India

Faculty of Arts & Science

School of Cities

Entrepreneurship

Innis College

Urban Studies

Subheadline

Undergraduate course in partnership with Ashoka University, near New Delhi, is one of many initiatives now facilitated by the U of T India Foundation

Samantha “Sam” Guevara says accompanying two waste pickers in Pune, India as they went about their daily work offered a window into the social dynamics of the city of more than seven million.

“What interested me was the stigmatization that waste pickers tend to receive from the general public juxtaposed with the pride they have in their work,” says Guevara, a fourth- year student at the ��Ƶ who is pursuing a double major in human geography and political science.

The workers she joined belong to SWaCH Waste Pickers, a co-operative of self-employed waste collectors who are contributing to the region’s environmental and financial well-being.

Guevara, meanwhile, is one of nine students from U of T who, along with nine students from India’s Ashoka University, a private liberal arts institution near New Delhi, recently explored three city-building projects identified by Indian non-profit and civil society organizations as part of a U of T undergraduate course.

Students from U of T and Ashoka gather at the Centre for Development Studies and Activities in Pune for a lecture by a local consulting firm (photo courtesy of Reyansh Lokare)

Offered through the U of T India Foundation and School of Cities India, the International Multidisciplinary Urban Capstone Projects course also saw students join guides for walking tours in Mumbai, attend lectures and develop what Aditi Mehta, an assistant professor, teaching stream, in urban studies at Innis College, calls “critical consciousness.”

The course is one of numerous activities facilitated in recent months by the U of T India Foundation, a partnership between U of T and Tata Trusts. Others include: a pitch competition and incubation program with Social Alpha, an incubator for social impact startups, that saw U of T faculty members participate on the technical jury that helped select 10 winning India-based entrepreneurs; and research projects that bring together U of T faculty members and India-based partners to work on building more resilient and sustainable cities.

Kunjpreet Arora, co-founder and director of India-based brick and paver upcycling startup Angirus, delivers a presentation at a social launch event (photo courtesy of Jake Karpouzis)

For the students involved, Mehta says questioning “why things are the way they are” and understanding their place in the world is a crucial part of their education – and one of the many takeaways they will bring back to Toronto.

“It’s about seeing how things are done in the east and thinking about how we can bring some of this problem solving back to the west,” says Mehta, who accompanied the students to India.

Jake Karpouzis, a fourth-year student in public policy and urban studies, spent his time exploring how the makeshift parking lots and garbage dumps beneath city overpasses, or flyovers, in Pune can be transformed into more valuable spaces that better serve surrounding communities.

“We're putting together a blog of the trip so the various organizations involved can read about it and take those experiences back to the classroom,” says Karpouzis, adding that he was excited by the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in urban studies in another country.

Ashoka University students speak to a vegetable vendor under a flyover in Pune (photo courtesy of Jake Karpouzis)

Kaitlyn Chan, a fourth-year urban studies student, concentrated on transgender studies while in India.

“Our program focused on skill development for the transgender community in Pune,” Chan says. “That includes access to government interventions, employment opportunities, self-efficacy and creating safe spaces.”

Professor Mehta, who created much of the programming with the U of T India Foundation, says the course was often life-changing for U of T students.

“The Indian students were amazing. They really took it upon themselves to be hosts for the Canadian students and they just kept asking, ‘When can we come to Toronto?’,” she says, adding that she is working on a reciprocal learning exchange in both countries.

Karan Singh, a professor of computer science and the associate director of School of Cities India, sees the capstone course as an opportunity to further strengthen U of T’s global reputation.

“We’re looking at U of T as a global brand and in India that is increasingly evident,” he says.

Professor Aditi Mehta (second from left) with students from U of T and Ashoka University and SWaCH workers on the streets of Pune (photo courtesy of Reyansh Lokare)

Andrea Russell, director of international relations in U of T’s Office of the Vice-President, International, says she’s thrilled with how the experience resonated with U of T students.

“It’s a wonderful example of global collaboration and an amazing opportunity for our students to increase their global fluency.”

U of T grad ‘moves mountains’ to earn engineering degree

mattimar — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 13:44:40 +0000

U of T grad ‘moves mountains’ to earn engineering degree

mattimar Wed, 06/12/2024 - 09:44

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Vishakha Pujari, who receives her bachelor’s degree in applied science on June 18, shows off the iron ring that’s often worn by engineering graduates (supplied image)

Mariam Matti

Topic

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Convocation 2024

Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

Joseph Wong

Subheadline

Vishakha Pujari says she is the first person from her rural village in India to attend a foreign university

Vishakha Pujari is profoundly committed to paying it forward.

