What’s more, when you give this notion a Woodstock fever! That would be Innofest’2015. My participation was courtesy iSPIRT and Avinash, with whom I was interacting for my startup. One thing lead to another, and like a typical startup guy, I asked for a discount. Voila, got a free pass.
So, the day was 22nd August, a Saturday; excitement was there in the air, I am still at home but the thought of meeting fellow entrepreneurs along with rockstars of the startup world was good enough a reason to put that extra zeal on my steps.
And then, I reached the Venue – IISc, one of the best campuses to have a Woodstock for Innovation. One could get a glimpse of what’s- in-store – we see a band tuning-up their instruments center stage; the batmobile; the crew in their black T-shirts going about giving a final touch to the venue. But the black T-shirts were for real and they were the volunteers who had put the InnoFest event together and I was told – in less than 27 days!!. True startup spirit this J
The registration was smooth – go to the designated counter, pick your tag, go online.
Yes, we were provided with wifi, and it helped a lot of participants, especially students. And there were quite a lot of them who had traveled from Pune, Hyderabad and New Delhi just to attend the event. The sheer number of youngsters that participated showed the startup spirit that the country is experiencing. I interacted with few of them; they were 2nd year, 3rd year students. Gone are the days when they were worried about only grades; now they are worried about the next big thing and identify themselves as the ones who can lead it.
Once inside, there were booths showcasing various products, I was particularly interested in hearing the discussions by, as I mentioned “rockstars” of the ecosystem, and that was happening in Hall C. And I was hanging around the venue. But then, you can’t keep your curiosity down when you see an exhibition area and some strange things hanging from the trees. The exhibition area was showcasing some of the best products that the young minds had developed. I didn’t venture inside all the arenas but it was jam packed, felt like I was in a ‘mela’ where the kids are intrigued by everything that they see but here it was students and grownups showing the same spirit and instead of the usual ‘throw the ring,’ it was all about technology. The discussions were very informative and in a different format. It was packed; every inch of the hall was occupied so much so, that the black T-shirts had to become bouncers to get the speakers to the podium. The discussion varied from – where are the cut-copy-paste ventures heading to the scope of product manufacturing in India. Manufacturing would be the next thing that India will experience, fuelled by product innovation. Be it making 60k chapatis in one hour, i.e., a 1000 chapatis a minute by Akshaya Patra or 3D printing of a knee joint. Again as Mr. Shridhar Venkat, CEO- Akshaya Patra, said, it started with a jugaad but now it has become an invention. And Mr. Kunal Shah, CEO-Freecharge, reaffirmed “ a jugaad/ hack becomes an innovation when it works”. Think audacious but be smart.
Through the afternoon, there were different DIY camps around the venue and workshops on crowd funding etc.. Once outside the Hall C, I thought I will explore a little, that’s when I heard someone strumming the guitar and singing the blues. I went in the direction of the sound only to discover that I can have my lunch and listen to him. Perfect. And if you are not into live music there was a Dj mixing up a deep house. Just when I was thinking ‘all in all a good day’, there were people milling about the main auditorium and realized it’s not yet over, the heavy weights who started the startup revolution and put India on the world map were yet to address. Mr. Jayant Sinha, Prof. Anurag Kumar, Mr. Nandan Nilakani, Mr. Mohan Das Pai, Mr. Sharad Sharma, Smt. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Dr. Kshatrapati Shivaji, and Mr. Babul Supriyo. And I expected serious power talk by these gurus, instead it was a combination of power talk, motivation, humor and out right Woodstock when Mr. Babul Supriyo took the auditorium by storm with his songs combining it with witty one liners. One never expected the heavy weights to let their hair down and take a jibe on one another, be it, ‘I was asked to come for one hour a month back to discuss something and I am still here’ or ‘Ministry will work on subsidy for the entrepreneur ecosystem but you will become rich’ or Mr. Babul Supriyo asking Mr. Jayant Sinha ‘are you texting the center that Babul Supriyo is going to sing, again’ !!
Disruption – what they did and that is what innovation is all about.
It was clear from the interactions, events and speakers that India is experiencing a mammoth change in the field of technology innovation and everybody – the policy makers or rock star entrepreneurs or the heavy weights – all of them are supporting it in whichever way they could. Innofest’2015 was one such event to bring all the stakeholders on one platform and celebrate a notion that will become innovation tomorrow.
It was one the best initiatives that I had attended; the only thing that I missed was tasting the ‘3D printed chocolates.’
There’s always a next time J
Guest Post by Rajesh K, ProgrammedV