the Indian Case Challenge 2012 also included a delegate dinner at the Dreamland restaurant, an institute tour and other social activities. The fact that the finalists were given a live case by a reputed company ensured a challenging case environment, where the finalists were judged on-spot on the basis of their business acumen, industry knowledge and presentation skills. Internship and placement opportunities were further incentives for the finalists in what turned out to be a remarkably well organised and high quality competition. The event was an overall success.

The competition consists of several steps testing your skills, knowledge and motivation. The first prize is 3 full tuition fee waivers for 3 selected engineering Master’s Programmes at Chalmers, KTH or Lund University, with scholarships worth Rs. 60 lakhs! Each tuition fee waiver covers a selected two-year Master’s Programme at the university starting fall 2012. The winners of the competition will be announced at the prize ceremony during Sweden Education Day, held at Bangalore in December. All competition finalists will receive a VIP invitation to the event, including hotel and transportation. Read more at www.challengeyourself.in. Deadline: Nov 5, 2011.

(2)     Create Your Future – for business/tech/management students at Bachelor level.

Imagine yourself as a professor, presenting a lecture based on the keywords innovation, sustainability and entrepreneurship. In a 90 second video clip, present your lecture idea and subject to a potential audience. This video clip, together with a 10-slide PowerPoint lecture, will constitute your submission to the competition. Your imagination is the only limit! The first prize is a scholarship entitling the winner to a two-year master program of their choice (any discipline) at MDH University, Mälardalen (total value is Rs. 19 lakhs). For more information, visit the competition website: www.createyourfuture.se. Deadline: Nov 5, 2011.

Out of a total of 160 abstract submissions in the field of structures, avionics, control systems and aerodynamics, the project work on “Low cost attitude control system for small fixed wing unmanned air vehicles” presented by Tanmay Kumar Mandal, GS Vimal and Himanshu Shukla was selected for the award.

The Scholars’ Avenue congratulates the trio for their splendid performance.

After Manoj Mandelia’s brilliant performance at the Al Gore Sustainable Technology Venture Competition last year, a team from IIT Kharagpur has once again placed second at the 2010 edition. The team comprised of Ankit D.P., Chandrashekhar Iyer and Somnath Meher from Kgp (also founders of Think Innoventions) and Toshe Prasad, a ’09 pass out of Kgp who’s currently at IIMA. We spoke to Somnath Meher, who detailed the technology presented by the group at the contest.

ThinkWater

Named ThinkWater, the device achieves membrane-based desalination of water through forward osmosis (reverse osmosis is currently widespread), a process that is rather unique in its application. The only other effort in this direction has come from a group at Yale. The science behind forward osmosis (FO) is well-known: water will flow from a dilute to a concentrated solution. The challenge lies in choosing an appropriate reagent to form the concentrated solution to be used against saline water. The group at Yale uses dissolved NH₃ and CO₂ in a proportion that forms a concentrated solution of ammonium salts. After osmosis, this is heated to liberate the gases, theoretically giving pure water. However, any NH₃ that remains would prove toxic. ThinkWater uses a different reagent for which a patent has been filed. FO is lucrative as it is self-sustainable and utilizes a quarter of the power requirements of RO. Work in developing the technology was also done by members of the technical team of Think, Asmit Bhowmick and Varun Aggarwal of Chemical Engineering. Professors Rajakumar and S. Ray assisted the group.

Giving shape to the Business Plan

The technology in place, the group got to work on the business model and their presentation, which evolved over time. Advised by Sanjay Inamdar of FlucAn and under Jishnu Bhattacharya, their official mentor for the Competition, the team spent sleepless nights working to perfect, refine and complete their model. The high value for their product (since the output was clean water) and good presentation were factors which helped them secure the second place. As Somnath Meher put it, it was all about learning, and they were enriched at each stage and by everyone they interacted with.

What’s next?

Along with the prize money of 70k, the win has established the innovation’s credibility and has brought in opportunities of funding from venture capitalists. A prototype of ThinkWater is to be developed in three months, and a pilot plant for a client may be set up within a year. Currently a laboratory-top model of the device is installed in the Chemistry Department.

All in all, Kgp’s performance was remarkable. While no more than two teams per institute must feature in the finals as per rules, four of our teams made it! The Scholars’ Avenue wishes each of the undertakings the best in their endeavours.

