Right from a young age students are clear with their aims and goals. With the mushrooming of start-ups and the amelioration of the entrepreneurship culture, children in their schooldays itself are envisaging to become entrepreneurs and solve real life problems. As a result, India is witnessing a slew of young entrepreneurs initiating out of the box start-ups. Riding on this trend and to provide early-stage exposure alongside quality content, Government and organizations are conducting many such Hackathons on a regular basis. Just like inducing the students to inculcate advanced technologies like AI, Cyber Security, Machine Learning etc., these Hackathons play a crucial role to boost the idea of entrepreneurship from a young age among students and young working professionals.
Runway Get Set Hack By Rise Brings The Young India An Opportunity To Build Their Own Startups
In Runway by RISE, we have had phenomenal reach with more than 4500 students participating across 1626 unique colleges from all over India.
Following this pursuit, an innovative technology first ed-tech platform, RISE, conducted two successful Hackathons on CyberSecurity and Entrepreneurship respectively. The edtech platform hosted India's largest cybersecurity hackathon in Cyber Security, with over 22,000 participants, in collaboration with ThriveDX, the leading global cybersecurity education powerhouse. The winners got jobs at top companies and all gained cybersecurity skill sets necessary for the ever growing future opportunities in the field.
The Second Hackathon, RUNWAY GET SET HACK by RISE, a 3 month long Entrepreneurship Edition, in collaboration with Viral Fission, was conceptualized for the student entrepreneurs of India, to showcase their unique & scalable tech startup ideas. The aim of the hackathon was to provide the young entrepreneurs with the right exposure to the field that will serve as a catalyst to help transform their business ideas into scaling start-ups. Outlook India spoke with Mr. Gaurv Bhatia, CEO of RISE to further understand the hackathon- RUNWAY GET SET HACK by RISE and what other initiatives are being taken to encourage entrepreneurship to build a startup ecosystem in India.
1) The GET SET HACK Cyber Security hackathon was a massive success with the participation of 22,000 students. How have you scaled it up with the latest entrepreneurship edit and how has the participation turned out with this hackathon?
In Runway by RISE, we have had phenomenal reach with more than 4500 students participating across 1626 unique colleges from all over India. The Cybersecurity hackathon was focused on technology students while the entrepreneurship hackathon is open to all streams like Arts, Commerce, Engineering etc. We had collaborated with Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education for both the hackathons. Additionally we also have Maharashtra State Innovation Society, TiE Mumbai, India Accelerator, CBIE Ventures, Draper University for Runway by RISE. We partnered with IIIT Pune, Symbiosis Centre of Media & Communication, Mithibai college & MIT WPU for outreach.
2) India has alarmingly low female entrepreneurs. Share your two cents. Also, what kind of participation has been there from the female students for the entrepreneurship edit?
Women in India used to typically engage in more traditional workplaces but now that is changing with more women entrepreneurs today than ever before. As per recent reports India has more than 8 million women entrepreneurs and Indian women are now exploring more challenging roles and comprise 14% of the total entrepreneurs in India. Two of the most known Indian IPOs were led by women entrepreneurs - Nykaa founded by Falguni Nayar & Sugar Cosmetics founded by Vineeta Singh. One of India's most known startups Biocon Limited was founded by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw in 1978. Women have increasing access to resources, the risk appetite of the newer generation is much higher than ever before. Indian women entrepreneurs are only set to increase and Runway by RISE is testimony to the same with over 35% women led teams participating in the hackathon.
3) How did your association with the Viral Fission happen? Are you planning on leveraging the impact of this hackathon further? If so, how?
This is our second collaboration with Viral Fission, the first one being for the Cybersecurity Hackaton, Get Set Hack by RISE. It was a natural synergy to work with them for the entrepreneurship hackathon.
