Students Initiative

“Students’ Club for Augmenting Innovations (SCAI) at grassroots” is students’ forum facilitated through National Innovation Foundation to involve students from different education institutes to scout, spawn and diffuse innovations and example of traditional knowledge on commercial/non-commercial basis. The purpose is to generate a new model of knowledge management for sustainable development based on creativity and innovations at grassroots. So far, SCAI exists in more than 30 different management, engineering and social educational institution. National Innovation Foundation solicits students’ participation in making this countrywide innovation movement a success.

SCAI’s primary activities include:

• DISHA- a national level annual business plan competition wherein the students are invited to prepare business plan on innovation and examples of traditional knowledge from NIF database.
• DISHA-Social: A diffusion plan for mixed return and open source technologies wherein the in students are required to prepare social diffusion plan involving NGOs and CVOs.
• SAAKAR- to scout for entrepreneurs who have the ability and inclination to start a business enterprise on innovations from NIF’s database.
• Mentoring and incubating ongoing projects.
• Taking up specific technologies for value addition in technology institutes either as student projects or jointly by students and faculty.
• Market research and technical benchmarking for specific technologies being incubated in different GIANs (Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network).
• Organizing seminars and workshops in which clearing house can be organized among entrepreneurs, investors and innovators.
• Pursuing scouting and documentation of innovations and traditional knowledge in the neighborhood of the respective colleges or during vacation near the places where students live.