Mumbai : Tata Steel announced the winners of its first-ever TomorrowLAB competition for B-school, design school, and engineering school students. The competition aims to proliferate entrepreneurial DNA for the future of India and provide support in generating breakthrough consumer-led innovation ideas.

The competition had two tracks: the B-plan contest and the Design contest. The B-plan contest had three broad themes: innovation for smarter living, innovation for the bottom of the pyramid, and innovation for a better way of life with some focus areas such as: Waste to Wealth, Last Mile Solutions, Sustainable Packaging, Smart City Solutions etc. This competition is driven by the Innovent department of the Company which works towards fostering a culture of innovation across the organisation. Under this department, the business concepts are developed after thorough market research and successful pilots are subsequently taken up for scale.

‘Steel the Show’ team from IIM Shillong emerged as the winner of the B-Plan contest while ‘KHEL’ team from NID, Madhya Pradesh bagged the top slot in the Design contest.

Dr. Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President, Technology & New Materials Business, Tata Steel, said: “TomorrowLAB is a unique opportunity for students to innovate, build their entrepreneurship skills and gain valuable experience. We believe this platform will help us identify and nurture the next generation of talent to create solutions of tomorrow. Congratulations to the winners as well as the participants who presented some truly innovative ideas that will help shape the future of India.”

Chanakya Chaudhary, Vice President, Corporate Services, Tata Steel, said: “We are thrilled with the overwhelming response and innovative ideas showcased by the participants in TomorrowLAB. This competition reflects our commitment to fostering a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, and we are confident that these young minds will continue to drive India’s growth story. Congratulations to all the winners and participants for their outstanding efforts.”

This edition of TomorrowLAB saw a total of 4,095 team registrations and the participation of 12,280 students. The B-plan contest had three rounds and out of all the submissions received, 21 teams were shortlisted and mentored by Tata Steel Innovent team members. Six ideas were selected for the national grand finale, and the top two ideas received cash awards of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000, respectively, along with certificates and mementos. The Design contest had two rounds, and the top four ideas were presented to the jury. The top two ideas received cash awards of Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000, respectively, along with certificates and mementos. All top 25 teams received certificates and mementos from Tata Steel.

The competition underlines Tata Steel’s thrust on innovation and entrepreneurial DNA to meet future Indian market demands and strengthens the Company’s overall positioning and idea pipeline. It has also opened up new avenues for innovation.

Sukinda: Tata Steel Mining Limited (TSML) in collaboration with Tata Steel Foundation (TSF) organised SABAL Interstate Cricket Cup for the Visually Impaired between Odisha-11 and Jharkhand-11 here on Wednesday.

The 20-Over cricket match was played at the Stewart School ground inside the TSML’s Sukinda Chromite Mine located in Sukinda Block of Jajpur district, in Odisha.

Locking their horns with impressive skills and unmatching talents, the visually challenged players of the Cricket Association for the Visually Impaired Odisha and the Cricket Association for the Blind in Jharkhand showcased some brilliant sporting actions that received huge rounds of applause from a jampacked audience.
Attending the event, Sanyashi Behera, Under Secretary, Department of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Government of Odisha, expressed his happiness and praised the initiative taken by TSML and TSF.

Chairman, Tata Steel Mining Limited, D.B. Sundara Ramam presented the trophy to the winning team Odisha-11 and said “We must join hands to empower the differently abled persons with right skills and provide them with right opportunities to showcase their talents. I believe, this initiative taken up by Tata Steel Foundation and Tata Steel Mining will surely encourage other specially abled to participate in mainstream sports,” he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Managing Director, Tata Steel Mining Limited, Pankaj Satija said, “As a responsible mining company, Tata Steel Mining continues spotting sporting talents, harness their skills and help them realise their dreams. Persons with disabilities are integral part of the society and events like this are our commitment towards the inclusivity.”

