I will share the “verdict” of the organizers with Navin shortly. You would agree that this exercise is not just a “competition”. We should/ would figure a way to move forward with these inputs. Thanks again!

Abhay Patil,
IITBA Pune Chapter.

This is late for this year but maybe next year.

b. Create a small group of enthusiasts from Pune and visit local campuses, talk to
faculties/students, what works, what not, how can this be improved. I can volunteer. We need to understand
the campus more.

c. Many local companies would have programs in place for such collaborations, we can consolidate
these and put on punetech.com.

d. Real benefeciary of such collaborations would be small and growing companies who do
not have RnD setup, reach out to them and advertise the potential. I remember seeing
an ad from a local toy company looking for innovators/designers/engineers, such companies
could easily work with local campuses to develop toys which involves mechatronics etc.

For the uninitiated as a part of the MI initiative we take in student
who can give a full time commitment and train them up on various
aspects of systems programming. About 50% of the time is spent on
training them on true practical hands on skills which the colleges
fail to give. The rest of the time is spent working on different
internal projects which are close to our heart but we lack the time to
explore these ideas. Given that the project ideas are something we
would like to see taken to fruition we do make it a point to guide the
groups in the correct direction. The student on the other hand are
encouraged when the find themselves building something that is more
than a toy. In the one year that we ran this initiative we can
corroborate Navin’s assertion that there are bright and capable
students out there who just need direction and guidance. Leveraging
this talent pool can be a great way to bring your project ideas to
life.

One of the pivotal reasons why this program works is because of the
full time commitment. The students come to our premises and work here
daily. This gives them an opportunity to interact with the project
stake holders and get quick opinions on their ideas and get around
road blocks. These might be monumental for the students but a five
minute discussion with the mentor could solve their problem. This lack
of this full time commitment from the BE final year project students
is what leads to frustration. It is not possible to build anything
significantly beyond the students abilities despite their honest
intentions.

In the current format the students from the MI program are consumed
only within KQI and not the Pune Technical community in general. We
are opening up our initiative so that anybody with an interesting Idea
and willingness to guide and commit time will have access to the
students within MI.

* Commitment from Mentors
– 4 Hours weekly commitment to the project
– Planning management and execution of the project
– Hold necessary classes to ramp up students on required technology
– minimum 6 month commitment to the project
– Since a significant investment is being made by KQI, we would want
to protect our interests by ensuring projects are moving along
smoothly. For this we would review the progress at a regular
interval.
* Commitment from KQI
– Machine and network infrastructure for projects
– Conf rooms and class rooms
– Will conduct existing training part of MI for students to ramp
them up on systems programming.
– Currently we are planning for 6 students to be made available
under this initiative.
* Challenges
– The mentors are not co-located with the students. This could be
another BE final year project disaster in the making. By putting
in a full time technical management person it might work. Needs to
be debated.
– Sustaining interest. Many mentors will have problem with time
commitment and might back out after initial commencement. We are
willing to take this risk.
– Stipend for students could be paid by KQI or engaging entity
– Ownership of the IP generated from the effort. If the mentor is
willing to keep the project under an open license we will be more
that glad to support the effort. The tricky part is when the
mentor or other entity would like to retain ownership of the
IP. Such cases have to be reviewed on a case by case basis.

Anybody interested in giving their pet ideas a new lease of life
please contact us at mi-mentors@kqinfotech.com.

2) Alumni groups: Some alumni groups are actively involved in exposing students to a wide range of projects and helping them find the right mentor. e.g “Dreamz” from PICT has guided students in system software, students implemented Tux3 de-duplication. More details at http://tux3.org/about.html

3) Project exhibitions and competitions: Acts as an incentive for students to show-case their work to a wider audience, emphasis is naturally on innovation and pushing existing barriers.

Other initiatives
1) Creating a student-professional community: This has to be an active community which meets at least once a month. Students/professionals should be encouraged to create special interest groups,conduct guest lectures and share details of their work and see what contribution can be made to open source initiatives.

To sum up, I believe that if genuinely interested students are shown the right direction and if right guidance is provided, they can produce good results. Even if one project clicks or if some students manage to win a prestigious project competition, it sets an example for successive batches and students will do their best to emulate their seniors and do better than them.

We have a wider student base than before, many seem to have joined the stream for a well paying job.I completely agree that we need systemic changes, but till that happens, we must do everything to retain interest and foster the innovative spirit of “some” students who genuinely love technology and seem to be lost in the large crowd.

Proactive mentoring IS the mantra of the day. Someone above said that working professionals do not have the time to mentor, I’ll say the time and opportunity is always there and exists only for us to Leverage it. I’ll be announcing a Technical mentoring initiative from my end in the coming weeks, and I have a concrete plan to see it through. I personally hold a good reputation in the industry, and do not see why we shouldn’t give the students who are willing a chance to experience stuff firsthand, learn and get practical industry knowledge in the field, and then apply the same in their career. In case anyone wishes to join me in this initiative, I can always be reached at my User Group Mail ID given on my blog.
I believe in giving the students a fair chance, which I did not get as I was not in some big shot engg. college, but yes, I am successful today with a lot of projects on hand.

Cheers and let me know if I can chip in. I have all the time now as I’m in the process of expanding my own company and would willingly take proactive measures to mentor / train / teach any willing students.

a.Contacting all interested or enthusiastic colleges. This is the main step, as pointed in the “Creation of Umbrella” topic. Forming a network first that could then implement the plan.
b.Arranging introductory talks to start of in every college
b.Formation of groups of students from whom feedback could be taken later on. The students could be the ones seen enthusiast in the introductory sessions.A teacher volunteer would be excellent.
e.Formation of a group , that could perhaps be the core of the pilot. These could be software evangelists(here i mean it!) from various part of technology, and are ready to spare time for spreading their ideas.
f.Once these enormous tasks are done,the primary tasks would be
>>Meeting up of the two groups at regular intervals.(say a month)
>>In a round robin fashion, making the core group to reach out to various colleges on various topics,so as the students could get a feel of all
>>Hands-on would be a boon,instead of just talks,as such monthly showcase workshops(as the Drupalkar event).
>>Creating of a separate domain,(under pune-tech of course!),devoted to students,listing undergoing ideas,projects,etc.
>>The choices are endless

4.Plans Implementable
Here I list a few of the alternative suggested which wont be a short term implementation.
a.The most important,developing a tie up with UoP(University of Pune).A huge task, but one that could do the following:
>>Dedication of time in schedule , thus reducing the time problems of students and the volunteers
>>Proper approach, and implementation by the colleges,rather than taking it casually.
>>Integration of teachers into the pilot.
b.Floating a competition under the name of “Pune”,rather than any private college, or such. Here stress isn’t on the competition, but on a platform to showcase it
c.Mentoring programs:Creating an Umbrella,along with the one creating before to spread the mentoring,so as the companies could approach here rather than search someplace inefficient.

P.S.:I presented the above keeping a student in the view, or to say both(Student and volunteers). I don’t mean to be interpreted as making things easy as pie for the students,but am of a firm view,that unless the industry take a step the students wont(from a fear,as pointed out before).I have seen many professionals saying they are ready to do things,but i quote here”The step should come from the other side first.”. This situation needs to be redefined.I don’t claim any success of the proposed programs,as many of the cynical here would surely point out.But do believe if there needs to be a change, this isn’t the time be cynical,this isn’t the field to be.
Finally i would like to thank Navin to provide this platform where this topic can now be addressed and will reach out to all.