The third edition of the Innovation, Design and Entrepreneurship (IDE) Bootcamp 2026 was inaugurated at Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Institute of Technology (DBRAIT) in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, marking the participation of local teams in the national initiative for the first time.
Organised by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) through its Innovation Cell, the five-day bootcamp aims to promote innovation, design thinking and entrepreneurial skills among students. The programme is being conducted as part of Phase I across selected centres in the country, with participation from multiple teams nationwide.
The inauguration was led by Secretary (Education) L. Kumar, who addressed participants on the importance of developing curiosity and a questioning mindset from an early stage. He underlined the need to strengthen scientific temper among students and highlighted the role of school-level infrastructure, including engineering laboratories, and teacher capacity building in fostering innovation. Participants were encouraged to make effective use of the bootcamp sessions over the five-day period.
Principal of DBRAIT, Sanmukh Kaur, emphasised the importance of identifying real-world problems and validating ideas through minimum viable products. The session also focused on understanding market needs as a critical component of building sustainable entrepreneurial solutions.
The bootcamp sessions are being conducted by resource persons including Sarim Moin, Innovation Officer at the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell, and Anbumathi, an Innovation Venture Catalyst and Design Thinking expert from the Wadhwani Foundation. They addressed participants on strategies related to developing entrepreneurial ideas and encouraged them to actively engage in the learning process during the programme.
The event began with a welcome address by Deepanshu Singh, Co-Convener of the IDE Bootcamp, while the vote of thanks was delivered by Shraboni Mallick.
Later in the day, participants also joined the national-level inauguration virtually, alongside 30 other teams from across the country. The national session was addressed by AICTE Chairman Yogesh Singh, who noted that teams from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are participating in the IDE Bootcamp for the first time in its third edition.
The bootcamp is structured to provide hands-on exposure to innovation processes, design thinking frameworks and entrepreneurial approaches, with the objective of building problem-solving capabilities among students.
The initiative marks an effort to integrate technical education with practical innovation skills, as institutions in the Islands engage with national-level platforms aimed at fostering entrepreneurship and innovation-driven learning.