Team Jharkhand won the toss and decided to bowl first. Batting in the first innings, Team Odisha scored an impressive 309 runs giving the target of 310 runs to Team Jharkhand. Taking to bat in the second innings, Team Jharkhand finished with 152 runs and Team Odisha won by 157 runs.
Nakul Badnayak of Team Odisha who scored a thumping 130 runs out of 60 balls, was declared Man of the Match.

With an aim to create awareness and sensitise the community at large for the specially abled persons, TSML and TSF have always encouraged the youth to participate in all kinds of sports and has undertaken many such noble initiatives.

Mumbai, India (Nov 4, 2022) The Asia-Pacific Predator League 2022 Grand Finals will take place in Tokyo, Japan, from November 11-13. Thirty teams from across the Asia-Pacific region will gather to showcase battles with all their intensity and passion, as the teams are expected to deliver the ultimate play for fans across the region in its first physical competition in two years. This year’s event will be divided into two tournaments, featuring PUBG:BATTLEGROUNDS and Dota 2 events.

The total prize pool for the qualifiers and grand finals is US$400,000, while the winners of each tournament will also be awarded the coveted APAC Predator League Shield and Predator gaming gear from Acer.

The Asia Pacific Predator League provides an avenue for young talents and partners to grow the Esports ecosystem and industry. Since the first edition held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2018, a combined total of more than 15,000 teams in the Asia Pacific region have participated in the Predator League. Each year, fans will be treated to segments showing the different stories behind the teams from various locations, elevating the emotions and excitement for the tournament’s sought-after return to in-person competition. Esports enthusiasts can visit the official Predator League website https://www.predator-league.com to see the complete list of participating teams and know more about the league’s story.

For more information regarding tournament schedules and programs, follow Acer’s social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Matches will be broadcasted on Predator’s Facebook, Twitch and YouTube channels.

Broadcasting schedule (in English, all local Japan time):

Day 1 (November 11)

11:30 am Live steaming starts for opening ceremony

Dota 2: match starts at 1pm

PUBG: match starts at 3:45 pm

Day2 (November 12)

Dota 2: Live streaming starts at 11:30 am and match starts at 12:00 pm

PUBG: Live streaming starts at 3:00 pm and match starts at 3:30 pm

Day3 (November 13)

Dota 2: Live streaming starts at 4:00 pm and match starts at 4:30 pm

PUBG: Live streaming starts at 3:00 pm and match starts at 3:30 pm

The National Round of the Fit India Quiz 2021 has begun. The State-level winners from 36 States/UTs are competing for the top honours and mega cash prize.

72 student contestants are now in Mumbai with their respective teachers to take part in the final leg of the Fit India Quiz Competition.  The National Rounds will be telecast on Star Sports and national television and Webcast on social media channels of Sports Authority of India, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

From Maharashtra, Tanay Gautam Sheth and Aakash Viswanath from P. G. Garodia School (ICSE), Mumbai will compete in the National Round. (List of contestants from other states annexed)

The winning school in the National Round of the Fit India Quiz 2021 will get a prize money of Rs. 25 lakhs and the winning team of students will be awarded cash prize of Rs. 2.5 lakhs (Rs. 1.25 lakhs each).

The first runner-up will get Rs. 15 lakhs (for the school) and Rs. 1.5 lakhs (Rs. 75,000 for each student), and the 2nd runner-up will get Rs. 10 lakhss (for the school) and Rs. 1 lakhs (Rs. 50,000 for each student).

The National Round will consist of quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals as follows.

State Round Champions

Union Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports Shri Anurag Singh Thakur felicitated the 72 students from 36 schools who won the state-rounds, in Mumbai last evening.  Cash prize amounting to Rs. 99 Lakhss was awarded to these state-level winners.

360 schools competed in the State Rounds which took place during the months of February and March, 2022. 36 teams (two students in each team) of the state rounds and their school representatives were awarded prize money, with the School being awarded Rs. 2,50,000/- and two students being rewarded Rs. 12,500/- each.