Though Shaurya is intended to be a sports meet, there has been an attempt to broaden the appeal and make it more like a fest. This year’s publicity campaign involved a series of interesting pre-events that have left everyone in anticipation. These included ‘In10sity’ – a slow cycling race, ‘Virtuoso’ – a T-shirt designing competition, both with prizes of Rs.10,000, and ‘Right Write’ – a case-study competition conducted in association with The Times Group. The winners of ‘Virtuoso’ were decided on the basis of the number of ‘likes’ the designs received on Shaurya’s Facebook page, making it a rather unique event. Students can also test their luck with ‘Fortune favors the Fortunate’, an online lottery. Workshops, including one on Maratha Martial Arts, have also been planned during the fest.

This time, with a significantly larger budget, an expected increase in the number of participating teams, pre-events, and even a separate Deco-team, the organizers are hoping to attract greater participation and change the perception that Shaurya is reserved for talented players only. Another commendable development has been their focus on the social aspect. Shaurya has sponsored the sports budget of many a school around the campus to nurture local talent. However, due to the unavailability of accommodation in the common rooms because of Illu preparations, outstation teams will be accommodated outside the campus.

The going so far suggests that Kgp is indeed going to witness a Blitzkrieg (literally meaning sudden war) which, incidentally, is the theme of the pavilion…We convey our best wishes to the participating teams till then!

National Leadership Foundation in collaboration with IIM Kozhikode announces a Youth Leadership Summit.National Leadership Foundation (NLF) founded in 2009 is co-led by students, faculty and alumni of IITs and IIMs and top professional schools of India. NLF is working towards the growth and development of leadership potential amongst the talented youth in India, and is organizing a leadership discovery summit from July 16-18, 2010 in Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerela. The rejuvenating three day workshop is aimed at providing a platform for motivated youngsters in India to:

Discover themselves

Decode their talents

Deliver exceptional value to the country.

This will also be a forum where selected participants can interact with their highly gifted peer group representing the top five percent of the talent pool of young India. This may provide them with an opportunity to undertake a project that they may choose to pursue. They may also seek mentorship from contemporary leaders while learning lessons on life and leadership. The workshop will enable the participants to gain fundamental clarity about their thoughts, beliefs and actions and a new orientation to life.

The workshop will be designed and led by Professor Debashis Chatterjee, Founder, National Leadership Foundation, Harvard University Scholar, Global Thought Leader, and currently Director of IIM Kozhikode.

More details on Professor Debashis Chatterjee can be found at (http://www.debchat.com).

ELIGIBILITY AND HOW TO APPLY:

All students (undergraduates and postgraduates across all the fields: Engineering, Management, Medicine, Arts, Commerce, Science, Law, etc.) interested in making a difference and contributing to their community. The students are expected to apply and wait for the acceptance decision. Application procedure requires responding questionnaire by e-mail. Based on the answers submitted students will be interviewed personally and or telephonically. A set of 12-20 students will be finally selected and invited to attend the workshop. We particularly encourage students who are passionate and committed to make a fundamental contribution to India through their initiatives to apply. For details on application procedure please visit (http://www.nlf.org.in/forum.html)

Last date to apply: July 05, 2010

FINANCIAL SUPPORT:

Students shall be evaluated based on their past contributions/achievements, and future aspirations. Exceptionally promising youngsters shall be awarded scholarships in form of partial or full registration fee waiver and travel grant to Kozhikode. However, board and lodging shall be provided to all the accepted participants.

CONTACT DETAILS:

Specific queries can be addressed to Nikhil Padhye (nikhil@nlf.org.in) +91 9415003211

It will be held in two stages – online as well as on campus. The online leg of the fest will kick off on the 6th of March 2010 and the grand finale is scheduled on the 27th of March 2010 on campus.

A wide bouquet of avenues for participation is on offer, spanning various events right from strategy development, case studies to video ad making.

To make it more interesting for the undergraduate students at Kharagpur, every event will be open to them, along with students from B Schools throughout the country.

For a detailed description of MADison Avenue, visit www.madisonavenue.in. The event pages for the fest are on Facebook and Twitter.

The deadline for submissions is 31 May 2010. The award ceremony will take place in Munich, Germany, on 18 November 2010. You will find further information about the Award in the enclosed press release and flyer as well as on www.bmwgroup.com/award

In case of any queries, please contact

BMW Group Award for Intercultural Commitment
c/o PRpetuum GmbH
Lena Wieshammer
Hohenzollernstrasse 27
80801 Munich
Germany
E-mail: l.wieshammer@prpetuum.de
Phone: ++49-89-244476-29