IIT Madras team wins NY award

The team of IIT Madras comprising Vinayshankar B Kulkarni, Sriram Kalyanraman and Ashish Dattani has won New York City’s ‘Next Big Business Idea’ contest. The contest was to pitch a business idea that will improve quality of life and create jobs and continue to attract and retain talented entrepreneurs. The team has also bagged a cash prize of $20,000 from Mayor of New York city in USA, Michael Bloomberg for the innovation they have done for storage of electricity for New York City, which has interface with the grid.

Bloomberg desired that the innovative work should be implemented by the Indian team in New York. He has requested them to start a company in Manhattan in New York and has offered rent-free space for two years. Vinayshankar’s other two team mates are in the final year in IIT Madras.

Vinayshankar B Kulkarni is a B Tech graduate from IIT Madras and has passed out in 2008 with a gold medal. He has won gold medal for his work in energy-related project. He had worked under guidance of Professor Ajit Kolar of IIT Madras. Vinayshankar’s team of ‘Greenext Techology Solutions’ is serious about starting a venture in New York. When asked why not take up venture in India and in Karnataka, Vinay said “It is a nascent technology. First it is meant to be implemented in USA considering infrastructural facilities. We can plan to replicate in India subsequently”.

Their winning idea could solve New York’s energy problems, but to implement the plan the winners would first need a work visa.

“The sad truth is that the talented young men and women you see here are likely to have a difficult time to get a visa to grow their business here. Ultimately that means that some other city is likely to benefit from their ideas and the jobs it creates. It is time to fix this crazy broken system,” said Bloomberg.

With unemployment at an all time high, the immigration debate has become a heated one in the US. One in five New Yorkers is an immigrant, many of whom have been returning to their countries because of the economic recession. “We are educating the best and the brightest and then we do not give them green cards. Too many people think that immigrants are threatening but in fact immigrants are the solution to the problem,” said Bloomberg.

As Washington debates whether to increase or decrease work visas for foreigners, the Mayor of New York - a city of immigrants struggling to fight an economic recession - points out that legal immigration must be made easier. He says America needs it and immigrants deserve it.