Bhubaneswar, April 17: The XAVIER-EMLYON business school, a one-of-its kind Indo-French collaboration between XIM University, Bhubaneswar and emlyon business school, France and the only academic high performance center of excellence in sports industry management of Odisha organised the second edition of SPORT IT virtually on April 15 and 16.
The event was organised in collaboration with the State Sports and Youth Services Department, Tourism Department, Start-Up Odisha and FICCI and witnessed the participation of over 30 start-ups, investors and industry experts from different parts of the country.
The event took place on an exclusively curated platform of FICCI and the theme this year was ‘Sports, Tourism and Technology’.
The inaugural session was attended by Tourism Department Additional Secretary Durga Prasad Mohapatra, Sports and Youth Services, Department Joint Secretary Ranjit Parida, Aaj Tak Managing Editor (Sports) Vikrant Gupta, Wrestling Federation of India Secretary General, VN Prasood, Sports App founder Shashank Mishra, XEBS Dean Prof Arun Kumar Paul and Chairman Ashley Fernandes.
This was followed by the kicking off by the Startup Mashup which was a virtual exhibition for startups working in the sports, technology and tourism domains. The first day also saw students and entrepreneurs participating in the National Innovation Challenge that was organised in collaboration with Start-up Odisha and AIC Nalanda. The contest was opened a month back on predefined themes for ideas/prototypes in sports and tourism sectors and the finale saw the participants pitching in for the same.
Later in the evening there was a panel discussion on the subject ‘Sports and Tourism: Responsibilities and Opportunities’.
The second day began with an ‘Investor’s Corner’, an exclusive interaction session where emerging entrepreneurs got the opportunity to pitch before investors, which included ah! Ventures, Kolkata Sports Ventures and thinQbate.
This was followed by a panel discussion on ‘Sports Industries in India: Management and Mindset Challenge’.
The day also saw the Tourism Department and the Sports Department giving a window to the entrepreneurs to pitch about their start-ups/products.
The concluding panel discussion focused on ‘Future of Global Sports: Technology, Innovation and Inclusion.’
The concluding ceremony of the event, sponsored by OMC and supported by the Industries Department, witnessed the announcement of all winners.
For NIC, in the student category, the first prize, a cash award of Rs 30,000 went to Prajukta Mohanty of SAI International School, Bhubaneswar and the runners up prize, a cash reward of Rs 20,000, was given to Spandan Srinivas and team, of XEBS.
In the entrepreneur category the prizes went to Ardour Football Academy LLP founder Jaydev Mahapatra and Bhimkund Eco Tours founder Zahid Akhtar. They were awarded Rs 50,000 and Rs 30,000 respectively, all sponsored by Start-Up Odisha.
The winners of Start-up Mashup were Sujit Panigrahi and his Haryana based Sequoia Fitness and Sports Technology Pvt. Ltd. and Ananta Prasad, Founder of Mutt Hospitality Ventures Pvt. Ltd. Both were awarded cash prizes of Rs 2 lakh each on behalf of the departments.
