December 10, 2008

First E^2 (Evening with an Entrepreneur) Event

The First E^2 (Evening with Entrepreneur) was successfull organised by NCLTEC on December 3rd, 2008 at Chemical Engineering Lecture Hall in NCL Pune. The theme of this event is talk and discussion with a young technology entrepreneur. In this first Event NCLTEC invited Mr. Kranthi Kiran Vistakula, a young Indian technology entrepreneur and CEO, Dhama Apparel Innovation Pvt. Ltd. It was a very interactive session, during his talk; Mr. Kranthi discussed his entrepreneurial journey and interacted with students and scientist.

About the speaker:

Kranthi Kiran Vistakula is currently the CEO of his startup Dhama Apparel Innovations (http://dhamainnovations.com/) that is incubated at National Design Business Incubator, NID. Before this startup, he pursued his masters in Mechanical Engineering at MIT, Boston. While at MIT, he was a Co-Principle Investigator for a NASA funded project titled “Bio Electricity for Space Exploration”.It’s an honor for a master’s student to be funded by NASA to lead a project. He pursued his Undergrad in Biomedical Engineering from JNTU, Hyderabad. His current startup makes functional apparel-apparel that has capabilities. The companies first products are ClimaGear: jacket/vest with heating and cooling capabilities, ClimaNeck: neck accessory with heating and cooling capabilities and ClimaMet: helmets with heating and cooling ability. All these products are light weight, easy to use and look like regular apparel from outside. The idea of apparel with functionalities arose out of personal discomfort to him while studying in Boston. At that point of time, he had no idea about apparel or their manufacturing process. With out any idea he went out purchased a ready made jacket and started to convert into a heating cooling jacket. After spending a year on the design he was able to perfect the technology.
Awards
First prize winner at "India Innovation Pioneers Challange 2008.
Gold Medalist at "Lockheed Martin Innovators Competition 2008.Winner of "MIT 1K Business Plan Competition 2005
.
















Mr. Sarvesh presenting overview of NCLTEC.














Mr. Kranthi sharing this experience.













































































September 05, 2008

CONCEPTO 2008 :Technology Idea Competition

About the competition:

NCL-TEC’s Technology Idea Competition is a competition aimed at research fellows, research associates and project staff that will offer an opportunity to brainstorm and think up technology ideas, assess them thoroughly and present a strong case on why that technology idea should be pursued. The Competition will provide a platform for students to interact with each other, brainstorm ideas, build-up competencies for technology development planning, get their ideas vetted by experts, refine their own ideas and in some cases, even take their technology idea further with funding/ incubation support from NCL and Venture Center. Participants in the Competition will also get a chance to attend a mentoring session on how to go about originating, assessing and planning a technology idea.

Organizers:

• NCL Technology and Entrepreneurship Club

Co-organizers:

• NCL Innovations/ IP Group

Sponsors and support:
• NCL Research Foundation
• Director, NCL
• Venture Center

Essential parts of a technology idea proposal:
1.The problem or need being addressed. The importance of the problem/need and potential impact of a solution to this problem/need. The size of the opportunity.
2.A study of various solutions already available (if any) to address some parts of or the whole problem. The deficiencies and shortcomings of such solutions.
3.Your proposed conceptual solution and its value proposition. What will be the benefit vis-à-vis the alternatives? What will be the size of the benefit?
4.An assessment of novelty based on a study of the literature – scholarly literature, patent literature and existing products in the market.
5.Your plan and road map for developing the idea further. Identification of key unknowns/ uncertainties/ potential barriers. Key proof of concept (POC) experiments to be done. Mapping of technology development risks/ uncertainties and approach to test or overcome them.

Subject/ Topics:
•There is no restriction on the topic or problem/need chosen. However, applicants may want to ensure that they have sufficient awareness of the area to gather/provide necessary details. The proposed solutions could be in the form of a product or a process or even a service.
•The topic can be related to the PhD topic of one or more of the members of the team. In case the proposed idea is directly related to a student’s PhD thesis, then the student should seek the approval of his/her supervisor first.

