Startup Bootcamp
The startup bootcamp was organized at Jigme Namgyel Engineering College to encourage and support this culture. The main goal of this Bootcamp is to give students a platform to learn, create, innovate, and start their entrepreneurial ventures. The Start-up Bootcamp is a five-day program that has been specially created to provide young people with an exceptional experience as they build workable business concepts centered around a particular theme. Additionally, the event aimed at exploring self-employment opportunities in the engineering and IT fields through the theme of "Revolutionizing the Future of Startups through Engineering Innovation Business Solution". The startup boot camp event started on 26th April 2023 coinciding with World Intellectual Property Day. Of 124 registered participants from 10 different courses that are being offered at the college, 104 students attended the two days pre-event out of which 74 individuals pitched for the initial selection process to be taken for the main event. 14 top ideas (7 each from IT & Electronics, and 7 from the Engineering category were selected for the final pitching event. The final award ceremony was graced by the honorable Dasho Dzongdag of Samdrup Jongkhar Dzongkhag and attended by the President of the College, Officiating Regional Director of Regional Office of MoICE, Regional general secretary of BCCI, Deans, HODs, faculties besides the participants, organizers, mentors, facilitators, and students of the college. Dasho Dzongdag in her address highlighted entrepreneurship as an opportunity and the key to sustainability and independence. The teams pitched their ideas to the panel of judges from various sectors, such as local government, financial institutions, and educational institutions. Harvest Connect Innovation won the first position, Heroic Realm was second, and Druks Sports was third in the IT and Electronics category. The winner for the engineering category was Reverse Vending Machine, followed by Fruity Pads as 1st runner up and Luung Chhu as 2nd runner up. The winners and runners-up were awarded cash prizes of Nu 200,000, Nu: 100,000, and Nu: 75,000 each for all categories to kick-start their ideas, sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Promotion Division under the Department of Employment and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Employment, Royal Government of Bhutan, through Start-up/CSI Flagship Program. All the prize awardees and other interested teams will be incubated in the JNEC- Entrepreneurship and Innovation incubation center and will be further provided with mentorship and other business development support in collaboration with local ecosystem actors and players to accelerate their business formation. An opportunity will also be given to participate in the national-level acceleration and incubator program at a later stage. The startup boot camp is being conducted by the Entrepreneurship Promotion Division under the Department of Employment and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Employment, Royal Government of Bhutan, in collaboration with the JNEC-Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, Jigme Namgyel Engineering College, and the Regional Office for MoICE, Samdrup Jongkhar Region.
