Microsoft I-Spark Center at CGC

INTRODUCTION

The idea of establishing this center at CGC was mooted by Mr. Yogesh Kochhar, Head HR, Microsoft Corporation himself, when he visited the CGC in April, 2009 as chief guest of CGC’s annual fest. He was immensely impressed with the world class infrastructure provided at the CGC and also the caliber of the staff and students of CGC to excel in every field of life, be it academic or otherwise. After meeting all the requirements essential for establishing this center, a formal agreement between the Microsoft and CGC has been signed in February, 2011. This is one of the four such centers in whole of India.

 

OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this center is to bring Industry-Institution to a common forum, thereby mutually benefit each other through exchange of technology and other resources. Microsoft will contribute its software stack for Innovation Academy utilization, guidance, training in MS software relevant to the projects undertaken, ecosystem relationships, partnerships, entrepreneurship curriculum, MS technology mentoring, MS program connectivity along with annual ecosystem conferences and competitions whereas CGC will contribute through its infrastructure, skilled manpower and application development. Thus, the staff and students of CGC will benefit from this center by getting acquainted with the latest technologies developed by Microsoft like Windows Phone7 and Cloud Computing which will be a rage of the technological world in the days to come. Different workshops/seminars by the experts of Microsoft on latest technologies will help in updating the knowledge of staff and the students.

 

ACTIVITIES TO BE UNDERTAKEN

This Innovation center will help build and accelerate skills of the student community as the students will be working on different projects having practical applications enriching them technically. It will also help students in nurturing and harboring their Innovations, thus, implementing their ideas into products and fostering entrepreneurship resulting in financial gains also. Another important activity under the auspices of this center is the Ideation Fest. The idea behind this fest is to encourage the teachers and student community with their innovative approach and come out with ideas, which are more relevant to present day society yet innovative enough to reflect the mindset of today’s highly creative young generation. In this fest, innovative ideas, whether technical or non-technical, are invited from the students of different colleges. The first Ideation Fest was held on 5th May, 2011 in which 208 entries from the students of CGC and 192 entries from the other colleges across northern India had poured in. These ideas had been scrutinized by the steering committee comprising of members from industry, academia and Microsoft itself and the four best entries was recommended for handsome cash rewards .

 

ADVANTAGES LIKELY TO ACCRUE

Needless to say that in days to come, this center will not only provide ample opportunities to the student community to stand out effectively in this competitive world and groom themselves with all the latest technologies but also provide a solid path for bridging the gap between the industry and the institutions. This initiative by the CGC is being widely appreciated by the students, teaching faculty and parents and all are of the opinion that it is indeed a giant leap in bringing a fruitful industry-institution interaction for overall upgradation of the technical education and opening up wide opportunities for the student community. Also, it will prove to be yet another step in the direction of providing world class education to the students and providing them with ample hands-on industry exposure before entering the real challenging world of employment.