About E Week

E Week India 2014 Theme: Innovating for India

Encouraging innovation is the first step to win the future of a country. So this year we continue to have the same theme as last year! India's future growth will have to come from new industries that create new products and processes. The only durable strength we have that can withstand the downturns of economic crisis is — innovation.
In recent years, India is witnessing a spurt in activity from first generation entrepreneurs, some innovative startups that have emerged as hot businesses today. Their ventures attract others to take that plunge of chucking a full-time job and starting up a business. Flipkart, an online e-commerce store is one such venture creating waves all over with more than 6 million registered users. Another compelling startup success story flows from BITS Pilani graduates as redBus.in, an online bus ticketing service to organize highly disorganized bus services in India.
Shampoo sachets originated in India more than two decades ago, creating a market for a product that the poor had never before been able to afford. Medical innovations are widespread too. An Indian company has invented a cheaper Hepatitis B vaccine, bringing down the price from $15 per injection to less than $0.10.
Even the financial sector has seen innovation. Just three years ago, there were only 15 million bank accounts in a country of 1.2 billion people. Indians concluded that if people won’t come to the banks, the banks should go to the people. The result has been the creation of brigades of traveling tellers with hand-held devices, who have converted the living rooms of village homes into makeshift branches, taking deposits as low as a dollar. More than 50 million new bank accounts have been established, bringing India’s rural poor into the modern financial system.
Now is the time to unleash more brilliant innovations like these. E Week 2014 theme of “Innovating for India” will focus on fortifying India’s innovation to enhance productivity and erase unemployment from the society. It will play the role of a catalyst in bringing creative and effective innovations to the general public. This platform will recognize and promote creativity where innovative ideas can be proposed, shared and disseminated. This will be a national register of innovations which helps any individual to accentuate his/her remarkable innovations and convert them into viable business opportunities. It will also help these remarkable innovations reach a larger audience, who could take advantage and replicate the benefits of their respective communities.
Awe-inspiring innovations have always pervaded the Indian economy. It is one of the reasons why there is more dynamism in the Indian economy than those who look only at the macroeconomic data believe. Sometimes it is important to stop looking at the forest and focus on the trees.

Three Ways to Get Started

“The largest entrepreneurial opportunities are found while addressing the biggest challenges”.

That said, let’s not be overwhelmed into thinking that we HAVE to innovate something grand. Here are three simple ways to get started on 'Innovating for India':

CREATE – What product?

Do you have a secret green innovation that can reduce the carbon footprint of your college? Now is the time to showcase it.

USE – How to use existing solutions?

There are already many solutions to the issues and challenges we are facing today. For instance, Daily Dump helps manage household waste and convert it to high-quality compost. Clearly, many don’t even know about them. Can an entrepreneur smell an opportunity here?

CHANGE – Change behaviour

Our homes can do their bit to reduce carbon footprint by simply switching off the electronics and gadgets. Yet, how many do it? Can we think of ways that will help them change their behaviour?

Great innovations and beginnings are often rooted in visionary ideas and a passion to jumpstart the world we want to create. We want this reactionary journey to start now, and we’d like you to join us as fellow passengers, on this yellow brick road to an inclusive and convenient future.

Participation, Awards and Recognition

During E Week, participants on and off campuses across the country - students, entrepreneurs, faculty members, industry leaders and key members of the community - will take the E Week Pledge and engage in thousands of events. These include competitions, expositions, educational movie screenings, leadership and motivation talks with successful entrepreneurs, panel discussions, business plan and skill building workshops, business and tech bazaars, awareness campaigns and more. In addition, participants can sign up on the E Week website to share their experiences, view events information, and connect with the larger NEN community.

E Week India 2014: Getting bigger with every year!

This year E Week will culminate on 8th March, 2014, followed by Regional Gala Awards Ceremonies across the country. NEN member academic institutes will be chosen for the Regional E Week India 2014 Premier Awards as well as 2 Special Awards:
1.    E Week @School Award  2014 (Rs.50/- exercise)
2.    E Week @School Innovation Award 2014

Student representatives of the Award winners can receive the awards at their respective Regional Gala Awards Ceremony attended by students from various institutes, eminent people from the industry and the government.