STARTUP MASTERS PROGRAM Launched by FORGE, Coimbatore
FORGE Accelerator, Coimbatore has launched a STARTUP MASTERS PROGRAM, a 2 year full-time PGDM in Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Venture Development which has been approved by AICTE. Kumaraguru College of Technology is among the 4 institutions across the country designated by AICTE to offer this course, designed by the MHRD’s Innovation Cell (MIC), Govt. of India, New Delhi.
FORGE – the incubation enterprise launched by CIBI, has been a catalyst for innovation powered enterprises to solve real-world problems. It aids in harnessing the potential for innovation, creativity and agility of startups, coupled with channelizing them through a highly structured process, to help product innovators and startup founders achieve fast paced success in technology, product, business and growth milestones. It has provided the right impetus for Entrepreneurship, especially the kind that is innovation-led, technology-driven, and venture-funded.
Based on the science of entrepreneurship, FORGE has crafted a program that focuses both on Innovation and Growth, the 2 fundamental drivers of entrepreneurship, in partnership with the MHRD Innovation Cell, the STARTUP MASTERS PROGRAM, in the form of a full-time 2-year PGDM program in Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Venture Development, awarded by Kumaraguru College of Technology, with the approval of AICTE, Govt. of India.
Speaking at the launch event hosted at the 20,000 sq.ft incubation centre, called the FORGE.FACTORY, Mr. Shankar Vanavarayar, President, Kumaraguru Institutions and MD of FORGE said that for FORGE today has emerged as the epicentre of the confluence of academia, industry, and government, with the launch of the PGDM program as the harbinger for the transformational changes set to emerge in education and to ignite the spark of entrepreneurship among youth.
Mr. Vish Sahasranamam, CEO, Forge, said that during this program, Product Innovators – creative visionaries aiming to build technologically advanced solutions for real-world problems, shall be nurtured and transformed into Tech Entrepreneurs – ambitious founders aiming to build a growth-oriented company generating profit and delivering impact.
Dr Naushad Forbes, Chairman, Governing Council, National Institute of Design, Consulting Professor in the Management Science & Engineering program at Stanford University & Co-Chairman of Forbes Marshall, India, Past chairman of CII, said that our educational system has been extremely prescriptive and theoretical. The fact that we have problems all around us which do not have readymade answers provides ample opportunities for entrepreneurs. In his view, the democratization of innovation has to start with its very definition, and he opined that Innovation is something new that leads to gaining a commercial advantage. Our educational institutions having huge untapped talent among students and faculty can act as the platforms to spur innovation, he surmised. The ultimate test of innovation is economic and commercial success. He wished participants of the new programme all success.
Shri S. Gopalakrishnan IAS, Joint Secretary, MeitY, Govt. of India who was the Guest of Honour spoke of how Coimbatore which has been the bedrock of entrepreneurship is ideally suited for this programme. Most solutions of startups which emerge from garages in the USA are for the western world and serve the first 1 billion people, whereas the solutions developed for Indians by Indians can benefit the rest of the planet, with huge markets in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. While several Universities in the country have so far offered Masters in Entrepreneurship, most of them being theoretical, he hoped that the experiential orientation of the course coupled with the broader ecosystem for Innovation and Entrepreneurship created at Forge will make this a role model course for other incubators and institutions to emulate.
For more details about the program visit: www.forgeforward.in/masters or call 90039 77441
