The Directorate of Entrepreneurship and Innovation had conducted an industry visit to Fopple Drone Tech Pvt Ltd, an innovative start-up aiming to revolutionise agricultural machinery. The industry visit that took place on September 20, 2022 was organised by the student community Industree Owl from the Home of Leaders initiative.The participants had the chance to experience the latest drone technology and its various applications in the agricultural industry.

The learning process is never restricted to purely theoretical bounds but associated as being an exploratory and experiential activity. The startup/industrial visit provided students practical exposure to a startup as well as its challenges and first hand experience of what it takes to be a leader, a startup founder or an entrepreneur.

As a part of their visit, the students participated in a boot camp followed by an intense interaction with the farmer community to identify and understand the grassroot problems and the application of technology as a solution. Later, Shri Gopi Raja, the CEO and founder of Fopple Drone Tech Pvt. Ltd addressed the participants and shared his journey to innovation which made a deep impact on the students.The visit came to fruitful end inspiring courage among students to expand their vision and realise their potential to work in the direction of obtaining Atmanirbhar Bharat.

The industrial visit had intended to design a solution and instil inspiration in students to begin a venture in the same domain. After acquiring necessary perceptive, students have reached out to discuss their project ideas which can be commercialised to utilise in the advancement in the field of agriculture. The visit granted a brilliant and insightful exposure to our students on the cutting-edge technology, the scope and the future of India in the next 5 -10 years.

Upliftment of women is the chief requisite that leads the way to empowerment of a community as well as the nation. The representation of womankind on multitude spheres is imperative for a progressive society to advance into a fair and just future.

Saurvi, the woman leadership and entrepreneurship student community under the Home of Leaders, has become a torch-bearer in creating a novel path for women empowerment by encouraging women into the field of entrepreneurship. The student initiative has recently conducted a bootcamp at Maris Stella Women’s College, Vijayawada AP, to help them create a startup and leadership ecosystem. The interaction between the budding entrepreneurs and students has fostered a positive outlook towards entrepreneurship, leadership and engaging in creative business ventures.

The Saurvi initiative aims at empowering women by cultivating livelihood skills among the women communities and promoting leadership opportunities and business propositions among women from all walks of life. They collaborate with numerous NGOs to generate awareness as well as to nurture impactful women leaders in the field of entrepreneurship.

The initiative has begun to gather momentum and recognition, for their vision, mission and commitment for the cause. Smt KGV Saritha, Superintendent of Police, Andhra Pradesh, offered her words of appreciation for the ingenuity of the initiative to promote women empowerment. The Saurvi enterprise has in view to create 10 women entrepreneurs by the end of 2023, 15 by 2024 and aims to double the number for every consecutive year.

SRM University- AP inaugurated Elon Fellowship on September 30, 2022. It is a novel cohort that aspires to create a startup ecosystem. The Fellowship launched will onboard 60+ venture teams and provide extensive training for four months to facilitate the development of their idea to the prototype stage and beyond. Selected venture groups would receive internal funding up to INR 50 lakhs and external funding upto INR 1 crore for their project development.

The Elon Fellowship poster was launched by the Vice Chancellor of SRM University- AP, Prof Manoj K Arora; Registrar, Dr R Premkumar; and other dignitaries. “The Fellowship opens up new avenues in the domain of entrepreneurship and innovation. It provides students with a well-funded scheme that facilitates fruitful development of their creative ventures”, asserted Prof Arora.

Mr Udayan Bakshi, the Associate Director of Entrepreneurship, SRM AP commented that more than seven portfolio startups of the university have crossed a total revenue of 25 crores annually, making our institution a formidable pioneer in the field of entrepreneurship.

The Andhra Pradesh Innovation Society, Government of Andhra Pradesh, congratulated this innovative scheme. Mr Anil T, the CEO of APIS, extended his support in furthering the cause in promoting young entrepreneurs. The Elon Fellowship grants students a supportive cohort for their journey to entrepreneurship.

Drones are steadily evolving technology with a wide array of applications in various sectors that, over the next decade, will change in ways that are unimagined. The War of Drones, a workshop on drone technology organised by the Directorate of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, got off the ground on Monday, November 14, 2022. The three-day-long sessions were under the guidance of Sri Gopi Raja, CEO of Fopple Technology Pvt Ltd. Andra Pradesh. The workshop came to an end after the theory, assembling of drones, and the final drone flying sessions that lasted for three days.

“If someone wants to talk about Drones, they need to talk about Andhra Pradesh,” said Sri Gopi Raja as he addressed the students by highlighting the hand of the state in promoting and modifying the technology nationwide. He highlighted the amplifying relevance of drone technology in the field of agriculture by explaining the various pathbreaking methods and their benefits. He also hinted at the chances for launching a Drones Centre of Excellence at the university.

Honourable Vice Chancellor Prof Manoj K Arora and other dignitaries graced the workshop’s final day with their presence. About 110 students participated in the exciting and engaging workshop to advance their understanding of the latest and promising technology of drones. Students were fascinated by the idea of flying a drone by the end of the workshop. The sessions conferred on the various aspects and applications of drones and allied technologies. The experimental event allowed students to get insights into drone technology from industry experts. They were exposed to hand on assembling and operations of drones. Furthermore, the future and scope of the promising technology were also discussed during the workshop.

IdeaMIC, a student-led community under the Home of Leaders, an initiative of the Directorate of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, organised another successful Pitch & Win event on Tuesday, 31 January 2023. The main purpose of the programme is to encourage the student community to come up and pitch their ideas.

Anand, a student of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, was among the top performers and received an additional cash prize of Rs. 5,000, along with a medal for proposing the best #idea of the month. Students Lokesh SatyaSai and Suhruth Ram secured the 2nd and 3rd positions, respectively. All participants who came up with innovative ideas received praise and invaluable feedback from the experts, along with a certificate of appreciation.

Delegates from across India and other countries participated in the First steering committee meeting held at SRM University-AP to accelerate startups in the country. The Chairperson of the committee, Prof. Manoj K Arora, Vice Chancellor of SRM AP, spearheaded the discussion in designing a blueprint to stir up the startup ecosystem of the university and Andhra Pradesh. Mr Udayan Bakshi, CEO of Hatchlab Research Centre and Associate Director of the Directorate of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, SRM AP, hosted the meeting.

Shri Anil Tentu, CEO of AP Innovation Society, also graced the occasion with his brilliant insights into technology transfer. He also shared his thoughts on implementing COEs in cutting-edge technologies across the state to make Andhra Pradesh the leader in startups in the country.

Notable industry leaders who participated in the meeting were Shri Purushottam Kaushik, Head, Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution, World Economic Forum India; Dr Dinesh Dua, Chairman CII North India Committee on LifeSciences; Shri. Sameer Babbar, Principal Mentor SVB Group Melbourne; Prof. Yatindra Nath Singh, Chairman CEMMC, IIT Kanpur; Prof. Deepak Pandit, Chair Profession- Innovation and Entrepreneurship, BML Munjal University; Shri Sanjiv Bhavnani, Founder of Mentorpreneur & Infotecniques; Shri. Rakesh Sharma, Advisor TERI; and Prof. V K Nangia, Policy maker and Professor of excellence for many institutes. Deans, professors, and researchers from SRM AP also participated in the meeting, bringing the best practices and methods to accelerate the startups in the country.