Graduation Ceremony 17th Dec'22

GRADUATION CEREMONY OF THE BERKELEY CERTIFICATION PROGRAMME HELD ON 17 DEC 2022 IN GIET CAMPUS

Prof. Solomon Darwin, Executive Director of Garwood Centre of Business Innovation, UC Berkeley, Mr. K. Sasi Kiran Varma, Vice Chairman of GIET Institutions, Mr. Srikanth Nandiraju, Director of Innovation at Experian, Dr. S. Raj Kumar, President, The Center for Migration Medicine, Hyderabad & Garwood Innovation Fellow, Mr. Y. S. Micheal, Startup Director and Mentor in AP & Telangana, Mr. Serish Gandikota, InnoFrugal Finland, Mrs. Swathi Gandikota, InnoFrugal Finland, Ms. Swadha Arora, Coordinator of this Berkeley Certification Programme, Members from the Press & Media, all the 19 entrepreneurs, parents and student teams attended the Graduation Ceremony held on 17 Dec 2022. The General Manager, all HoDs, Deans, Directors, Vice Principals and Principals of GIET Institutions also graced. Invitees from nearby institutions also graced the occasion.

 The programme started with 26 teams of 4 students each, totalling 104 of them in the month of Sep 2022 and at the close there were 75 students comprising 19 teams. Due to the standards of UC Berkeley, certain teams could not make it to this programme, while a few will be given chance to complete their work in the next batch.

 When talked of standards, it means mixing many vital elements like 100 percent focus only on practice-based course, all mentors mentoring all students, no written test but an exhaustive but concise presentation of the work done, key eminent personalities adjudicating the work, use of highly effective business models, etc. made this programme a unique one in the entire world. And all these aspects built around the concept of open innovation makes it truly easy and effective.

 The jury members had a hectic day on 16 Dec 2022 adjudicating 19 teams. They had also witnessed a mini-exhibition of 12 teams on that day. Based on the discussions held with the teams, the jury members have great appreciation for the quality of work and presentations done by the students. Two teams had exhibited development of technological aid, whereas all other teams used technological intervention for data analysis or marketing. Almost all the teams exhibited development in them in terms of expression skills, networking, negotiation, looking in future, problem solving, etc. all in one go.

 The student teams called Visual Pharma, Woodenia, Matsya, Maveesh Public Demand Centre, Tech Do, Anagha, Potteries, Store Botanical, Food Supply (Momos), etc. received great appreciations from all the jury members. Visual Pharma was known for reuse of expired medicines for flora and fauna, Woodenia for supporting the community and art thriving since 3 BCE, Matsya focussed on supply of fresh fish as well as utilizing unused fish, MPDC not only supplies organic fruits and vegetables but also intends to provide services like electrician, plumbers, carpenters, etc. are reasonable costs, Tech Do brought out a device for women safety and was appreciated by all mentors and jury members, Anagha is bringing out sarees and dresses which are painted with organic colours and hand embroidery done on them, Potteries brings out customized clay pots, cooking pots, plates and toys, Store Botanical is involved in supply of indoor and outdoor plants as well as decoration of balconies, Food Supply (Momos) provides various kinds of momos to the people of Rajahmundry. The list done not stop here as other teams are also bringing out various other interesting, innovative and useful services.

 Prof. T. V. Prasad, Director of Quality Assurance, GIET Institutions welcomed the jury members and Berkeley team to this grand gala event marking the close of the first batch of the programme on Creating Business Model for Leveraging Innovation and Data Analytics conducted by Prof. Darwin and his team. A dozen mentors, hailing from leading companies on the planet such as IBM, Kaneka, Goodyear, Johnson & Johnson, etc. who mentored the students of GIET Institutions were remembered and thanked for the mentoring.

 Mr. Sasi Kiran Varma, Vice Chairman, GIET Institutions who witnessed the presentations by students for the first time, saw all the presentations and expressed his deep satisfaction and mesmerizing quality of work done by most of the student teams. He gave wonderful suggestions to the student teams for future implementations and was highly enthusiastic about taking them to incubating the start-ups.

 Prof. Solomon Darwin thanked the GIET Institutions for the hospitality extended and placed on record that the presentation made by the students touched his heart deep. He conveyed his best wishes and blessing to all the students, their parents and entrepreneurs who supported the open innovation system.

 Mr. Srikanth Nandiraju highlighted that the presentations were much better than what they saw at Silicon Valley. He was so much overwhelmed with all the presentations that he said now hereafter the GIET as well as the East Godavari should be called “Talent Valley”. He further emphasized and wished that the Berkeley team and all the jury members will be glad to see at least one unicorn coming up from this training.

 The biggest support came up when Mr. Srikanth announced that a group of eminent entrepreneurs from USA running a fund of USD 5 million for start-ups came to know about this certification programme and are upbeat towards supporting the efforts of GIET Institutions. This news charged the entire environment during the Graduation Ceremony.

 Mr. Y. S. Michael drilled down the teams on various aspects of open innovation and was extremely happy to see the progress and expressed his support in mentoring the start-ups at GIET Institutions.

 Mr. Serish Gandikota from InnoFrugal, Finland who travels to various nations and helps start-ups in Nordic nations described about how the start-ups are mentored in Finland and how he is involved in mentoring various start-ups in Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, etc. He was vocal about the presentations being far beyond the expectations he had and that they were many times far excellent in implementing business innovation.

 Ms. Swathi Gandikota expressed that she was speechless about the quality of work done by students and congratulated the efforts put up by UC Berkeley and GIET Institutions.

 Dr. S. Raj Kumar suggested a number of methods of making things simpler and impacting to the student teams, which were highly appreciated by them. He asked to take up more in the area of health services where technology meets medicine for which he will volunteer his support. He expressed his willingness to support the future programmes of GIET Institutions.

 Ms. Swadha Arora, the programme coordinator from UC Berkeley side, was observing the progress of student teams right from day one and mentioned that the presentations were unparalleled and far beyond the expectations. Due to her affinity with the student teams, she was surrounded by the student teams and shared her experiences and received feedback which could be used for upgrading the next programme.

 The entrepreneurs who guided the students and beneficiaries of the open innovation model expressed great happiness in their talks and were vocal for their teams. All entrepreneurs benefitted from their student teams have witnessed their businesses grow in the range of 2 to 8 times, which they felt was unimaginable. They also expressed that they learned many new facets of business from these students. Many of them felt that it was magical and could not stop appreciating the Berkeley mentors again and again. The entrepreneurs were conferred a memento in appreciation of their support to the student teams and open innovation.

Dr. P. Sriram Chandra, Professor of CSE, proposed a hearty vote of thanks.