Promoting Research, Innovation, Mentoring, Entrepreneurship at IIT Kanpur

1. PRIME83 Launch At IITK
November 2, 2012
Sponsored by the Class of 1983

2. What is Technology?
• Practice, description and terminology of any or all of applied
sciences which have a practical value and/or industrial use
• Study or knowledge of the practical, especially industrial, use of
scientific discoveries
• Application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes
• Use of mechanical arts and applied sciences, e.g., engineering,
application of this to practical tasks in industry, etc.
PRIME83 is a means for the alumni of the 1983
batch to improve “Technology” at IIT-K
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3. Students Make Great Entrepreneurs
by Dharmesh Shah, co-founder Hubspot
Source: OnStartups.com
Starry-Eyed Optimism:
Let’s face it, starting a company takes a fair amount of optimism
Trusted Peer Network:
Likely to meet and work with a lots of different sort of people
Higher Risk Tolerance:
Opportunity cost is likely lower than at most other times in life
Abstract Thinking and Applied Learning:
Engineers/Scientists know how to deal with abstract concepts
Starting a company is really easy…surviving and growing is hard
Dharmesh Shah, 2004 3

4. Entrepreneurs’ Age Productivity Profile
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5. Indian Entrepreneurs in the U.S.A.
By: Vivek Wadhwa, Duke Univ.
Source: Kauffman Foundation and Univ. of California, Berkeley
Nearly half of Fortune-500 companies and 1/4th of all new small businesses
in the US were founded by immigrants, generating trillions of dollars
annually, employing millions around the World
25% of US Engineering and Technology companies founded 2006 – 2011
had at least one key foreign-born founder; 40% in California (Silicon Valley)
Indians* founded 33% of the those companies, more than all other
immigrants groups combined (Even higher % of them are IITians)
Our Challenge
If IITians do so well as entrepreneurs in the US, why
can’t we facilitate this process in India?
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*Only 12% of the US population is foreign-born, Indians are < 5% of foreign-born immigrants

6. Lessons in Entrepreneurship (for Ashok)
by Scott Adams, Creator of “Dilbert”
Source: Wall Street Journal, Apr, 2011
1) Combine Skills If you can’t do one skill especially well, try to do many different ones fairly well
2) Fail Forward: Students should be taught that failure is a process, not an obstacle
3) Find the Action: Move to where the action is. Distance is your enemy
4) Attract Luck: To succeed, first you must do something. Luck finds the doers
5) Conquer Fear: People can be trained to replace fear and shyness with enthusiasm
6) Write Simply: Simplicity makes ideas powerful
7) Learn Persuasion: Understand psychology, sales, marketing, negotiating, statistics, design…
8) Money Matters: Entrepreneur would benefit from taking classes in finance and management
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7. Connecting the Dots
PRIME83 Approach
Encouraging student ideation and incubation with
Grants, Scholarship, Mentoring, Advisory…
IITK Alumni Network
IITK Community Global Market
Ideas Industry Leaders
Research
VC Angel
Grants
Students Faculty Business Incubators
Industry-Academia Collaboration
Teams Innovation
Incubation Center, Industry Support
Mentoring
Finance, Structured support
Entrepreneurship
Technology Initiatives
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8. PRIME83 Approach
• PRIME 83 will promote Research, Innovation, Mentoring and
Entrepreneurship for any students at IIT-Kanpur (UG or PG)
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship often come with uncertainty and risk
• Simulate innovation in real life situation while safeguarding for risks
• Link innovation to IITK Curriculum, you can innovate in your projects!
PRIME83 is YOUR program; we will be happy to give it the
shape you want!
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9. Student Expectations - What Next?
1. Get a Job 2. Research Internship
– Need Right Skills – Industry Relevance
– Right Opportunity – Academic Relevance
3. Become an Entrepreneur Factors that encourage Risk Taking
– Mentoring • Bigger rewards for success
• Less ‘punishment for failure’
– Guidance
• Better chance of success
• Ability to hedge
Three harmful addictions: heroin, carbohydrates, monthly salary
Nicholas Taleb
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10. PRIME83 – Bridging The Gap
Students Want? What can we Offer?
Bigger Rewards Awards, Sponsorship
Less Punishment Scholarships
Better Success Mentoring
Lower Risks Academic Curriculum
IITK Students and Institute have to shape and lead this
initiative using the Initial Corpus setup for PRIME83
IITK Btech, Class of 1983
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11. Starting Point : Innovate Your Project
Standard or Innovative Projects? Dare to be different.
Only the best ideas will win: Contest to be judged by the
Faculty and the Alumni
Support to build a prototype: Financial (Scholarship),
Structural (Mentors, contacts)
Success depends on many factors: Idea, Approach, Effort are as
important as Success
Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly
Robert F Kennedy
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12. Innovator to Entrepreneur
Continue Innovating? Incubate your idea at IIT-K
PRIME83 will support: Handholding through Mentoring, Seed
Capital, Industry contacts
From idea to a market: Branch out on your own
Continue the Legacy: Pay-it-Forward, mentor someone @IIT-K
Lack of money is no obstacle. Lack of an idea is an obstacle.
Ken Hakuta
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13. Students Logo Design Competition
(Nov, 2012)
Trivia: 83 is the 23rd Prime number, 1983 batch was the 23rd batch to graduate from IITK. 23 is the 9th prime number
(an auspicious number in India). Coincidentally, it also took 9 years to launch PRIME83 from concept in 2003.