Eligibility
Individuals or teams consisting of current (as of 1 Oct 2008)
•PhD students (with fellowships or beyond fellowships)
•Research associates
•Project staff, trainees and guest workers

There is no restriction on the number of team members.

Though not a requirement, each team can choose to have one or two technology mentors of their liking. The mentor(s) can be scientist or faculty member from NCL or any other institution. NCL Innovations and NCL-TEC will help teams identify & contact potential mentors, if the help is sought.

Method of selection

Selection of finalists

The selection of finalists shall be done by a panel of judges consisting of technology experts in different fields. The judgment will be based on the technology idea proposal document submitted by the various teams. Key parameters of evaluation shall be:
•Quality of the idea (merit of the technology idea, creativity in technology solution proposed, feasibility of the solution)
•Quality of the proposal (clarity of thought, sufficient homework in backing up claims, covering all essential parts of the proposal listed above)

Selection of winners

The finalist shall be invited for a 15 minute presentation followed by a 10-minute Q&A session to the panel of judges. The judges shall decide the winners based on the strength of the case presented for the technology idea and the thoroughness of the background work done by the team.

Other notes

The judges shall reserve the right to cancel specific awards if the entries are not sufficient or not adequately thought out.

Confidentiality and ownership

•All technology idea submissions shall be kept confidential. The judges will be signing a confidentiality agreement.
•All technology ideas proposed shall remain the property of the team proposing the technology idea (until and unless they utilize NCL facilities and resources to develop their ideas further or the idea was originated by an NCL employee).

Panel of judges

The panel of judges shall consist of a selected group of NCL scientists/ technologists with expertise in areas reflecting the various subject areas of the entries received.

Arbitrations and grievances
Head, NCL Innovations shall serve as arbitrator in case of any disputes or disagreements or conflicts.

Timelines

1 September 2008 (Monday): Announcement of competition
•8 September 2008 (Monday): Kick-off meeting and introduction/ instructions for interested/ potential participants. (Meeting to inform the curious; Join-in to be informed, if not for the tea & snacks)
19 September 2008 (Friday): Last date for submission of letter of intent to participate.
•27 September 2008 (Saturday): Mentoring session for those who have submitted letter of intent. This session will outline what is expected in the proposal while providing illustrations. The mentoring session will also outline how the judges shall be evaluating the entries.
20 October 2008 (Monday): Submission of technology idea proposals. Proposals can be submitted by anybody irrespective of having attended the mentoring session or not.
7 November 2008 (Friday): Announcement of finalists
24 November 2008 (Monday): Presentations in front of panel of judges
28 November 2008 (Friday): Announcement of results

Awards and honors:
• A maximum of 1 winning team and two runner-up teams shall be announced.
• Winner: Rs 30,000 to the team.
Mentor: Rs 10,000
• Two Runner-up: Rs. 10,000 each
Mentor: Rs 5000
A certificate signed by Director, NCL in his capacity as Chairman, NCL Research Foundation to all the members of the winning team.
o The mentor shall be recognized separately with a cash prize of Rs 10,000.



Irrespective of prizes awarded, if judged suitable for further development by the panel of judges and the Director, NCL, selected technology ideas shall get the opportunity to:
  1. Receive a research grant (covering consumables, travel, external services, and contingency) from the Director to develop the idea further. The research grant will be focused on testing/ verifying ideas and de-risking the idea.
  2. Receive a grant from Venture Center to hire one dedicated project staff for 1 year for the developing the idea further. (depending on availability of funds)
  3. NCL’s support in filing any intellectual property that may arise from the work. A technology option (without fee) and first preference in licensing of the technology to a start-up enterprise founded by one or more members of the team.
  4. Incubation support through the Venture Center on a priority basis.

