Bootcamp
Digital Impact Square (DISQ) is an open social innovation platform for Enhancing the Lives of citizens. The platform encourages innovation using digital technologies to address the needs of citizens through their voice and that of the local administration, government, and industry. In the process, the platform fosters a culture of innovation through a series of sustained innovation cycles, provides an opportunity to bring research and technology from academia to influence every-day life, and accelerates the journey of many from being ideators to entrepreneurs.
The platform will provide an opportunity for talent from across the country to solve pressing challenges in the following seven areas: Health & Hygiene, Education & Skills, Financial & Personal Security, Energy, Water & Environment, Food & Agriculture, Housing & Transportation and Citizen Empowerment & Transparency.
Eligibility
We are looking for:
- Team of young innovators with an entrepreneurial bent of mind, who want to turn an idea or a concept into a successful startup, and are willing to commit next 12 months to further their cause, or,
- Technologically-skilled final year students, who can spend their final semester with us to apply their skills as an intern for our incubatee teams.
Therefore,
- Do you have a brilliant solution that addresses challenges listed under one or more themes?
- Do you have the passion and commitment to grow and scale it into a tangible solution?
- Are you currently a team with an MVP and looking for mentorship and network access from some of the best organizations working in the domain?
And are currently either a
- Student – Students pursuing a Bachelor or Master degree in one of the following disciplines: Engineering, Management, Mathematics, Statistics, Liberal Arts, Commerce, Medicine, Design, Architecture, or
- Start-up – An early-stage startup, which is keen on growing and scaling their innovation or a
- Budding Entrepreneur or an Innovator
…then Digital Impact Square is just the place for you!
Location
DISQ provides an in-resident program at Nashik centre. However, due to the current COVID19 situation, the DISQ 2021 Cohort will be run in virtual mode. The center will open based on guidelines from TCS Foundation in consultation with local authorities. Teams that can leverage the Nashik ecosystem for innovation can look at re-locating to Nashik post-July 2021 or continue to operate virtually.
Process and expectations
Digital Impact Square process has 4 phases – Spot, Probe, Grow, Scale – each phase having well-defined time lines and expectations of outcomes.
During this phase, selected ideas / teams to get mentored and coached by DISQ. To qualify, you need to:
- Apply to one of the key challenge areas listed on our Challenges Page.
- Provide all details requested in the Application Form.
Remember: The more refined and detailed your submission is, the better are your chances for getting shortlisted.
- Your submissions will be evaluated by a judging panel and shortlisted.
- If you get shortlisted, you will participate in the selection and interview process.
- The final shortlisted teams will be promoted to the PROBE Phase.
The PROBE Phase is divided into two sub-phases:
Sub-Phase 1 – Bootcamp – Problem Fit
This is a 10-week intense boot camp program that will allow each team to:
- Use Design Thinking Principles to build a deeper understanding of the problem that they are trying to solve
- Be mentored by some of the most experienced mentors in the domain space
- Participate in Master Classes conducted by the best in the industry in areas such as Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation, Cutting Edge Technology and Human-Centric Design
- Get a one on one coaching by DISQ Innovation and Design Coaches to significantly enhance their MVP
- Access technical experts from TCS to assess and identify the best technology that can make their MVP scalable
- Engage with DISQ Alumni who have created successful social startups to understand their journey and understand best practices
- Prepare for their Incubation Pitch
This phase will end with each team pitching their enhanced MVP to a panel of domain experts and DISQ for selection into the DISQ Incubation Program.
Sub-Phase 2 – Incubation Phase – Solution Fit
Selected teams will formally be onboarded into the DISQ Incubation Program. This phase will allow the selected teams to
- Build their MVP into scalable products
- Validate their MVP on the field with real users
- Work with DISQ Coaches and mentors in building their business model
- Get access to communities and ecosystems to build relevant partnerships
This phase will end with a PITCH Session for evaluation and promotion of teams to the next phase where they will get additional funding and build a sustainable social enterprise.
Based on feedback from various stakeholders and the evaluation of the ‘live’ demonstration by a jury, all high performing teams will move to the Grow phase.
In the Grow phase, you will work with great agility, to productize your solution.
In this phase, the solution will be evolved and tested for production readiness and evaluated for high impact and business potential.
You will get an opportunity to scale your startup and impact through strategic partnerships and investments facilitated through DISQ’s extensive partner ecosystem.
Timelines
DISQ is a multi-year platform with several innovation cycles. The indicative timeline for the next innovation cycles are:
