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Home » SmartIDEAthon – A Student Pitching Competition (India)

SmartIDEAthon – A Student Pitching Competition (India)

Deadline: 10-Jun-23

Students are invited to pitch in their ideas for start-ups that help build sustainable & resilient communities.

SmartIDEAthon is a student pitching competition of ideas built on themes that are currently relevant to the nation and with the aim to create sustainable and resilient communities.

SmartIDEAthon program includes providing personalized coaching and grooming students’ ideas with bootcamps and coaching sessions for shortlisted candidates conducted by internationally trained venture coaches.

Purpose
  • SmartIDEAthon aims to promote, identify, nurture, and boost the most innovative student entrepreneurs and innovators from different parts of India. As part of this year’s edition of SmartIDEAthon, they aimed to reach out to 5,00,000 students studying in HEIs and interlace GITAM’s entrepreneurial ecosystem with other national-level startup programs. They have achieved the goals and surpassed them by leaps and bounds.
SmartIDEAthon 2023 Themes
  • Food & Health
  • Toys for S.T.E.M
  • Sustainable fashion
  • Frugal Innovation
Prizes and Accolades
  • SmartIDEAthon-2023 Winner
    • INR 2,00,000 cash prize
    • Fully sponsored two weeks trip for two members (Founder and co-founder ONLY) to Boston worth INR 6,00,000). Includes visa fee, roundtrip economy airfare, food, stay and local transportation.
    • Goodies worth INR 20,000
    • Access to Northeastern University’s NU-IDEA Ready-Set-Go Structured Venture Development Program and one on one coaching from VDC venture coaches worth INR 3,00,000
  • SmartIDEAthon-2023 Runner-up
    • INR 1,00,000 cash prize
    • Partly-sponsored two weeks trip for two members (Founder and co-founder ONLY) to Boston, worth INR 3,00,000. Includes visa fee, food, stay and local transportation.
    • Goodies worth INR 20,000
    • Access to Northeastern University’s NU-IDEA Ready-Set-Go structured Venture Development Program and one on one coaching from VDC venture coaches worth INR 3,00,000
  • Best Social Impact Business Idea
    • INR 50,000 cash prize
    • Goodies worth INR 20,000
    • Access to Northeastern University’s NU-IDEA Ready-Set-Go structured Venture Development Program and one on one coaching from VDC venture coaches worth INR 3,00,000
  • Best Woman-led Entrepreneurship Idea
    • INR 50,000 cash prize
    • Goodies worth INR 20,000
    • Access to Northeastern University’s NU-IDEA Ready-Set-Go structured Venture Development Program and one on one coaching from VDC venture coaches worth INR 3,00,000
  • Leben Johnson People’s Choice Award
    • INR 50,000 cash prize
    • Selected on the basis of voting by the audience during the finals
    • Eligibility to participate in NUCEE’s Ready-Set-Go venture development coaching program for one year, worth INR 2,00,000 each. Access to the modules is online with individual personalized coaching for each module
    • All finalists are also eligible to participate in NUCEE’s Ready-Set-Go venture development coaching program for one year, worth INR 3,00,000 each. Access to the modules is online with individual personalized coaching for each module.
    • All semi-finalists and finalists will receive a certificate of recognition, jointly issued by GITAM University and NUCEE, Boston, USA.
    • Cash awards are assigned to the team lead, and it is the team’s responsibility to decide how the award is shared amongst themselves.
    • Distribution of awards will be through a Cheque/DD or online transfer to the team leader’s bank account after any TDS deductions.
    • Decision of the judging panel and the organizers final and binding and should not be contested under any circumstances.
Eligibility Criteria
  • The competition is open only to current students of undergraduate or postgraduate programs who are enrolled in Full Time courses in recognized universities and who will be graduating in 2023 or later.
  • Indian citizens studying in India are only eligible for participating in SmartIDEAthon – 2023
  • Teams in the advanced Ideation, prototype or research stage will be eligible.
  • Founder/Co-Founder are only eligible to apply and represent in the SmartIDEAthon – 2023.
  • During the application process, the students should submit their bonafide certificates and photo based student identification card (ID card).
  • In the event of suspicion of candidature, SmartIDEAthon – 2023 team has all the right to ask for any other additional documents.
  • If all members of a team are from the same institute, one joint letter is acceptable.

For more information, visit GITAM Deemed University.

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