How to participate?
• Fill up the attached form “Letter of Intent” and submit to Mrs Chandanaa Roybardhan at IP group Office, Room 275, Director’s Wing, NCL. (Deadline: 19 Sep 2008)
• Complete technology idea proposals should be submitted in sealed envelopes to Mrs Chandanaa Roybardhan at IP group Office, Room 275, Director’s Wing, NCL. (Deadline: 20 Oct 2008)

Contact information for clarifications:

Sarvesh Kumar Soni (Research Scholar, NCL)
President, NCL Technology and Entrepreneurship Club
100, NCL Innovation Park
Dr Homi Bhabha Road
Pune-411008 India
Phone : +91-9423219107
Email: sk.soni@ncl.res.in

Dr V Premnath
Head, NCL Innovations/ IP Group
Dr Homi Bhabha Road
Pune-411008 India
Phone : +91-20-2590-2757
Email: head.ip@ncl.res.in

Seminar on Intellectual Property and Patenting




Slide 2
Indian patent Office in association with GMGC (Intellectual for intellectuals) and partnership of NCLtechnolog y and entrepreneurship club organized 2 day workshop (22nd and 23rd August, 2008) on intellectual property and patenting at NCL Innovation Park.

Registration fees were waived for 15 members of NCLTECH Club and certificates for participants were given by Indian Patent office.


July 26, 2008

Board member's Meeting on July 18th, 2008

Dear Friends,

The meeting of Board Members of NCL-TEC held on 18th July at 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM in meeting room, NCL Innovation Park, NCL, Pune


Meeting Summary
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attendees: Dr. V. Premnath , Mr. Sarvesh , Mr. Elangovan, Ms. Sofia Banu, Mr. Dev Kumar Gupta, Ms. Ruby, Mr. Shailesh Nagarkar, Mr. Kumar Babu and Mr. Ajeet Singh
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Key points:

1. Mr. Elangovan gave a brief presentation on the past activities of NCL-TEC.

Discussion point:

1. Introduction of Duties to New Board Members,

2. Draft for annual Programs/ activities and expansion of Board members.

3. Expansion of the board members

4. NCL-TEC Lecture in orientation program for the newly joined Ph.D. students in NCL.

5. Networking among different entrepreneurial student clubs and NEN, TiE.

Programs discussed for the year 2008-2009:

1. Business Idea competition,

2. Workshop for startups, Business plan, Problem identification.

3. Seminar/ Invited lectures by young technology led Entrepreneurs.

4. Visit to any ideal business office or work place to understand their working and leadership in market

Action points:
Following members nominated for various positions were approved to perform their respective roles

Office position --------------------------- Name

President Mr. Sarvesh Soni
Secretary (Talks)------------------------ Ms. Ruby
Secretary (Workshops) ---------------- Mr. Shailesh Nagarkar
Secretary (Group activities)----------- Mr. Kumar Babu
Secretary (Finance) -------------------- Mr. Nishant Varshney
Secretary (Publicity and Comm.)---- Mr. Ajeet Singh
Secretary (Planner) -------------------- Mr. Dev Kumar Gupta

June 20, 2008

NCLTEC succesfully organised its Third Lecture on 18th,June 2008. Well known and famous Scientist Prof. Whitesides humbly aggreed to deliever a Lecture title "Commercialing New Science".Around 150 of Research Students and Scientist gathered in NCL lecture hall to listen Prof. Whitesides.

President of NCLTEC club Mr.Elangovan addressed the audience by telling about the club activities to Students and to Prof. Whitesides . Mr.Sarvesh Soni welcomed Prof. Whitesides by reading some of his achievements.Ms Sofia Banu welcomed Prof.Whitesides with a Bouquet of Flowers.

We thank Dr. Premnath for his help in bring the speaker and organising the lecture and Prof. Whitesides for his wonderful lecture.
Mr.Sarvesh reading some of the Prof. Whitesides achievements

About 150 of Research Students and Scientists gathered to listen Prof Whitesides
Students and Faculties listening to Prof. Whitesides
Students listening to Prof. Whitesides's explanations
Prof. Whitesides interacting with Students

June 17, 2008

Prof. Whitesides Lecture


Dear All,

Please note that the venue for the Prof. Whitesides Lecture is Second Floor Lecture Hall,Mail Building.Please take your seat before lecture starts.

