Boeing announced seven teams comprising university students and early-stage start-up entrepreneurs as winners of the third edition of Boeing University Innovation Leadership Development (BUILD) programme 2023-24.

The seven winning teams are Abyom SpaceTech and Defence Pvt Ltd and Green Aero Propulsion Pvt Ltd from Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FIIT) – IIT Delhi, Glovatrix Pvt Ltd from Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) – IIT Mumbai, dVerse Technologies Pvt Ltd from IIT Madras Incubation Cell, Backyard Creators Pvt. Ltd, BONV Technology Private Limited and Coratia Technologies Pvt Ltd from Technology Business Incubator (TBI) – KIIT, Bhubaneswar. These winners will be further supported by Boeing and their respective incubator partners for over a few months to help develop their ideas into market-ready and viable business solutions.

Sharath Kumar Bache Gowda, Chairman, Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Limited and Member of Legislative Assembly, Karnataka; C.B. Ananthakrishnan, CMD, HAL; Dr G. Satheesh Reddy, President, The Aeronautical Society of India (Former Secretary DD R&D, Chairman DRDO, and Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister), Dr Vinod Kumar, Director, Promotion Directorate at IN-SPACe, Department of Space, along with Boeing leadership and seven incubator partnersawarded the winners at the finale event organized at the new Boeing India Engineering & Technology Center (BIETC) campus, Bengaluru.

"BUILD has evolved into an aspirational and dynamic start-up platform, nurturing young entrepreneurial minds of the country with the right skills and support to scale up operations, develop cutting-edge technologies, and help implement ideas that impact not only the nation but the world at large. I want to congratulate our incubator partners for leading this programme to success over these years and would like to congratulate winners and the applicants for their active participation this year," said Salil Gupte, president, Boeing India. "We continue to remain committed to fostering innovation by nurturing the country's brightest talent and ideas through our industry-academia collaborations and partnerships", added Gupte.

Each of these seven teams received 10 lakh as a financial grant, and their ideas covered solutions for community development, the defence and space industry, and sustainability.

In its third edition, Boeing continues to partner with seven incubators, namely, SINE – IIT Mumbai, FIIT – IIT Delhi, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center – IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Madras Incubation Cell, Society for Innovation and Development – IISC Bengaluru, T-Hub Hyderabad, and TBI – KIIT Bhubaneshwar, to organize BUILD in India. The applicants were invited to submit ideas in the fields of aerospace and defense, technology start-up, social impact, and sustainability.

Ahmed Elsherbini, Vice President, Managing Director, Boeing India Engineering & Technology Center, and Chief Engineer, Boeing India said, "Every year, as we invite ideas for BUILD, we remain excited about the possibilities these young minds and their ideas bring for the country. The entire process of nurturing each idea to make it into a viable business solution is delivered through interactions between our engineers, technologists, partner incubators, and the student and start-up community. The mentorship, resources, and access to the right networks help pivot growth for these start-ups and entrepreneurs."

In 2023, BUILD attracted a record number of entrants, with over 1,200 ideas submitted by more than 2,200 students and start-up participants applying from tier 1, 2, and 3 cities across India.Following a stringent evaluation process, 75 shortlisted teams entered the regional boot camp, of which regional and national finalists received guidance from start-up ecosystem experts, incubator partners, and Boeing engineers to incubate ideas. Participants further received access to Boeing's innovation ecosystem.

Over the years, Boeing India has been helping contribute to skill development and capability building in the country through other programmes such as the HorizonX India Innovation Challenge, Accelerated Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Apprenticeship, and National Aeromodelling Competition with IIT.