The first student at the ��Ƶ to be supported by a Karta Catalyst Scholarship, Pujari arrived at U of T in 2019 from the small Indian village of Walandi – about a five-hour drive from Hyderabad – to study industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

In addition to her schoolwork, she found time to host workshops for students from her high school and even donated some of her scholarship money back to the Karta Initiative – an organization dedicated to providing equitable access to higher education to India’s low-income rural youth.

“If I am getting something, I should make sure I am giving back,” Pujari says.

On June 18, Pujari is set to cross the stage in Convocation Hall – and then head back to her new job as a software design analyst in Montreal. While her parents are unable to attend due to the cost of flying to Toronto, they hope to watch the convocation livestream. Pujari, meanwhile, says she plans to meet up with her mentors at U of T and possibly have dinner with friends.

Reflecting on her time at U of T, which included a one-year co-op, she recalls the initial culture shock of moving from Walandi to Toronto – a city that she had never visited before.

“It was the second time I was on a flight,” she says. “I’m from a village so we don’t see many tall buildings there. My residence had 28 floors, so it was all a new experience.”

Pujari grew up the youngest of three siblings on her family’s sugarcane and soybean farm. She learned the value of hard work from her parents, who woke up at 5 a.m. each day to tend to their land before going to neighbouring farms to earn extra money.

When she was 12, she attended a government-run school, located about 80 kilometres from Walandi, and spent nine months of the year living on the campus – a long period of separation from her parents.

Pujari first learned about the Karta Initiative when she was 16 – and says the program’s emphasis on integrity, perseverance and community service resonated deeply.

She became a member after undergoing a rigorous selection process and, over the course of two years, received mentorship, academic support, and opportunities for personal development.

Receiving her acceptance to U of T and the Karta Catalyst Scholarship was a life-changing moment – one that meant all her hard work and sacrifices paid off.

“It was really exciting and scary,” she says. “My parents were really happy because no one from our village has gone to study at a foreign university.”

Karta Scholars receive funding for tuition and living expenses, personal and professional development, internship placements, and career transition support. In addition to working with their academic advisers, scholars are also connected with a faculty mentor and participate in numerous enrichment activities with other scholarship students at U of T.

Although she was accustomed to living apart from her family, being in Toronto brought new challenges.

“The classes I was used to had no more than 40 students,” she says. “When I came here, I was like, ‘Oh my God, there are so many people.’ For a moment, I was like, ‘Am I an introvert?’”

She worried that her English-speaking skills weren’t up to par.

“It was exciting to meet students from different countries, but at the same time overwhelming,” she says.

At the same time, she was unable to travel back to India to see her parents and siblings for three years due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Pujari found guidance and reassurance in the form of mentors. In her first year, she met Joseph Wong, U of T’s vice-president, international, and a professor in the department of political science and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy in the Faculty of Arts & Science, and the two kept in touch with throughout Pujari’s time at U of T.

They would discuss everything from challenges Pujari was facing to her future plans – which she says may include pursuing a master’s in business administration and starting her own business.

“Her resilience is so impressive,” Wong says, noting the many obstacles Pujari overcame to become a U of T student. “It’s pretty incredible what she’s done, and to hear now that she’s graduating and has a job lined up is really gratifying.”

Pujari also received mentorship from Chirag Variawa, director, first-year curriculum and associate professor, teaching stream, in U of T’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. He says her “unbridled curiosity, determination, and intelligence” is nothing short of inspirational.

“Over the years, I've seen her grow into a professional who moves mountains not just with the strength of her character, but the goodness of her heart as well – and that's exactly what the world needs,” he says.

Through it all, Pujari says her family has been among her biggest supporters.

“My father used to come with me to workshops in Mumbai, which is 12 hours away from our village,” she says. “My sister was also really supportive and helped me with my English.”

“They’re really excited and happy I’m graduating.”

U of T Centre in India launches in Mumbai in partnership with Tata Trusts

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 00:22:16 +0000

U of T Centre in India launches in Mumbai in partnership with Tata Trusts

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 01/31/2023 - 19:22

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(Photo by Peter Adams/Getty Images)

Topic

Research & Innovation

The ��Ƶ launched The ��Ƶ Centre in India today in Mumbai in partnership with Tata Trusts, one of India’s largest philanthropic organizations.

Tata Trusts has been a longstanding collaborator with U of T, supporting researchers across the university to address health care, water, energy and poverty challenges. The centre will give focus to this collaboration with an emphasis on urban research and entrepreneurship, bringing together leading scholars and entrepreneurs from Canada and India to develop groundbreaking research and innovation to benefit people in India and around the world.