Addressing the students, the Minister said “the Fit India Quiz will promote Fit India Movement, create awareness about about Sports and fitness, leading to creation of healthy and fit India, as envisioned by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi”. He said “each one of you is now an ambassador of sports and fitness” and asked the students to spread the word on Fit India Mobile App as well.

Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur felicitating Students Tanay Gautam Sheth and Aakash Viswanath from PG Garodia ICSE School, Mumbai and HOD, Sports Vinod Patil.

About the Fit India Quiz

Launched with the aim to create awareness among students about India’s rich sporting history, the Fit India Quiz saw participation of 36,299 students in the preliminary rounds where 13,500 schools competed online on a platform hosted by National Testing Agency (NTA).

Out of this, 360 selected schools competed in the State Rounds. After a series of state level quarter-final and semi-final rounds, the finalists from 36 States/UTs have been identified for participating in the National Finals.

Complete List of Finalists can be found here.

In its four years, the competition has received applications and interest from more than 1,000 businesses in 32 states and 37 countries. In all, 59 finalists have been selected to date, with 21 winners sharing $9 million in startup funding as well as mentorship and networking benefits.

“This fourth round of Grow-NY will further build on the success of earlier competition winners, whose entrepreneurial ideas are fueling economic growth upstate,” said Hope Knight, Empire State Development president, CEO and commissioner. “These innovative companies have attracted significant investment and are seeding the ground for even more innovation, both throughout the Grow-NY region and around the world.”

Winners are required to positively impact the Grow-NY region (central New York, Finger Lakes, Southern Tier), grow job opportunities, connect with local industry partners and contribute to a thriving upstate economy. Each year, finalists are awarded a top prize of $1 million, two $500,000 prizes and four $250,000 prizes, for a total of $3 million in awards.

“Cornell is proud to support the Grow-NY competition, which plays a vital role in catalyzing food and agriculture startups and entrepreneurship across our region,” said Benjamin Z. Houlton, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “By partnering across the public and private sectors, Grow-NY is critical to scaling new technologies and innovations needed to meet our state’s goal for more sustainable food systems that provide healthy, nutritious foods to all.”

Last year’s grand prize winner was Every Body Eat, a startup that makes, markets and sells food that is free from the 14 most common allergens. Past Cornell-affiliated winners include Ascribe Bioscience, Candidus, Capro-X, Combplex, Halomine and Whole Healthy Food.

In August, up to 20 finalists will be selected to enter a mentoring and business development phase, running from September to November.

Finalists will pitch their ideas and business plans at the Grow-NY Food and Ag Summit, Nov. 15-16.

Hosted in-person, for the first time in two years, on April 23 by the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration’s Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship (PIHE), the competition’s $25,000 first prize went to a concept addressing the problem of overparking at leisure destinations, allowing property owners to rent out their driveway or parking spaces on an hourly basis to the weekend warrior tourist consumer.

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Credit:David Burbank

“Parking is actually really hard, and in a lot of circumstances there aren’t enough spaces at popular destinations,” said Alex Barr ’24, who originally came up with the idea for Outer Space when trying to find parking for a day of surfing on Long Island. “Some people plan their entire day of a beach trip, just so they can get there early enough to get a spot.

“And, if you drive an electric vehicle, you may be straight out of the luck because the infrastructure in these locations isn’t strong enough to charge up your car while you’re spending the day at the beach.”

According to Barr and the Outer Space team, which also included Samuel Nichols ’24. Jude Rizzo ’25, Nadeem Gangat ’25, Bill Tong ’24, when beachgoers, weekend warriors, and summer day trip travelers can’t find parking, congestion begins in the parking lot and then creeps into the street, surrounding neighborhoods, and even the centers of beach towns. Some will decide to park illegally, which is an issue, especially on private and protected land. Not to mention the risk to pedestrians and cyclists.

