Hyderabad, December 17, 2015: In a boost to the startup ecosystem in the two states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and giving wings to the dreams of 220 young students who have the potential of turning technopreneurs, the Indian School of Business (ISB) today held the Graduation Day Ceremony of the First Class of the Technology Entrepreneurship Programme (TEP), a programme designed to encourage and mentor students from various engineering colleges in the two states to consider entrepreneurship as a career choice.

The TEP is a semi virtual programme for engineering students in their 3rd and 4th years and developed in association with the Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) and the Institute for Electronic Governance (IEG) Andhra Pradesh, and backed by a host of marquee names including Microsoft, Google, Deloitte, and Tata Motors.

Ahead of the Graduation Ceremony, 71 teams had participated in a bootcamp submitting prototypes of the products designed by them. Of these 21 were shortlisted for a competition and six of them made it to the final presentation stage today with each of the three winning teams walking away with Rs 50,000 as the prize money. Some even received ready offers from the Telangana government to roll out their technologies. The packed gathering included representatives of nearly 25 odd tech companies that supported the programme, government officials and potential investors. 

Delivering the welcome note, Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, ISB said, “Successful entrepreneurs have become role models for several young Indians who aspire​to see the dreams also become real successes.  I believe B Schools must take on the responsibility to encourage young people beyond their own students to explore entrepreneurship as an​exciting​ career choice. I thank the Governments of Telangana and AP for partnering with us on this initiative. ​TEP at ISB has been designed with the​ objective​ of helping engineering students from smaller institutions to also pursue their dreams. I congratulate the students and wish them success.”

Jayesh Rajan, IT Secretary, Government of Telangana gave away the awards to the winners of the Engineering Design Competition. He spoke of the Government’s initiatives to promote entrepreneurship and the upcoming Innovation Policy which was designed to promote new ideas and startups. “India has been a hub for engineering and known for its innovative talent. It is but natural that the Government of Telangana has made efforts to leapfrog the state into an active hub of entrepreneurial talent backed by technology,” he said adding the government planned to strengthen the entrepreneurship movement beyond the state and was intending to open outposts of the T Hub not just across the country but also in international locations such as Silicon Valley, London and Spain.   

“The Government of Telangana will support students who are pursuing their ventures while studying,  by giving them required credits in their course, allocate infrastructure at a very affordable cost and offer a certificate of entrepreneur in residence certificate to students whose ventures may not have taken off.”

The innovations that won the top awards are products that are of immense help to all in our day to day life. Track this Bus from National Institute of Technology, Warangal, Gas’O’ Gram from Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, Hyderabad and Mile Sense Fuel Meter from Devineni Venkata Ramana & Dr. Hima Sekhar MIC College of Technology, Vijayawada were adjudged winners of the Engineering Design Competition.

• Track this Bus is a local positioning system-based application that will help public transport commuters to know about bus schedules, distance and costs etc, save time and ease travel.
• Gas O Gram is a smart gas measuring device that will help LPG users to track their day to day usage and order refills on time
• Mile Sense Fuel Meter is an innovative fuel measuring device that will help vehicle users to track their fuel usage and avoid running out of fuel.

Professor Sridhar Seshadri, Senior Associate Dean, Faculty and Research, ISB, Dr B Sunder- CEO, IEG, Government of Andhra Pradesh and Sujiv Nair, CEO TASK were also present at the event and gave away certificates to the graduating students

About TEP at ISB
The Technology Entrepreneurship Programme (TEP) at ISB is aimed at encouraging and enabling engineering students to consider entrepreneurship as a career choice. Over a two-year period, the programme aims to embed technology entrepreneurship education, across the major disciplines of engineering and help the student’s to create and launch new business ventures. The curriculum for the programme has been designed by ISB in association with industry leaders, entrepreneurs and the investor community. ISB faculty will play an important role in training faculty of the participating engineering colleges in cutting edge global teaching practices and improve the programme delivery in their respective colleges.