GE India challenges campuses on ideas for - Early Health Technology and Potable Water Solutions for micro-communities.
New Delhi, December 6, 2006 - GE India hosted an all-India Inter-Campus Challenge - "Imagination Breakthrough - In India, for India" during the first-ever GE Day in India, held on November 13th at The Grand, New Delhi. The two-day event, attended by GE business leaders and employees attracted over 70 student-teams from various Management and Engineering Schools across India out of which 24 selected teams made presentations to GE's judging panel on two themes significant to GE's businesses in India -- "Early Health Technology" and "Potable Water Solutions for micro-communities".
"We are at the cross-roads of a very important milestone for India as it takes the big leap to realize its ambition of double digit growth in GDP. To unshackle its past and pave the way towards consistent progress, India has identified two clear priorities -- first is to improve the quality of life with a focus on education, rural healthcare, water availability and rural electrification and secondly, economic growth where the focus is on better infrastructure with power generation, infrastructure, transportation and agriculture reform," said Scott R Bayman, President and CEO, GE India. Mr. Bayman who gave away the awards to winning teams also talked about GE's plans of riding the India growth wave and achieving its growth vision of 8 billion dollars in revenues and 8 billion dollars in assets by the year 2010.
"Our goal is to help predict, diagnose, treat and monitor disease earlier so people can live life to the fullest. Shifting resources to 'early health' and developing technologies that allow healthcare providers to diagnose disease at the earliest possible stage, when there can be many treatment options, is better medicine. At GE, we believe in 'early health' and we are investing in it. The technologies we are developing are enabling clinicians to provide more promising options to patients," said V Raja, President & CEO, GE Healthcare South Asia & Managing Director, Wipro GE Healthcare.
Students from top campuses came forward with innovative ideas backed by strong business models to make their ideas workable. While IIT, Roorkee, winner of the competition, suggested the design of a Solar Membrane Thermal driven distillation plant, MDI- Gurgaon, the first runner-up, introduced the concept of "Ek balti dalo, ek nikalo" - for each bucket of impure water that a rural household brings, a bucket of purified water will be given back. The second runner up, XLRI, Jamshedpur presented the concept of "Jatropha Farming" under which farmers should be involved in setting up seed distribution centres. Other interesting ideas were presented by S.P. Jain that suggested an Early Health Detection system through "ashwamedh" mobile van systems in rural and kiosks in urban areas, while IIM, Ahmedabad proposed the use of coal ash as one of the home grown solutions to safe drinking water.
Other teams included ISB, Hyderabad, Manipal Institute of Technology, IT-BHU and IIM-Kohzikode.
The winning team from IIT, Roorkee received a cash prize of Rs. 100,000 while MDI, Gurgaon and XLRI, Jamshedpur walked away with cash awards of Rs. 75,000 and Rs. 50,000 respectively. Three other finalists, IMT, Ghaziabad, BITS-Pilani and IIM, Bangalore were awarded Rs. 25,000 each.
GE has a deep-rooted relationship with management and engineering campuses in India and engages with them in building its leadership pipeline. This year, the company plans to hire close to 500 students across its Financial Services, Technology, Infrastructure and Healthcare businesses. GE has established Management Development Programs, which are designed to build technical competence and leadership skills in students who join these programs. Besides this, GE Corporate in India runs global Leadership Programs across functions that groom students to take on senior leadership responsibilities across its businesses.
GE (NYSE: GE) is Imagination at Work -- a diversified technology, media and financial services company focused on solving some of the world's toughest problems. With products and services ranging from aircraft engines, power generation, water processing and security technology to medical imaging, business and consumer financing, media content and advanced materials, GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.ge.com
Purnima SahniMohanty
GE Corporate Manager - Communications
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