Front 4 rows will be reserved for the participants who registered themselves for the lecture by sending the confirmation mail.

Regards

Nishant

June 15, 2008

Dear All,

NCL Technology & Entrepreneurship Club presents


An wonderful opportunity for research fellows, research associates and projects staff to listen to and interact with *Prof George Whitesides* of Harvard University!!

Date: 18 June 2008, Wednesday

Time: 10 am -12 noon

Venue: will be announced soon

Agenda:

9.45 am - 10 am: Tea and snacks

10-11 am: ""Commercializing New Science " - Talk by Prof Whitesides

11-12 noon: Interaction and discussion with students

Action:


Those interested in this opportunity are requested to send an email to nk.varshney@ncl.res.in by Monday (16 June 2008), 6 pm registering for the event. Your registration will help us plan for the event and ensure a place for you.

Please register only if you are sure you can attend so that somebody else is not denied a chance to attend this event.


About Prof George Whitesides

Prof George Whitesides in the Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor at Harvard University, USA ("University Professor" at Harvard is a special honor limited to only 17 highly distinguished professors at Harvard University). He is a highly respected and high decorated chemist with outstanding contributions to science, technology, technology based enterprises, education and public policy.Whitesides has had a profound impact on the field of materials science by drawing on a broad scientific perspective ranging from fundamental chemistry to applied technology. His efforts in nanostructured materials (at the level of the single molecules), and the techniques he created to produce them, are being applied widely in areas such as biotechnology, electronics, optical networks, circuitry, and computer science. He is best known for his work in the areas of NMR spectroscopy, organometallic chemistry, molecular self-assembly, soft lithography, micro fabrication, microfluidics, and nanotechnology.Whitesides is the author of more than 950 scientific articles and is listed as an inventor on more than 50 patents. He ranked 5th on Thomson ISI's list of the 1000 most cited chemists from 1981-1997. As of March 2008, he has the highest Hirsch index rating of all living chemists.Whitesides has co-founded over 12 companies with a combined market capitalization of over $20 billion. These companies include Genzyme, GelTex, Theravance, Surface Logix, Nano-Terra, and WMR Biomedical. Whitesides has mentored more than 300 graduate students, postdocs, and visiting scholars. He serves on the editorial advisory boards of several scientific journals, including Angewandte Chemie, Chemistry & Biology, and Small. Among other awards, Whitesides is the recipient of the American Chemical Society's Award in Pure Chemistry (1975), the Arthur C. Cope Award (1995), National Medal of Science (1998), the Kyoto Prize in Materials Science and Engineering (2003), the Dan David Prize (2005), the Welch Award in Chemistry (2005), and the Priestley Medal (2007) , the highest honor conferred by the ACS.Whitesides is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering. He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.



with regards

Elangovan

May 08, 2008

IPR lecture series - tremendous response


Dear Friends,

NCLTEC, sucessfully organised IPR- Lecture series on 7th and 8th May 2008.  Mrs. Srividya Ravi, delivered the lectures in a very innovative manner and made it more interactive, rather than a monologue.

About 65 research personnels attended this lecture series and had an intense discussion with the speaker Mrs. Srividya Ravi. We thank Dr. Premnath for his help in bring the speaker and Mrs. Srividya Ravi, for this wonderful lecture.

 



Mrs. Srividya Ravi, answering the questions

April 30, 2008

First NCLTEC office bearers meeting at Venture centre, Innovation park, NCL, Pune



Mr. Sailesh Nagarkar (Secretary- Workshop), Elangovan (President)  , Rakesh singh (Former Secretary), Kumar babu (Secretary- Group activities)

Dear Friends

The office bearers of  NCLTEC meet at Innovation park, NCL, Pune to discuss and approve following agendas

1) Organise a lecture series on IPR in the month of May

2) Orgaise video shows on Technology venture

3) Farewell to Mr. Rakesh Singh (NCLTEC Secretary -  Workshop) , leaving to Italy to pursue his research

