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Economic Times launches ‘The Power of Ideas 2010′ [India Business], The

0 Comments | Times of India, The, Jun 22, 2010

NEW DELHI: The Economic Times launches ‘The Power of Ideas 2010′, India’s largest entrepreneurial platform that encourages, nurtures and grooms business ideas by connecting them with relevant mentors, incubators and investors, is being launched by The Economic Times on June 22. The initiative aims at creating an entrepreneurial culture in India Inc. The Power of Ideas was first launched in 2009, in the middle of an economic slowdown, to boost sentiment and encourage India Inc to approach the slowdown differently. Over 12,500 business ideas were received and of these, 1,000 shortlisted participants were taken through Group Mentoring sessions and Elevator Pitches. A final list of 254 thus arrived at were put through a phase of one-on-one Mentoring prior to presenting their ideas to investors.

Till the time of writing, nearly 20 ideas have received funding and several more are in advanced stages of talks with investors. Not only was the programme rigourous in terms of the learning it offered, it also became – by virtue of the sheer number of business ideas received – the largest aggregation of outstanding business ideas. This year, the objective is to formalize the initiative, transforming it into an entrepreneurial ecosystem that will drive the economy forward. For this purpose, The Economic Times has joined hands with the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. The Department of Science & Technology, with its immense expertise and relationships in the entrepreneurial space, is offering guaranteed funds worth Rs 5 crore
elevator pitch