Encouraging students to create innovations

As India witnesses a surge in new startups across industries where young entrepreneurs are taking the risk of building something useful for the society, Suchit Jain, VP of Strategy and Business Development at Dassault Systemes, has stressed that the goal is to motivate students and youth in the country to create the next big innovations for the world.

Jain, who holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from IIT-Bombay and a master's degree in structural mechanics from the University of Southern California, said that they have been working with startups from the very beginning, when "we started 25 years ago".

"We invested a lot in this education and we continued to do so because it forms a virtuous cycle where the students would come out and be motivated to create the next innovations of the world," he said on the sidelines of the a3D Experience World 2023' here.

He went on to say that this works out well whether they start a startup by themselves or go on to be employed by an entrepreneur. "Our goal has always been not to just give them free access to software but to put them in a network in various ways for them to succeed in their ventures," Jain noted.

When asked about empowering youth in India, Jain said they have been working a lot with students, especially women.

"When I visited India in November 2022, as part of our design competition called 'Aakruti-Shaping Imagination' which saw the participation of more than 320 colleges from all over the country, there was a prize for an all-girls team.

"There were several girls from engineering backgrounds who had submitted their designs. The idea here was to motivate them," he added.

Jain shared the example of SamriddhiPandey, Founder and CEO of the Mumbai-based Defy Aerospace that designs, develops and builds a unique drone technology for commercial cargo operations to help the healthcare sector in the country.

"Her story is very interesting. She's making large-sized drones for the delivery of medical supplies. What is amazing here is that she has made her name in a field which is generally dominated by men," he informed.

Jain earlier said that he found out that a lot of startups and programmes were government funded and private organisations were not ready to put their money in.

"But this is now changing. In the last 3-4 years, hardware startups have been coming up in India. We see a positive outlook for the coming time with this kind of change and with the greater participation of women," said the executive.

"When I went to my engineering school (IIT-Bombay), we had very few female counterparts, but the scenario now is completely different," he added.

The startup ecosystem in India is growing fast and in the next few years, "we look forward to more innovations, more entrepreneurs, with even a greater participation of women".

India continues to be the third largest tech startup ecosystem globally (after the US and China). The country also added the second highest number of unicorns in the world, with over 23 added in the CY2022, according to a latest Nasscom-Zinnov report.