With its huge consumer market, fiscal target to achieve greater and consistent growth rates in the economy, and growing funds being made available by the government to support innovation, India is becoming a haven for young entrepreneurs to start out on their own. 

The recent spate of growing valuations of Indian entrepreneurial ventures, emergence of entrepreneur role models, changing perspective among youngsters due to the positive outlook for startups and increased financial as well as logistical backing are encouraging more and more young graduates to set up their own ventures rather than slugging it out for cushy jobs. This trend is a healthy sign for the Indian economy and a positive push for India's future entrepreneurial growth.

So why are we as a country of the top recognized educational institutions in the world not turning out greater volumes and quality of entrepreneurs in the country, creating more innovation that will transform technology and economic progress? How can we cultivate more entrepreneurs, identify the diamonds in the rough, and get better at nurturing those who have the potential of growing into market changers. 

There is a need for sustained support at the grassroots level for these innovators, to hand hold them beyond just financial support to understand whether/how their innovation can be applied in the real world, strategize on how to transform their innovation into a commercial venture, mentor young entrepreneurs on the basics of business strategy, marketing, revenue models and more, and provide the venture with technical expertise, physical testing labs, long term sustained mentoring beyond just infrastructure to build out and grow their idea. 

Today, there are separate pieces of the whole ecosystem but the innovator-entrepreneur has to navigate their way through the various resources by themselves. Many don't event start because they don't know where to begin and many give up along the way because they don't know where to go next. There is an urgent need for an integrated ecosystem. 

IvyCap Ventures launched 'IvyCamp' in 2014 with a vision to create an integrated ecosystem and marketplace built around a core unifying element – the Global Alumni Networks. Ivycamp is India's First Unified Platform for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Leveraging the Power of the Global Alumni Network across India's Educational Institutions. Ivy Camp's goal is to cultivate and foster innovative ideas, to build new entrepreneurs, and help entrepreneurs transform their innovative ideas into value that will influence our economy and technical progress. We aim to create intellectual capital across our institutions and transform that into economic value.

IvyCamp Differentiates Itself in a Few Areas:

• Backing of a Venture Capital Fund that believes in an ecosystem approach: IvyCap Ventures has established a first of its kind “Give Back” program where the team gives back a percentage of its profits to their alma mater to be used towards entrepreneurial activities.
   
• Innovation platform that leverages resources across campuses: IvyCamp is India's first common platform across the educational campuses including the IITs, IIMS, ISB, and BITS.
   
• Mentorship Model: IvyCap Ventures has created a unique Mentorship Model with alumni engagement from across the globe that is being leveraged by IvyCamp.
   
• Strong process to Engage with Entrepreneurs: IvyCamp has assigned a team of faculty and students in each campus to facilitate ongoing campus engagement. IvyCamp will be an online platform to engage and network, and will have activities across campuses to provide ongoing forums for engagement.
   
• Passionate involvement from the Alumni across the world: India's first common Endowment platform across the campuses of the top institutions.