“This ultimately causes a lot of stress, so a lot of times, many will just give up and leave, which is a detriment to the town,” Barr said. “This is because a lot of these destinations are seasonal and it is the only time of the year they actually make money.”

Outer Space helps ease parking frustrations, according to Barr, by connecting business or homeowners, who have extra space in a desirable destination, to list their space on the app for passive income from users of the app seeking to find a spot.

Barr says participating homeowners and small businesses in seasonal locations like Montauk, where the group will pilot the app this summer, will benefit greatly. “They can generate additional income throughout the summer without having to put in any effort, which will help them survive the off- season.”

Further, to help electric vehicle owners, in areas where recharging infrastructure may be minimal or simply not developed yet, by highlighting private charging stations in driveways and garages available through owners willing to rent the stations by the hour.

After a summer in Montauk, Barr and the Outer Space team plan to expand to other sea towns, state and national parks, and other vacation spots.

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Credit:David Burbank

The second-place pitch, winning $7,500, High Life Luxury Cannabis offers the ultimate luxury cannabis lifestyle brand through hospitality, fashion, and technology by enabling cannabis connoisseurs to create unforgettable memories through a combination of top-quality products, events, and experiential spaces. Team members included Raul Gamble MMH ’22 and Cody Perez MBA ’22, MPS-RE ’22.

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Credit:David Burbank

In third place, winning $5,000, was Quay Side Farm and Table, which aims to take advantage of available sea-faring barges for restaurant space, literally on the water, providing guests with locally-sourced seasonal foods. Team members included Ariel Staffin ’22, Kenisha Paliwal ’22, and Vishwajit Sharma ’23.

Honorable mentions went to Takamichi Matsuhisa MMH ’22, Alexander Vias MMH ’22, Zihan Sun MEng ’22, and Tony Ling MMH ’22 for their high-end beverage investment alternative pitch, Vine; as well as Yingtong Li ’23, Jack Ma MMH ’23; Mokhtar Rajai ’22; Elizabeth Vicarte ’22; Mi Yan MS ’22, for their robotic and automated cooking startup, MiFood Tech.

This year’s final judges included Yaniv Blumenfeld ’95, founder and managing partner of Glacier Global Partners LLC; Chris Hemmeter ‘86, managing director of Thayer Ventures ; and Meli James ’00, co-founder of Mana Up and president of Hawaii Venture Capital Association.

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Credit:David Burbank

The competition, open to students from across Cornell, is a program of the Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship. Beginning at the start of the academic year, students form teams and develop pitches for their business ideas. The field is narrowed down to 10 semifinalist teams, who submit full business plans. Five teams from that group are then chosen to go to the finals, where they make their presentations to an industry-panel that selects three winners.

“This competition is one of the highlight events of the programming that we carry out from the Pillsbury Institute throughout the year that give our students from across the university the opportunity to engage in experiential learning,” said Linda Canina, academic co-director at PIHE and professor of finance at Cornell Nolan.

Canina said the business plan competition process provides students with the opportunity to develop their idea and their business proposals as they would in the ‘real world’ in an educational and supportive environment. Throughout this experiential learning program, students are guided in the development and substantiation of their idea through their courses, additional lectures offered through the BPC program, and the guidance from experienced entrepreneurs, alumni and other industry partners organized by the Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship.

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Credit:David Burbank

“This is one of the learning experiences that the Nolan School is noted for—the many experiential learning opportunities we give, not just to Nolan students, but to all students across the university; real-life experiences that give them practice developing and implementing their ideas by collaborating with students from different backgrounds and interests, preparing them for their future careers.

New Delhi: Bajaj Finserv Limited, the holding company for the financial services businesses under the Bajaj Group, successfully completed the fourth season of its coveted B-school campus competition ‘ATOM’, that witnessed 1,180 teams from top 17 B-schools, across the country, fighting it out to build cutting-edge solutions for futuristic Fintech scenarios.

