Capgemini, one of the world’s leading providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, announced the winner of its global Innovators Race competition.

The winners – third year Computer Science and Engineering students from BMS College of Engineering Bangalore, Ankit Agarwal (22) and Chirantan Mahipal (20), known as team ‘Technetium’, took home the first prize, along with $25,000 in cash, for their comprehensive e-learning platform designed to bring education to all in India.

“We are on cloud nine,” said Agarwal. “We based our e-learning platform on our own experiences and the challenges that we faced during our education. We also wanted to overcome the country’s issues of multiple languages and minimal connectivity. We are now totally focused on making our solution live, and an educated India a reality.”

Next milestone The duo will travel to Capgemini’s San Francisco Exchange in June, where they will work with Capgemini’s experts to bring their solution to life.

Their innovation journey will be filmed right through to its fruition and will be available for viewing online, later this year.

Participants had to design solutions to real life business challenges set by global brands.

‘Technetium’ was asked by Reliance Jio to create an innovative learning platform, where teachers and students can connect without cultural or lingual barriers. ‘Natura Ready’ was asked by Brazilian cosmetics brand Natura to suggest a digital mobile solution that brings Natura’s business development consultants closer to consumers.

The panel The top two teams, voted into the final by the public, showcased their creations to a panel of industry gurus comprising Lanny Cohen, Capgemini’s Global Chief Technology Officer; Mark Thompson, International Editor of CNN Money; and Dan Bieler, Principal Analyst at Forrester.

The judges scored proposals on technology and innovation, feasibility, creativity and originality, and sustainability. After the initial pitch, each team then took part in a Q&A session.

The journey After competing in heats at a local level, Technetium took part in Capgemini’s international Innovators Race web series, broadcast during February and March 2016, where the winning teams from the UK, Netherlands, France, Brazil, India and North America each showcased their creative solutions to real business challenges set by six major brands: Barclays (for the UK), AccorHotels (for France), Natura (for Brazil), Reliance Jio (for India), Openbaar Ministerie – the Netherlands’ public prosecution service (for the Netherlands) and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (for North America).

An online public vote then followed to determine the two finalist teams.

Related Topics