25 entrepreneurs chosen for MIT Global Startup Lab program

24 Jul '15

2 min read

A Brandix led initiative has chosen 25 aspiring Sri Lankan entrepreneurs with ideas for potentially game changing technology startups.

These 25 entrepreneurs have embarked on the 2015 MIT Global Startup Lab (GSL) program conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in partnership with WSO2, a leader in enterprise solutions.

Four MIT instructors are working with the GSL teams during the seven-week 'incubation' phase of the program, designed to identify, develop and commercialise successful technology-based enterprises.

“These instructors will help the entrepreneurs from idea validation to prototype by August 7, 2015 when the program ends with a demo day pitch,” a Brandix press release said.

“The decision this year to open up the program to working professionals has significantly elevated the extent of domain knowledge and experience among the prospective startups,” Joseph Yang, GSL country manager said.

Last year's MIT-GSL Sri Lanka program, also supported by Brandix, was limited to undergraduates and recent graduates.

The MIT-GSL Instructor team consists of technical lead Perla Villarreal, entrepreneurship lead Pallavi Mishra, entrepreneurship assistant Nitah Onsongo and Joseph Yang.

As a co-sponsor of the MIT-GSL Sri Lanka program for the second successive year, Brandix provides programmatic support in addition to mentorship and domain expertise to all teams.

“One of our principal focus areas is building an ecosystem for technological innovation,” said Udena Wickremesooriya, director of Brandix.

“The MIT-GSL Sri Lanka programme is one of several initiatives being supported by Brandix to stimulate technology startups, promote invention, innovation and advances in automation,” he added.

“We are supporting this program, because we believe that the future of the apparel industry will be significantly technology-dependent,” Wickremesooriya observed.

WSO2, the open source technology company that is redefining enterprise middleware is the co-sponsor of the 2015 MIT-GSL Sri Lanka program.

In addition to providing guidance and insights in the technology and IT domain, WSO2 is providing its training room at the WSO2 head office for the GSL classroom as well as helping to host the demo day.

The first MIT-GSL Sri Lanka program supported by Brandix last year resulted in eight possible start-ups of which four teams found funding for commercialisation of their proposals. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India

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