A one-day state level seminar on ‘Fostering a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship’was organised by the entrepreneurship club, R & D cell and IQAC of St Joseph Vaz College, Cortalim.
The seminar started with the welcome address of the administrator of the college. The administrator welcomed all the participants and highlighted the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship at the higher education level. The chief Guest for the inaugural function was Miguel Braganza fondly known as the ‘plant man of Goa’. He emphasised on the importance of fostering a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in Goa and encouraged young entrepreneurs to take risk if they want to be successful.
The first technical session of the day was on the topic ‘Introduction to Entrepreneurship’ and the resource person was Raghavendraprasad Suryavanshi. He, through a very interesting activity communicated that everyone does not have the same resources, but this should not hold them back. He also advised students on how to go about with their business ideas.
In the second technical session on the topic ‘Protecting IP for entrepreneurs’ delivered by Advocate Rejitha Rajan, she spoke about how to protect and secure their intellectual property buth physically and digitally. She also focused her attention on what are the effective ways to protect IP.
The post lunch technical session was titled ‘Innovations of new ventures’ and the resource person was Dr Suresh Kunkaliker. Dr Kunkaliker stressed on various entrepreneurship opportunities in Goa. He also focused on various areas like bee keeping, organic farming, aquaculture, poultry, agro eco tourism and plant tissue culture.
The final technical session was on the topic ‘Success story and business model’ by Lisa Pinheiro. In her talk Miss Pinheiro motivated the participants to convert their passion into profession. She gave examples of how many young entrepreneurs in Goa are flourishing.
Lisa Pinheiro was the Chief Guest for the valedictory function. Also, present were Rev. Prof. Simao Diniz (Administrator), Dr Maria Fonseca (Principal), Dr Suresh Kunkaliker (Resource Person), Dr Aureen Gomes (Co-coordinator), Viona Correia (Coordinator) and Angela Serrao (IQAC Coordinator).
More than 80 participants from various colleges across Goa attended the seminar. The participants included students as well as faculty members .