Boeing has announced the winners of its third edition of the Boeing University Innovation Leadership Development (BUILD) program for the year 2023-24. This program aims to nurture and support university students and early-stage start-up entrepreneurs in India. Among the winners are seven teams from prestigious institutions such as FIIT – IIT Delhi, SINE – IIT Mumbai, IIT Madras Incubation Cell, and TBI – KIIT Bhubaneswar.
“BUILD has evolved into an aspirational and dynamic start-up platform, nurturing young entrepreneurial minds of the country with the right skills and support to scale up operations, develop cutting-edge technologies, and help implement ideas that impact not only the nation but the world at large,” said Salil Gupte, president of Boeing India.
The award ceremony took place at the new Boeing India Engineering & Technology Center (BIETC) campus in Bengaluru, where the winners were honoured by notable figures including Sharath Kumar Bache Gowda and Dr G Satheesh Reddy. “I want to congratulate our incubator partners for leading this program to success over these years and would like to congratulate winners and the applicants for their active participation this year,” added Gupte. Each winning team was granted Rs 10 lakh to further develop their ideas, which span various fields such as community development, defence, space industry, and sustainability.
Boeing collaborated with seven leading incubators across India to organize the BUILD program, namely SINE – IIT Mumbai, FIIT – IIT Delhi, IIT Madras Incubation Cell, and others. “Every year, as we invite ideas for BUILD, we remain excited about the possibilities these young minds and their ideas bring for the country,” said Ahmed Elsherbini, vice president of Boeing India Engineering & Technology Center. The program invited ideas in diverse areas including aerospace, defence, technology start-ups, social impact, and sustainability.
In 2023, the BUILD program received an overwhelming response, with over 1200 ideas submitted by more than 2200 students and start-up participants from various cities across India. After a rigorous evaluation process, 75 teams were shortlisted to participate in regional boot camps, where they received guidance from experts and mentors to refine their ideas. “The entire process of nurturing each idea to make it into a viable business solution is delivered through interactions between our engineers, technologists, partner incubators, and the student and start-up community,” emphasized Elsherbini.
Boeing India has been actively involved in skill development and capacity building initiatives in the country through programs like the HorizonX India Innovation Challenge and the National Aeromodelling Competition with IIT. “We continue to remain committed to fostering innovation by nurturing the country’s brightest talent and ideas through our industry-academia collaborations and partnerships,” added Gupte. By fostering innovation and collaboration with academia and start-ups, Boeing aims to contribute to the growth of India’s innovation ecosystem and support the next generation of entrepreneurs.