global Energy Challenge: ”Advancing Change - Energy for India’s Poor”.

Most of India’s population has no access to affordable, let alone clean energy. Help us find in India and around the world proven, for-profit solutions that can meet some of the critical energy needs of India’s poor. Ennovent will invest up to USD 500,000 in the Solver to incubate or scale the winning enterprise in India. Ennovent will also offer a reward of USD 3,000 to the Connector who nominates the winning enterprise.

Inadequate access to energy is part of the poverty trap for the majority of India’s poor. Like anyone else, they need energy for example for cooking, lighting, domestic heating, or power for appliances. Dirty and unsafe energy sources such as kerosene and firewood lead to health hazards and take time away from productive livelihood activities. Earning around USD 3.- or less a day (local PPP), poor people in most cases cannot afford clean and safe sources of energy. Despite massive investment by the Government of India in expanding access to electricity, many communities are still in need of services, especially those in remote areas. The private sector is already playing a key role in helping the government meet its goal to ensure energy for all. Investments into innovations - products, services, processes, and business models - are needed to bring clean, safe and affordable energy services to the Indian BoP market.

The mission is to promote entrepreneurs who advance innovations for sustainability at the base of the economic pyramid. This competition is part of our activities to achieve this mission.

Participate in the Challenge by submitting energy solutions or nominating enterprises online at www.ennovent.com. Deadline for submissions is 31st of March 2010. For more details of this competiton, please click here.

National Geographic Channel is all set for a nationwide quest to discover India’s most innovative and creative ideas with, Yamaha ‘Shaping the Future’, powered by Eveready Ultima. The initiative seeks to identify potential and relevant innovations that could lead to technological or scientific breakthroughs or those that help improve quality of life. The innovations will be evaluated across four categories: Environment Edge, Technology Edge, Human Edge and Re-Engineering Edge.

Through this campaign individuals from all corners of the country will get an opportunity to showcase their innovations that they believe has the potential to make a difference to society and to India. To enable this, the National Geographic Channel has collaborated with some of India’s leading educational institutions including the FITT, IIT Delhi (Foundation for Information & Technology Transfer of Indian Institute of Technology), SINE, IIT Bombay (Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Indian Institute of Technology), NSRCEL IIM, Bangalore (Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at the Indian Institute of Management) and TePP, DSIR (Technopreneur Promotion Programme at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.)

The selection process of this campaign will span across six phases. The online registration commences from 10th August, where participants register themselves at www.msnindia.com/ngc, the single entry point.

The shortlisted projects will be judged by a panel of eminent academicians, technicians and industrialists. All the projects will be awarded across four categories namely Environment, Technology, Human and Re-Engineering.

Talking about the need of innovation, Prof. K. Kumar, Chairperson of NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore said, “Companies have to recognize that innovation is a necessary capability they need to develop to secure their future and not an insurance to be claimed when their core businesses get into trouble. They have to develop the ability to motivate and enable their people to generate a continuous stream of innovative ideas, fine tune mechanisms that could quickly spot the ideas that have more than a fair chance of winning and develop flexible organizational processes and structures to enable these ideas to quickly reach the market backed by the full strength of the organizational resources. In particular, the leaders in organizations have to develop the uncanny ability to tolerate well intentioned failures and reward successes equitably.”
The city finals of the same will be held in IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay and IIM Bangalore. An exhibition of the shortlisted entries at the national finals will be held at IIT Delhi
National Geographic Channel is on a nation wide hunt for ideas and innovations that have the potential to shape our future.

The Foundation for Youth Entrepreneurship (FYSE) has initiated the Asia Pacific Future 100 program, a program aiming to inspire young people to become entrepreneurs. FYSE is inviting nominations to recognize and promote 100 young entrepreneurs and Social changemakers from Asia as inspiring role models for the youth. The Foundation for Youth Social Entrepreneurship (FYSE) is a regional organization inspiring and empowering young people to make innovative suggestions and actions to create positive change and real impact in their communities, their countries and Asia.

FYSE believes that there are many young entrepreneurs and social Changemakers realizing their dreams and ambitions. FYSE annually identifies 100 of those young entrepreneurs, who will be extensively profiled to young people in Asia through blog’s, interviews and videos to inspire other young people through their stories.

The Nomination period for the program will last from the 1st May till the 31st of August. All young entrepreneurs and Social Changemakers under the age of 30 years from Asia Pacific are eligible to apply. The Nominations are invited from both Commercial Entrepreneuship and Social Changemakers, who have been involved in the venture as the leading person for more than 12 months.

Throughout their one-year fellowship Asia Pacific Future 100 fellows will receive mentorship and technical assistance as well as access a network of like minded entrepreneurs to elevate their business performance.

FYSE Motto is “Unlocking Potential. Igniting Ideas. Empowering Actions”

NSRCEL, IIMB is an official supporting partner in India to help FYSE in receiving and screening nominations to identify young entrepreneurs from India.

Click here for more details or Download the nomination form.

Please visit www.fyse.org  to know more.

Startup Saturday is a monthly driven community forum which provides a common panel for discussion on various topics. SSday happens on every second saturday of the month and is a based on different theme every time, giving room to diversity in topics. NSRCEL has supported SS Day since February 2008.

Mobile Monday is an event which features Mobile technologies. This event is held on usually the last Monday of the month. This is a good platform for people interested in mobile technologies, wireless commerce, wireless technologies, Mobile payments and other mobile related technologies.

CloudCamp is an unconference where early adopters of Cloud Computing technologies exchange ideas. Cloud Camp is a place where one can expect to discuss new cloud based development and use of new computer technologies. The event is going to be conducted for the First Time In India at the NSRCEL on March 29, 2009

The Millennium Technology Prize is inviting nominations for 2010 for groundbreaking innovation that promotes people's quality of life, contributes toward the realization of humane values and encourages sustainabale development. This prestigious prize event is conducted once in two years and seeks nominations from across the globe in all fields of technology. Citizens from all countries are eligible. The Millennium Technology Prize is awarded by The Technology Academy Foundation, an independent fund established together by the Finnish Industry and state of Finland.