This year, the concept of the competition was different – ‘ATOM CEOs Challenge’, a new proposition, that was devised to challenge the brightest young minds with some unique futuristic problem statements curated by the CEOs, and coming up with ground-breaking ideas and concepts towards solving those problems. The format also provided these students with an experience of building a start-up through a gamified process.

ATOM CEOs Challenge – Competition Format

• This is a four-level competition format with a seed pitch round, Series A funding series, Series B funding series and the grand finale as a part of the format

• 44 teams were shortlisted in the first round, followed by subsequent rounds to bring it to 13, and then finally the top 5 teams were presented in front of the jury

• Of the top five teams that presented their innovative solutions at the grand finale, Team ‘Catalyst’ from FMS, Delhi, emerged as the winner for their Health Insurance sales distribution strategy via digital and on-field channels while minimizing cost of acquisition. The team won a cash prize of ₹ 500,000 and a pre-placement offer from Bajaj Finserv

• The runner-up team ‘Sodawaterbottleopenerwala from IIM Kozhikode, received a cash prize of ₹300,000 and a pre-placement interview with Bajaj Finserv Limited

Commenting on the occasion, Deepak Reddy, Group Head – Human Resources, Bajaj Finserv, Limited said, “Bajaj Finserv ATOM is a unique, app-based campus competition, which provides an opportunity for students to work on emerging challenges of the BFSI industry. ATOM helps ignite bright young minds from the country’s top Business Schools to create innovative solutions for existing business challenges and to create disruptive new business strategies for the future. The CEO’s Challenge was a new format of ATOM introduced this year and we witnessed impressive participation and solutioning by the students.”

ATOM, a unique un-case study program launched in 2018, across the top management institutes in India including the IIMs (at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore, Kozhikode, and Lucknow), FMS, ISB, IMT, JBIMS, NMIMS, TAPMI, SP Jain, XLRI, IIFT and SIBM. The program is a part of the Bajaj Finserv’s Group Level Management Trainee Program (GYLP) that identifies and builds future leaders. To know more, visit http://www.bajajfinservatom.com/

Ever since the pandemic, most educational institutions and schools globally, and in India, have swiftly embraced online learning. Interweaving creativity into the education system has become an imperative for educational institutions to make students future-ready. Recognizing this, through this collaboration, CENTA is focused on introducing a design-thinking approach in the new-age classroom to make education more interactive and meaningful.

Rahul Chowdhary, Head of Business, CENTA, said, “At CENTA, we always strive to provide exceptional learning experiences for teachers while equipping them with new-age tools to further their professional growth. With this initiative, we intend to spark creativity and inspire them to go beyond the set traditional modes of teaching and learning. We are confident that this design challenge will be a rich and guiding experience for every participant.” 

The theme for the Design Challenge is #CreativityinClassroom, and participation is open to all full-time teachers from primary to senior high schools across India. All the participants will be required to create and submit a design that focuses on what #CreativityinClassroom means to them, using posters, infographics, presentations, or video templates available on Canva for Education. Before the Design Challenge, Canva and CENTA will conduct two masterclasses for their participants. 

Masterclass and competition schedule is as follows:

For more details: https://www.canva.com/competitions/india-creativity-challenge/

All participating members will be evaluated based on the use of innovative tools and techniques, the impact created on the learners, and the creative inspiration behind the final design. After thoroughly evaluating the submitted designs, winning participants will receive rank-based rewards. These include subscriptions to Canva for Education for their respective schools, Kindles, recognition certificates, invitation to Canva for Teachers s Facebook community, Instax camera, among other exciting rewards. 

How to participate in the Design Challenge? 

• Log on to https://www.canva.com/competitions/india-creativity-challenge/

• Create an account on Canva.com using your email address.

• Select from multiple templates for Posters, Infographics, Presentations, Cards, and a variety of other formats. 

