BHAU institute of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership’ (BIEL) at COEP - Pune - India.

COEP has officially announced the establishment of “BHAU Institute for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership” (BIEL). BIEL will educate men and women to be entrepreneurial leaders in a rapidly changing world and prepare them to identify opportunities and initiate actions that result in genuine accomplishment. COEP and BIEL students will be groomed to be the key contributors in the world’s established enterprises as well as emerging ventures.

Due to the generosity of the founders prof. Sanjay Inamdar and prof. Narendra Kale, BIEL has exceptional support for setting up of its educational and research activities.

In addition to being leaders in their academic fields, the founders and faculty also have hands-on business experience as consultants, entrepreneurs, investors, advisors, board members, and executives and teach what they have already put into practice. Following their footsteps, Bhau institute’s faculty will work with business leaders at organizations of all sizes around the world, updating and refreshing course content annually to ensure relevance to current and emerging practice.

Bhau institute’s commitment to being at the forefront of the current and evolving practice of business will lead to education and research programs that reflect the realities of the marketplace.

The first Microsoft Innovation Centre in India will be housed in Bhau Institute:

Microsoft Innovation Centers help foster innovation through hands-on experiences and the use of custom courses. This includes many activities for ISVs, startups, partners, students and entrepreneurs. The goal of the centers is to foster innovation and growth in local software economies with focus on planning, researching, and developing of innovative software solutions with an ecosystem made up of industry, academic, and government partners.

BIEL - Bhau Institute News - Clippings:

Indian Express - Pune, October 15 Alumnus, friend to invest a crore each for setting up an institute for benefit of students Aiming to not only produce engineering graduates but also a few entrepreneurship aspirants, the College of Engineering Pune (CoEP) on Wednesday said it was starting an institute for innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership. Significantly, an alumnus of CoEP and his entrepreneur friend have come forward to set up the institute and have invested Rs one crore each as seed money for it, without expecting any return.

Founder-chairman of Kale Consultants Narendra Kale and founder of Flucon Equipments Sanjay Inamdar have come forward to set up the institute at CoEP. Kale, Inamdar and director of CoEP Anil Sahasrabuddhe announced setting up of the Bhau Institute for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership at a press conference on Wednesday. The institute is a result of entrepreneurship courses run at CoEP for last two years.

“We started the entrepreneurship course in 2007. The course was given as an elective (optional subject) for the final year students. So far we have conducted the course for two batches with 60 students in each batch. Considering the response to the course, we decided to start a dedicated institute on the suggestion of F C Kohli, chairman of board of governance of CoEP,” said Kale.

The course has produced one company, which deals with the wastewater management and has already got contracts from various companies including PCMC for the purpose of wastewater management.The institute will benefit the students of CoEP, as the course will be offered as a part of the curriculum of the last year and students will not have to pay anything for the course. “The institute will be built on 21,000 sq ft land in the CoEP campus and house an incubation centre. The structure of the institute will be an eco-building and will be complete in nine months,” said Kale.

“The incubation centre will help students in the initial stages of starting a company,” said Inamdar. “The institute will also run three to six month certificate courses for budding entrepreneurs and second generation entrepreneurs who may not be CoEP students. But they will be charged for the courses,” he said.

“We are trying to rope in faculty from Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the course. Industry people, chartered accountants and management experts will also come as visiting faculty,” said Kale.

Times of India -16 Oct 2008, 0214 hrs IST - Pune gets Microsoft’s innovation centre

The city will be home to software giant Microsoft’s first innovation centre (MIC) in the country. The idea is to promote innovation and joint projects involving industry, students and faculty amongst others.

To be located as part of a new institute, which was announced by the College of Engineering Pune (CoEP) here on Thursday, the MIC’s focus will be on areas integral to the growth of software economies.

Speaking to TOI, a Microsoft spokesperson said, “Developing skills and intellectual capital, industry partnerships and funding for software companies, will be the core thrust.”

“CoEP is the first local partner to get into an alliance for the MIC. Microsoft is looking at other institutions too to be a part of this venture,” the spokesperson said.

She said, “Good academic institutions, talent and a vibrant industry spurred the move to set up the MIC in Pune.” The company, however, refused to elaborate on details regarding investment.

Microsoft has 110 MICs operating in 60 countries across the world. These centres form part of the IT giant’s strategy to develop and exploit synergies with academic institutions, industry and teaching community. Microsoft already has a research centre in Bangalore and a development centre in Hyderabad.

Earlier, CoEP director Anil Sahasrabudhe and noted entrepreneurs Narendra Kale and Sanjay Inamdar jointly announced the launch of the ‘Bhau institute of innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership’ (BIEL).

As a joint venture of CoEP and ‘CoEP Alumni’, BIEL is the brainchild of Kale and Inamdar, who have donated Rs 1 crore each for the project. The institute will focus on training students as well as second-generation entrepreneurs in setting up ventures of their own.

“BIEL will offer three- to six-month courses in entrepreneurship and innovation,” said Kale. “The curriculum for these courses is being developed in consultation with two internationally acclaimed professors from the US,” he added.

Sahasrabudhe said, “Microsoft has agreed to house its MIC on one floor of the proposed new building for the BIEL and will provide modern instructional computing infrastructure and training modules.”