Utkal University launches iDeathon M2M 2021 for aspiring entrepreneurs to pitch innovative business ideas

As part of iDeathon M2M 2021, the three best ideas will be given a cash award from the incubation centre. Along with this, the centre will also be provided pre-incubation support to the best 20 ideas, prototype grants for the best five ideas after Pre-Incubation.

With an aim to aspiring entrepreneurs to pitch their innovative business ideas, the Centre for Innovation and Incubation (CII) incepted by Utkal University has launched iDeathon M2M 2021.  All the start-up founders that will be selected through iDeathon will also get selected for Upakram Incubation Program to kick start their entrepreneurial journey with like-minded catalysts. 

As part of iDeathon M2M 2021, the three best ideas will be given a cash award from the incubation centre. Along with this, the centre will also be provided pre-incubation support to the best 20 ideas, prototype grants for the best five ideas after Pre-Incubation. The start-ups with the most innovative ideas will also be connected to the center’s expansive network of investors.  

While speaking on the event, Dr. Manisha Acharya, CEO of CII said, “Through iDeathon M2M 2021, we are looking for breakthrough ideas and handhold them from creating a powerful business model to a winning investor pitch. Additionally, Utkal University’s research lab and CII will play a critical role together in transforming a nascent stage idea to a full-fledged start-up with a go-to-market strategy.”

Applauding the launch of the start-up launch-pad program, Prof. Sabita Acharya, Vice-Chancellor, Utkal University said, “The Centre for Innovation and Incubation at Utkal University is giving a jumpstart to our Start-Up Incubation program through its maiden Ideathon program “iDeathon M2M 2021”. We have decided to pole vault our steps to quickly attain traction in our objective to position our Center as an epi-center of Start-Up activity in the state and entire eastern and north-eastern India.”

CII aims to promote and nurture the culture of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in new-age founders. To build a disruptive start-up ecosystem, the center has also announced the launch of the Upakram Incubation Program, a six-month (24 weeks) game-changer Launchpad program for start-ups at the ideation stage.  It gives entrepreneurs at the nascent stage the right platform to validate their idea and move forward to develop it into a marketable Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and viable business model. 

Upakram Incubation Program focuses on providing necessary technical support, right mentoring and creating the right platform for networking, while preparing them for understanding the technical feasibility of the idea proposed. The program will also provide a one-month pre-incubation training to cover problem understanding and identification, idea generation, evaluation and validation, developing Business Model Canvas and structured inputs on ideation to implementation. 

Furthermore, to have a go-to-market strategy in place, the pre-incubation training will also cover product-market fit analysis, market analysis (Know your market), customer analysis (Know your customer) and Revenue Streams. The start-ups will also get extensive support from CII mentors in developing a robust business plan out of ideas and fine-tuning of pitch presentationsto gain investors’ interest. 

The iDeathon M2M 2021 registration is open for Students, Innovators, Early-stage start-ups, Faculty, Research Scholars, individuals or team of up to 4 individuals in the arena of Agriculture, Food, Green Technology, Eco-Tourism, Herbal & Nutraceutical, Circular Economy, Renewable Energy, Rural Technology, IT & ICT, FIN Tech, Affordable Healthcare, EduTech and many among others.
The selection of the most innovative start-up ideas will be done by industry leaders, experts, Investors, officials from Govt forums including MSME/DST/Start-up council. The last date of registration is October 20, 2021, and the results will be declared on October 30, 2021. 

Read More:

• Utkal University Courses & Fees 2021
• Utkal University Admission 2021