CHENNAI: The IIT Madras Global Research Foundation (IITM Global), in partnership with startup platform Ideabaaz, has launched Bharat Ascend, a 365-day national mission to identify and nurture promising innovations from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and emerging innovation ecosystems across the country.
Launched in Delhi, the initiative aims to identify 100 high-potential ideas and create a structured pipeline to take them from ideation and validation to prototypes, pilots, investment, market entry and global scale.
Union Minister of State (Independent charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary, in a message read out at the event, said India's next chapter would be written not only by those who find jobs but also by those who create them.
"The energy to build new enterprises is not limited to our metros, it is alive in every district, every small town, every college campus," he said, adding that the mission would seek to give young people in smaller cities the same opportunity to build world-class products as their counterparts elsewhere.
IIT Madras director V Kamakoti said India's ambition of becoming a technology superpower required encouraging ideas emerging from every part of the country. Bharat Ascend, he said, would democratise opportunities to turn such ideas into products with socio-economic value.
IIT Madras Dean (Global Engagement) Preeti Aghalayam said the initiative would bridge local ingenuity and global opportunity by connecting innovators with the institute's research, industry and international networks.