• Create your artwork based on the theme #CreativityinClassroom. 

• Submit your design link directly in the Application Form.

• Remember to include a few lines about your artwork, including what it means to you and how it relates to the theme.

West Bengal and two Telugu states—Telangana and Andhra Pradesh combine topped in all India medals tally, emerged as top one, bagging 8 medals each.  Jharkhand with 6 medals stood second, Maharashtra with 5 medals 3^rd position and Assam with four medals has come 4th.  Punjab and Kerala got 3 medals each. Puducherry, Delhi NCR and Chattisgarh got two medals each.

Dr . Tessy Thomas, fondly referred to as the Missile Woman of India – Distinguished Scientist, Director General (Aeronautical Systems), DRDO, Ministry of Defence, Government of India  gave away prizes virtually to the winners.  Speaking on the occasion she said, “we all have natural intelligence. Intelligence Quotient will increase when you practice through training and testing”.

The 6^th edition of the SIP Arithmetic Genius contest was fiercely fought one.  95000 students registered from 1025schools across India – covering 20 states and 375+ cities and towns. The contest was conducted in 3 rounds. Round 1 saw participation at city level by 95000 students, Round 2 saw state level participation by 20000 students and 201 students participated in Round 3 at National Level.

The largest number of students 19,141 registered from West Bengal.  Telugu States(Telangana and AP) had 8824; Jharkhand 5453, Maharashtra 11,073, Assam 3553, Puducherry 1317, Delhi NCR 2607 and Chattisgarh 819.

The SIP Arithmetic Genius Contest 2021(SIGC) was organised by SIP Abacus, the India’s largest skill development organisation in kids.

Dinesh Victor, Managing Director, SIP Academy, in a press note issued said the company organises the SIP Arithmetic Genius Contest every year and makes it free for schools and children to participate because its aim to motivate parents and children to take interest in Arithmetic. Basic Mathematics is important to do well in any area, he said. And through the Abacus programme, children can be helped to improve their arithmetic ability.

The competition was intense and we had many children who tied for the champions . Here is a table of the states from where champions and Top performers won.

Students from schools across India in classes 2 to 5 participated in the contest to prove their arithmetic ability. Pre-Covid, the contest was conducted as a physical contest. In the last 2 years, in spite of the pandemic, the contest has been conducted without cancellation or disruption as an online contest.

To enable the contest to be held online, SIP Abacus created the customised online backend process to allow students to register, exams to be scheduled for the students, receive a chance to practice for the exams with practice question papers and to take the final exams. This initiative has been carried forward by SIP Abacus to encourage children to improve their arithmetic ability, numerical skills and learning ability even during the pandemic times.

SIP Arithmetic Genius Contest 2021 saw a large number of prizes being won by students across India. Over 25000 prizes with cash prizes over Rs. 15 lakhs were won.  Over 200 students won cash awards, 750 students won trophies and over 25000 students won medals.

This mega event was conducted across India with the involvement of over 2000 SIP Abacus instructors and SIP Abacus centre heads.

SIP Abacus India is a skill development programme for children between 6 to 12 years through an international programme of Abacus training.

It was awarded the best coaching institute in skill development for children in India by worldwide achievers at Asia Education Summit 2015. At SIP Academy, of the 800 franchisee business partners, 95% are women.  The course instructors– a total of over 3500 across India, are all women. Over 1.75 lakh children learn at SIP every week.

Data: State wise registrations by students for the SIP Arithmetic Genius Contest

Infosys Finacle Innovation Award is a global award which symbolizes continuous Customer Centric innovations carried out by Banks all over globe to deliver delivery of responsive, resilient and secure IT systems/services using latest technologies.

Union Bank of India established Application Programming Interface Management (APIM) platform in 2021. By virtue of APIM, Bank has attained the capability of performing real time integration with outside world including Govt and private organizations to enrich customer experience.