4) Approv the nomination of of Mr. Sailesh Nagarkar, by Mr. Rakesh to take position  as NCLTEC Secretary - Workshop

5) To raise funds for NCLTEC operations through sponsorships and charity






 




(From left ) Ms. Sofia Banu , Mr. Elangovan,  Mr. Nagarkar, Mr. Sarvesh, Mr. Rakesh, Mr.  Kumar, Mr. Nagraj

February 11, 2008

Esummit'08, IIT mumbai participation regarding



Dear NCLTEC members,

On behalf of NCLTEC, we would give you our feedback on our Esummit particpation. A team of 9 NCLTEC members had participated in ESummit'08 held at IIT, Mumbai yesterday (10th February). We are very happy with the Esummit programme content and it was very inspiring, enthusiastic to meet entrepreneurs during the programme. There were two session and we all participated in the session of "Start up company", which dealt with the opportunities in emerging Indian ecosystem, about venture capitalist and experience of entrepreneurs. Most of these session programmes were hosted by Venture capitalist and it was interactive. It helped us to know more about the expectation of venture capitalist and angel investors. We also met few entrepreneurs incubated by IIT, Mumbai campus.

Most of the startup companies were IT related, with very little IPR. So, the importance of IPR and its role in sustaining the life of startups 
companies was highlighted. Also, there was a wide concern about the innovation lacking in the business plan and the need for product to reach wider mass (society).

Mr. Ramadorai, TCS head, stressed the role of high tech entrepreneurs in bringing a change and adding value to the society. He brought into notice, the wealth created by MIT, US using its intellectual property. He wanted Indian universities/ CSIR labs to follow similar path.

One amazing thing, common with the entrepreneurs was that, they never had a formal education in business administration. Most of them had a passion to create a value to customer, than to make profit.

We talked with the chair person of ECell and we are in process of linking NCLTEC, with Gen portal (a common forum for all entrepreneurs in various IITs, National university of Singapore, for mentoring, advice etc). We also want to bring successful entrepreneurs, create awareness and also learn from them.

In a nutshell, this Esummit, helped us to explore the oppurtunities existing for entrepreneurs, problems in startup companies and various
online mentors, angel investors for small ventures.


We thank Dr. Sivaram, The Director NCL, for his generous financial support, which made our Esummit travel plan feasible. I would also like to thank Mr. Kumar Babu (Secretary: Group activities) for complete organisation and execution of this Esummit travel programme.

Thanking you,
With warm regards

Elangovan Mani
President, NCLTEC

Sarvesh Soni
Secretary (Publicity and Communication), NCLTEC

February 04, 2008

Official amendment of NCLTEC Bylaws

Dear Friends,

The first meeting of NCLTEC held as per the annoucement on 1st February at 11.30 AM - 12.15 PM in Biochemical Sciences Division Lecture Hall.

Meeting Summary
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First Annual Meeting
1 st February 2008
Time : 11.30 AM to 12.15 PM
Division of Biochemical Sciences
Lecture Hall
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attendees : Ms. Sofia Banu, Mr. Nagraj, Mr. Rakesh, Ms. Ashwini, Mr. Sarvesh, Mr. Elangovan, Dr. Premnath, Mr. Nishant, Mr. Girish, Mr. Kumar Babu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keypoints:

Discussion point:  Amendment of NCLTEC bylaws
 Mr. Elangovan read the NCLTEC bylaws one by one and all the members agreed.
Decision taken: All the members agreed to put NCLTEC bylaws into action.

