Bangalore: Central Institute of Fisheries Education students, Santhana Kumar V. and Jerusha S., were awarded the first prize at Alltech Innovation Competition, India, hosted in Bengaluru recently. The two students received Rs. 1,00,000 for their outstanding competition entry ‘Aquaculture made cleaner and greener’. The concept was based on the fact that conventional intensive shrimp farming can deteriorate adjacent coastal areas when effluent waste is released.

Global animal health and nutrition company, Alltech through this competition celebrates business and entrepreneurship and also challenges the creative minds of university students. “Innovation is critical to our business, and this competition is a great manifestation of our programme,” said Matthew Smith, Vice President of Asia-Pacific for Alltech. The initial phase of the competition had submissions from 37 university teams from across the country. The final competition, held at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru, was judged by a diverse panel of industry leaders, venture capitalists, angel investors and entrepreneurs.

Finalists from six Universities battled in the competition, each presenting forward-thinking business plans on their innovative ideas in the areas of agriculture and sustainability.

The final teams and their projects included:

Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai: Venture idea to make aquaculture, especially shrimp farming, cleaner and greener.

Institute of Rural Management Anand: For-profit venture capitalizing on the opportunities that the flora of the Western Ghats of India offer with the help of tribal communities.

National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad: Venture idea utilizing the wastage from banana plantations to create various value-added products.

National Dairy Research Institute, Bengaluru: Venture idea proposed to suitably standardize, process and package whey as a potential processing liquid replacer for both industrial applications and domestic usage.

University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru: Venture based on Simarouba tea, which provides the medicinal values and healing wonders of its parent plant, also called the ‘Paradise Tree’.

Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri: Venture utilizing temporary immersion bioreactors for rapid multiplication and growth of elite plantlets in banana, sugarcane, pineapple, ornamental plants, etc.

“As part of Alltech’s education engagement, these programmes are designed to connect with agribusiness Universities in a meaningful and useful manner and create sustainable growth platforms,” said Godha Govind, Asia Pacific Educational Engagement Manager of Alltech.

The Alltech Innovation Competition reflects Alltech’s commitment to lifelong education and the inspiration of innovation and entrepreneurship. This was the second year that the Alltech Innovation Competition was held in India, initially launched in the U.S. in 2012. The competition is also held annually in Kentucky, USA; Dublin, Ireland; and Brazil.

Alltech continues to work with universities to ensure the development of talented and educated Indian agribusiness graduates through education programs such as the Alltech Young Scientist program and the Alltech Career Development Program.