Mumbai: The Economic Times brings back The Power of Ideas, India?s largest entrepreneurship development programme. It aims to encourage individuals with a business idea to come forward and connects them with relevant mentors and investors. The programme was first launched in 2009 when it received over 12,000 business ideas followed by over 16,000 the next year. This year, armed with a bigger corpus of funds, the initiative seeks to transform more business ideas into real businesses.

According to Ravi Dhariwal, Chief Executive Officer - Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd, ?We at The Economic Times believe that the future of the Indian economy lies in the hands of young entrepreneurs. It is the energy and drive of these young people with an idea that will give India its next big leap. I am happy to say that The Power of Ideas initiative has provided critical impetus to many such ideas.?

The programme is conducted by The Economic Times in partnership with the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. DST brings to the programme its immense expertise and relationships in the entrepreneurial space as well as a corpus of Rs. 6.2 crore of guaranteed funds. The funds are open to all those with genuine innovation on their mind, regardless of whether they have just an idea or a fully functional start-up.

Working alongside ET and DST is IIM Ahmedabad?s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE).CIIE is a leader in the field of mentoring, guiding and making business ideas investor-ready. The greatest value CIIE will add to The Power of Ideas will be by way of their wide network of mentors and investors who will evaluate every single business idea received as part of the programme. The most deserving ideas will be given personalized mentoring. In the last phase, entrepreneurs who make it to the final cut-off will be taken through a nine-day period of intensive mentoring by CIIE, as a residential programme at IIM Ahmedabad.This unique public-private-academia partnership remains in place in 2012 to drive the programme to new heights.