Action points:
Following members nominated for various positions were approved to perform their respective roles

Office position --------------------------- Name

President           --------------------------- Mr. Elangovan Mani
Secretary (Talks)------------------------ Ms. Sofia Banu
Secretary (Workshops) ----------------  Mr. Rakesh Singh
Secretary (Group activities)-----------  Mr. Kumar Babu
Secretary (Finance) --------------------  Mr. Nishant Varshney
Secretary (Publicity and Communications)-- Mr. Sarvesh Soni
Secretary (Planner) --------------------Mr. Nagraj Gowda

A copy of the NCLTEC bylaws will be hosted at NCLTEC, yahoogroups.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------






January 09, 2008

First programme of NCLTEC - a good response



Dear Friends,


On behalf of NCLTEC, I thank all the volunteers for making this programme a big success. We give our special thanks to our Director Dr. Sivaram, for his simplicity and generous attitude toward student led activities.
We also thank Prof. David Secher, for his wonderful motivating lecture and for his simplicity.

Mr. Elangovan Mani, invited the speaker Prof. David Secher, the Director Dr. Sivaram and Dr.Vidya S Gupta, PMB lab.

Dr. Sivaram welcomed the speaker Prof. Secher with flower bouquet and stressed the importance of entrepreneurship in an organisation. He was extremely happy with the progress and motivated us to plan more programmes.

Mr. Nagraj gave introduced the speaker and Mr. Rakesh Singh delivered vote of thanks.

This lecture is a joint outcome of NCLTEC and Innovation park  incharge Dr. Premnath’s motivation and inspiration.

We express our Sincere thanks to our entire research scientist team for their wonderful cooperation. I would like to address few volunteers, for their sincere contribution to this lecture.
Mr. Nishant Varshney and Ms. Sofia Banu – took care of the speaker Prof. Secher and accompanied him throughout the programme
Dr. Bhushan B Dholakia – took care of the Director Dr. Sivaram
Mr. Pradeep soni and Mr. Krishna Kulkarni – entire arrangements in lecture hall
Mr. Sarvesh Soni, Ms. Manasi Mishra – arrangement of tables, boards and refreshment
Ms. Rasika Bhagwat – photography

January 01, 2008

NCLTEC Opening Seminar by Professor David Secher - Chief Executive of N8, UK


 

Professor David Secher will deliver a lecture on "Technology Transfer - some trends in the UK and USA" at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India.

Professor David Secher has been involved in enterprise promotion for over 30 years. He has created environments that favour enterprise, specialising in the practical aspects of commercialising the results of academic research. He has done much to influence the culture shift towards commercialisation by UK universities.

During his tenure as Director of Research Services at Cambridge University (2000-2005), Professor Secher was responsible for over 100 new licences and 15 spin-out companies. In 2002 he founded Praxis, a not-for-profit organisation running a training programme on knowledge transfer for commercialisation staff in UK academic institutions. This self- sustaining programme has been so successful that it is now seen by Universities, Public Sector Research Establishments and the NHS as a key resource for training their business development staff.


Professor David Secher is the recipient of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion 2007, as announced in the London Gazette on Saturday, 21 April 2007. The award recognises Secher’s leadership role in advancing enterprise in the UK and improving the UK innovation and knowledge transfer sector. Most particularly, Secher has played in promoting a culture shift in enterprise and innovation amongst researchers and business managers. Professor Secher co-founded the UK’s pioneering research commercialisation (technology transfer) training programme Praxis, with Lita Nelsen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) and was founding Chairman until 2006. The establishment of Praxis addressed a critical gap in the existing skill base and ensures that the UK has a trained workforce can maximise research and further business for the full benefit society and the economy.

Since 2002, approaching 1200 individuals have been trained through Praxis, and Praxis is now recognised as standard training for knowledge transfer staff. Through its training, Praxis fosters a network of best practice across sectors and with mobility within the employment market sees this best practice actively transferred amongst sectors as KT professionals move between industries.

Secher is also Chairman-elect of Unico, the UK’s research commercialisation organisation representing universities and other research institutions. Unico provides thought leadership on pressing issues in innovation and offers a range of services including national conferences, strategic fora, and the annual UK commercialisation survey. He is also a member of the AUTM (Association of University Technology Managers, USA) Membership Committee.

Professor Secher is Chief Executive Officer of N8, which represents the eight most research-intensive universities in the North of England. The N8 group provides leadership and coordination in university-based research in the North of England and will further the application of research to the economic benefit of the region.