CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal : To empower young innovators with entrepreneurial skills and transform their ideas into real-world start-ups, Chandigarh University’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Cell (CU-IEDC) in collaboration with its Technology Business Incubator (CU-TBI) organized ‘Zero-to-One’ – a nationwide 24-hour MVP Building Hackathon on Thursday to mark World Entrepreneurs’ Day. Attracting registrations from over 1,300 teams and 5,200 student innovators representing leading universities across 15 states, the event has positioned itself among the largest university-led hackathons in India, offering participants access to a $6 million prize pool and a direct entry to Campus Tank.
The ‘Zero-to-One’ hackathon is themed ‘an idea in the morning, a start-up by night’ served as a fast-paced innovation sprint, giving aspiring entrepreneurs a platform to transform their ideas into market-ready Minimum Viable Products (MVPs). Out of a total of 1300 teams, 100 teams were shortlisted who developed MVPs during the given 24-hour slot out of which top 10 teams were selected in the final round.
The top 3 winning startups got direct entry in the country’s first university-led start-up challenge Campus Tank granting direct access to the top 300 teams to compete for the $6 Million prize pool. Lazy Genius, a team of four students from Dr Akhilesh Das Gupta Institute of Professional Studies (ADGIPS) New Delhi which came first in the Startup Challenge for their HealthTech Startup, has developed a physiotherapy model which will remain easily available for users with back and neck pain issues. Zudos, a team of three Chandigarh University students who came second in the Startup Challenge, have developed a tech startup for the creation of an affordable smartboard which operates with a laser mouse. Invaders, a team of four students from St John College of Engineering & Management (SJCEM) in Maharashtra which came third, have developed a Fintech Startup which will help groups of people who can’t borrow money from bank to get loans on monthly basis by becoming part of a digital wallet. A special award of US$ 100 was also given by Github to Syntex Syndicate.
While CMD Tynor Orthotics India and Vice Chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Pushvinder Jit Singh presided over the event as Guest of Honour, other prominent personalities from the world of entrepreneurship and start-ups who mentored participants in their prospective ventures during the hackathon include Mahavir Pratap Sharma, TIE India Angels, Mohit Dua Co-Founder, AI Sensy, Piyush Garg, Founder Techyst, Pratiksha Gupta, CEO, One Special Place, Piyush Sharma, Facilitator Google Cloud, Santosh Kumar Mishra, SDE Microsoft, Uday Sharma, CEO DevnDez, Simarpreet Singh, Developer Groups Google and Vikash Kumar Yadav, Campus Expert Github. From Chandigarh University, Prof (Dr) RS Bawa, Advisor to Chancellor, Chandigarh University and Prof (Dr) Manpreet Singh Manna, Vice-Chancellor, Chandigarh University and Archita Nandi, Director, Chandigarh University – Technology Business Incubator (CU-TBI) among other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.
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