XLers Unlimited

Kolkata: May 31st
Where: Royal Calcutta Golf Club, Tollygunge
Contacts:Sudipto Dey (9831138850)
Bharath S (9748268448)
Rohit Parmanandka (9830166951)

Bangalore: May 31st

Contacts:Sharath N (9234602781)
Sugandha Agnani (9886980013)
Kuruvilla Kurian 96BM (9845141464)

Mumbai: May 24th

Where: Hyatt Regency (Regency Ballroom), Sahar Road
Contacts:Akshay Sinha (9820404428)
Ritesh Agrawal (9833124316)

Chennai: May 24th
Where:The Accord Metropolitan, GN Chetty Road
Contacts:Mulpuri Raja Rajeswari (9246270935)
Abhiseg Elijah (9790755870)
Krishanu Bhattacharya (9790825739)

I stole these photographs from the PicasaWeb Album of Chintan Agarwal (09BMD), who had helped organise this Alumni Get-together - along with the anchors of the Singapore Chapter (Ramesh Ramakrishnan (85BMD), Rajesh Soundarajan (99BMD), Vinod Martin (90BMD), & Ramasubramanian (77BME).

Here are some Pics of the HK Alumni Get-together on May 16th, I got from Hemant Lodha (98BMD):

well... here are some of the pics that I could take (very difficult to take photos, when you are holding a glass in one hand ;0)...

It was a rocking time (even though I missed the pics of the dance-floor in action)... with the delhi weather providing "special effects" (*_^)...

The Photgraphs are uploaded here

or you can view them in a slideshow below:

New Delhi/NCR: May 17th

Where : Tivoli Gardens, Chhattarpur Road
Contacts:Devika Rajeev (9910611843)
Manish Bhagat (9999516976)

Ankit Goyal (9910671450/9955371152)

Singapore: May 16th
contacts:
Chintan Agarwal (65) 98405241 -
Rajesh Soundarajan 99BM (65) 91087901 -
Ramesh Ramakrishnan 85BM (65) 96176340 -

Had a great evening (also early morning;0) yesterday at Hyderabad. As GG wrote in a mail this morning:

"It was a great meet with more than 60-70 XLers across batches and programs turning up and total number of people easily edging past 100.

Awesome arrangement by the summer trainees and the venue at Taj Banjara was perfect for those interested in keeping their spirits up, shaking a leg, catching up with friends or in making new ones :-)"

GG has posted some pics of the meet at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gautam/sets/72157604989853270/

The pics of the slide show below can be accessed at:

Alumni Meet @ Hyderabad 10-MAY-08

If you're in Hyderabad on the evening of 10th May this is where you should be !

[Original Post here]

An espresso coffee machine which functions without electricity, a special bamboo which lasts longer and is more durable or medicine for asthma made out of traditional herbs may soon be a reality.

Innovations like these and many more would soon be patented in the innovators’ name if XLRI has its way.

Taking a step ahead in its endeavour to bring grassroots innovation to the mainstream, XLRI has recently selected about 25-odd grassroots-level innovations across eastern India to get a patent and be marketed as business ideas.

The move, to be implemented in association with the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), comes in the wake of NIF setting up a research advisory council at the B-school recently.

Set up in association with the department of science and technology, NIF was established to provide institutional support to innovations across the rural pockets of India and grassroots-level workers in transforming their ideas into a profit venture.

“According to the agreement with NIF and XLRI, the regional research advisory council would assess the innovations made at the grassroots in Bihar, Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh. The body would later provide marketing strategies for the launch of these innovative ideas in the market,” said T. Raghuram, the assistant professor in strategic management, XLRI.

The council would comprise B-school professors, NIF members and also senior authorities from institutes like IIT (Kharagpur) and IIT (Guwahati).

“We have so far received about 25 such interesting innovations from absolutely grassroots-level workers — farmers, mechanics and electricians. Right now we are in the process of studying their technical possibilities and validation,” said Raghuram.

Once finalised, the selected innovations would be funded by National Innovation Foundation (NIF) and also be protected under intellectual property rights.

“We are not revealing the innovations for we are in the process of patenting these innovations in the founders’ name so they can be saved from being copied,” added Raghuram.