We will be conducting more such hackathons in the future where students will get opportunities to build their ideas into businesses. Hackathons like Runway by RISE or our previous Cyber Security hackathon, GetSetHack by RISE help us to reach out to more students and encourage them to test their skills and knowledge & to create awareness about our programs. For entrepreneurship we wanted to give real hands-on experience to the learners instead of theory for which we got on board India Accelerator & Draper University. We are looking at doing more such hackathons in the future & broadening the reach and awareness around newer career opportunities & options for the youth.
4) PM Modi addressed the need for hackathons. In your opinion, how can such Hackathons help in churning out entrepreneurs and boost the Indian start-up ecosystem?
Indonesia posted his public address to the Indian diaspora . I had the good fortune to inform him that Rise had recently conducted the largest online Cybersecurity hackathon , which is the world's largest hackathon of its kind for students. He asked me about the number of students and I mentioned we had 22000+ participants . His enthusiasm about hackathons & continued learning is very encouraging and we are working along the same lines of creating more learning opportunities for the youth of India. India is now changing with more and more people dreaming of becoming entrepreneurs. The pandemic also helped, with many people leaving their jobs & working on their passion projects and doing work that inspires them. Hackathons like Runway by RISE help participants to develop & learn crucial real life skills like strategizing, planning, ideation, fund raising, marketing etc which will set them up for success when they turn their ideas into businesses. Rise hackathons are unique because we also train the shortlisted participants on the topic and they go back with learning new skills even if they don’t win the event.
5) What are the parameters set for the winners? And how will RISE help winners in taking the potential ideas further?
The main parameters used are:
1) How innovative is the idea?
2) How is it solving a real-world problem?
3) How scalable is the idea?
We educated the participants with a fully paid 2 week course, The Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship conducted by Draper University, which helped them to finetune their pitches and business plans. This will also enable them to present their ideas to the jury on the finale.
The top three winners will be fully sponsored by RISE to attend the acclaimed Hero Training Program by Draper University (Silicon Valley). This will help them to develop the essential startup skills needed to launch and sustain a successful venture, gain exposure to industry experts and network with other like-minded entrepreneurs & mentors. CBIE, the investment partner for Runway by RISE would also be looking at funding some of the interesting ideas from the entire pool of participants. Additionally RISE will also introduce the top 10 winners to mentors & angel investors who can help them to develop their ideas further.
6) The term “entrepreneurship” evolved over a period of time. Is there an uptake in the enrollments for the entrepreneurship centric courses, if yes, please provide data to substantiate?
India is the world's fastest-growing start-up hub, with over 100 unicorns (valuations of USD 1 billion or more) and as per recent reports more than 60% of students plan to start their own ventures. Currently, entrepreneurship is a part of many higher education programs but the focus remains on theory. RISE is working towards creating a more hands-on curriculum for higher education institutes where students can learn from industry experts & entrepreneurs.
7) How can the Indian education system equip the youth to be confident to start their own businesses and boost the economic growth of developing countries like India?
The current Indian education system focuses more on rote learning which inhibits the free thinking & creativity required for entrepreneurship. The New Education Policy of 2020 aspires to create an entrepreneurship culture in the country by enabling students to get project-based learning, experiential learning, service- learning, and vocational training. Along with the Academic Bank of Credits which will let students learn multiple skill sets and the focus on research, NEP will help students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset from a young age. The NEP has been penned with the right spirit, and if the implementation is done in the same spirit, it will give our economy the much needed boost from new businesses.
8) India has the potential to become the world's startup capital. What’s your take on making innovation part of our learning systems?
Innovation is the backbone of entrepreneurship and can lead to new solutions, products or services, improving existing ones, or finding new ways of doing things that result in new business ideas and ventures. In order to foster a culture of innovation, it is important for educational institutes to create an environment that encourages and supports the development of new ideas and the willingness to take risks which will help students to look at a problem from multiple perspectives. Hands-on learning, taking part in hackathons, creating active e-cells & Tinker Labs in schools & colleges could be some ways in which innovation can be a part of our learning system.
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