My Expressions

28 & 29th Jan saw 200 students selected from thousands of students from 23 states of India, from Assam to Kerala, to Rajasthan, present innovative solutions for current problems at INNOVENTURE- India’s largest Ideation and Entrepreneurship challenge for school children (9-14yrs). The Challenge is being curated and hosted by INTELLIGENCE PLUS, Pune led by its Founder & CEO, Ms Pranjal Jain Gundesha. Intelligence Plus is a Pune-based award-winning organization that hosts Innoventure

The Innoventure Finale had 15 plus eminent industry experts such as Mr Gurbans Chatwal (Product Innovation, Fiserv), Mira Aroda (India Head, Marketing & Branding at Philips), Mr Anjan Biswas (India Innovation Lead, Amdocs), Miss Prachi Shevgaokar, a young Climate Entrepreneur, Bharat Oswal (Startup Mentor) and others interacting with students

Over the last 8 years, Intelligence Plus has trained more than 60,000 children from across 110 cities in India. “To empower children to be future-ready in today’s time, we need a paradigm shift from ‘content to context’ where the focus is equally on skills such creativity and innovation, design thinking and collaboration!” says Ms Pranjal Gundesha.

Past Innoventure students have received awards such as Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, have registered patents, been TEDx speakers and started their own ventures and social initiatives.

“Innoventure is a unique platform where children are trained and recognized beyond academics, giving an opportunity to all types of children to discover their skillset and shine”, mentioned Shruti Sharma, school leader from a winning school, Learning Paths School, Punjab. Some other winning schools were Scindia School, Gwalior, Indus International School, Pune, Greenwood High, Bangalore and Sanskruti The Gurukul, Guhawati.

Guests and jury members were left spellbound in admiration as children presented their ideas to issues like fake profiles, lack of inclusive public infrastructure, food wastage, mental health, jobs with erratic work schedules, etc.
Avik Chouksey, National Winner from Grade 9, Macro Vision Academy, M.P. shared, “I created a functional prototype app and complete B- Plan called ‘Atomize’ for lifestyle tracking and management that could significantly help people live a better life”

The event also witnessed the launch of the Trailblazer Fellowship, a first of kind in the country to nurture children (11-16yrs) to actually kick start their own initiatives. “Applications/Nominations to the fellowship are open to all aspiring students across the country from which 50 will be selected for the 1st Cohort in March 2023. Selected fellows will be trained and mentored by Experts over 3 months in 3 Key stages: Personal Transformation, Skills Mastery, and Ideation to execution of the Idea.

Students will then get Immersive Internships in organizations and get to amplify the scale and reach of their Idea through the Trailblazer community support and partner platforms. I am a firm believer that children can be change makers of society, not just in the future, but beginning today! They just need the right guidance and network to bring their initiatives to the limelight”, elaborated Ms Pranjal.

Mr Ganesh Natarajan (SBI Board Member, CEO 5Fworld) and Mr Bharat Agarwal (President, Vishwakarma University) who were guests at the Award Ceremony, resonated with the need for more schools partnering with platforms like Innoventure and the Trailblazer Fellowship that focus on innovation mindset and skillset for school students.

As the nation is gearing towards a drastic change in the field of education, Intelligence Plus is creating waves in the field by nurturing students to be creators, thinkers and innovators of the 21st century!

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