Chitkara University is excited to announce the launch of Start-Up Huddle in Chandigarh and Mohali in association with Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN). The objective of the Start-Up Huddle is to help local entrepreneurs hone their pitch skills and discover solutions to the challenges they face.
Start-Up Huddle is a program designed to educate, engage and connect entrepreneurs. As an experiential learning opportunity, the Start-Up Huddle format is consistent in each location: on a given morning, one or two early-stage start-up founders give a six-minute presentation of their companies to a diverse audience of peers, mentors, educators and advisers. Each presentation is followed by a 20-minute question and answer session and feedback via an audience survey.
The culture surrounding Start-Up Huddle is that of a supportive, neutral space, welcoming entrepreneurs to be open and honest about their businesses and the challenges they face. Each event is organized by local entrepreneurs and community builders who volunteer their time to secure a venue and select presenters and publicize the event. Start-Up Huddle is an educational experience for both the audience and the presenters. Presenters are given resources and support to prepare for their presentation and surveyed after their presentation to see what they’ve learned.
“In the growing entrepreneurship ecosystem of India, our tier-two towns and cities have a key role to play in economic development through innovations and new enterprises,” said Yatin Thakur, managing director of GEN India. “We are proud to have academic partners like Chitkara University and local ecosystem builders from Chandigarh region who have taken the lead in establishing Start-up Huddles in Northern India. We are confident this will boost entrepreneurship and provide a huge support to aspiring entrepreneurs of the region.”
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Madhu Chitkara, Vice-Chancellor of Chitkara University said, “Chitkara University is one of the pioneers in India to have its own Innovation Incubation Centre in operation for five years now. Five years of innovation at Chitkara University has led to filing of over 130 patents. We are now happy to be part of the Start-Up Huddle in association with GEN. Through this initiative we aim to create a healthy atmosphere for Start-Ups to operate.”
Mr. Sumeer Walia, Director at the Chitkara University Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education and Development said, “A lack of awareness in society on opportunities at local and global levels is why Huddle is important for communities. Knowledge sharing is very important, technology knowledge sharing is important, and we believe cross-learning will come through such a networking event and collaborative environment will develop due to perpetual nature of Start-up Huddle. Through Start-up Huddle, we wish to increase awareness about GEN and its great mission. We wish to collect more data of start-ups and be the key players in the ecosystem, as well as a role model for other chapters across India and eventually create a harmonious ecosystem for start-ups.”
About Chitkara University
In the year 2002, Chitkara Educational Trust established its Punjab campus 30 kilometres from Chandigarh, on the Chandigarh–Patiala National Highway. In the year 2010 Chitkara University was established by the Punjab State Legislature under “The Chitkara University Act”. Chitkara University, the best university in Punjab is a government-recognized university with the right to confer degrees as per the Sections 2(f) and 22(1) of the UGC Act, 1956.
Chitkara University has been founded by Dr. Ashok Chitkara and Dr. Madhu Chitkara who have been passionate teachers for more than 40 years now. Chitkara Education brings with it a reputation that has been earned through years of serving the career – needs of the student community. It is a reputation for excellence and innovation among coveted employers for preparing graduates who have the knowledge and skills they need for success in their workplace.
Chitkara University graduates go on to great careers, as they have their hands on the responsive teaching methodology. Students from around the county are attracted to Chitkara University because of their commitment to teaching excellence, because they conduct research that makes a difference, because of their industry partnerships and because of their tailored courses. This difference has been acknowledged by students, parent, alumni, government, and industry since the inception of the university.
Within a decade, most of Chitkara University academic programs are ranked among the top 50 programs in the country which speaks volumes about their string academic heritage, highly committed faculty, extensive industry collaborations, great international connections, and state of the art campus facilities.