U of T President Meric Gertler and Vice-President, International Joseph Wong announced the launch at a roundtable on urban transitions that was held in Mumbai in partnership with Social Alpha, a social innovations accelerator supported by Tata Trusts. The discussion highlighted key challenges faced by Indian cities in their journey towards net-zero emissions, and outlined the role of research-backed deep science innovations in enabling cities to solve for the most pressing environmental challenges of our time.

“The ��Ƶ is one of the world’s top-ranked universities with one of the world’s most extensive global research networks – and our faculty are deeply engaged in partnerships with academic and industry leaders here in India and across the globe,” President Gertler said. “The ��Ƶ Centre in India will play a vital role in expanding and building on these collaborations, creating new opportunities for scholars and innovators from both Canada and India to share knowledge, collaborate on research and develop solutions to pressing social development and economic challenges. 

“We are delighted to partner with Tata Trusts, one of the world’s leading philanthropic organizations, to help further our commitment to growing our global network for learning and innovation.”

As part of the urban research centre, the ��Ƶ School of Cities will establish an alliance to build a network of Canadian and Indian researchers who will collaborate on addressing critical urban issues in India and around the world. The entrepreneurship hub, meanwhile, will help connect innovators and entrepreneurs from U of T and India, offering opportunities to share knowledge and resources and providing access to new markets. 

“Collaboration for development, and to magnify the effects of innovation has been at the heart of the Trusts’ strategy to bring about sustainable change for communities who need it the most,” said R Pavithra Kumar, Chief Programme Director, Tata Trusts. “This partnership with the ��Ƶ and the establishment of The ��Ƶ Centre in India will amalgamate new research and innovations with historical knowledge of community engagement to develop skills, address urban environmental and economic issues and develop a model for success that can be replicated across communities in India.”

The centre further deepens U of T’s engagement with India, which includes collaborative research partnerships and mutual opportunities for students, faculty and entrepreneurs.  While the centre will not be a satellite campus, Wong said, it will open doors and create opportunities for students, researchers and startups in both countries. 

The new centre will be working closely with Tata Trusts and Social Alpha to co-ordinate reciprocal student exchanges and competitions, support emerging startups and develop networks in both innovation ecosystems.   

“We look forward to increasing the university’s already strong connections to India,” Wong said. “In addition to our many partnerships and alumni engagement, U of T welcomed more than 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students from India last year, including high-achieving, low-income students through our collaboration with the Karta Initiative, also one of Tata Trusts’ partners. At the same time, more than 300 U of T students travelled to India for academic, research and professional experience over the past five years.

“The centre will help expand on this essential exchange of ideas and expertise.” 

“I am pleased to witness the launch of this collaboration between the ��Ƶ and Tata Trusts,” said Diedrah Kelly, Consul General of Canada in Mumbai. “The focus on urban research will provide great value to both Canada and India, which will grow into engagement between Indian and Canadian innovators, entrepreneurs and researchers. I look forward to following this initiative and the contributions it makes to the shared goal of sustainable economic growth with environmental consciousness.”

U of T also has an ongoing educational partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay that includes the Indo-Canadian Entrepreneurship Exchange, an exchange program that aims to develop a two-way innovation talent pipeline. IIT-Bombay’s Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas has partnered with U of T’s Centre for Global Engineering (CGEN) and the Centre for Technology Alternatives on a joint research effort to tackle pressing issues of sustainable development in India, such as sanitation, nutrition and water supply.

Other key initiatives have included: U of T’s partnership in IC-IMPACTS, the only Research Centre of Excellence dedicated to the development of scientific collaboration between the academic and corporate sectors in Canada and India; the India Innovation Institute at the Rotman School of Management, a hub for researchers focused on how India is using innovation to transform itself; CGEN: The Canada India Initiative on Sustainable Rural Development (CIISRD), a joint multidisciplinary research effort between U of T’s CGEN and the Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA) at IIT-Bombay, which tackles pressing issues of sustainable development in India such as sanitation, nutrition, and water supply; a partnership between U of T, IIT-Bombay and the Pune Smart City Development Corporation Ltd. to find technology-based “smart solutions” for the city of approximately six million; and many more opportunities for collaboration between U of T’s students, faculty and entrepreneurs and those from India.

“As a leader in global engagement, U of T seeks to build bridges to help ensure that life-changing research, knowledge and innovation will have the widest possible impact,” President Gertler said. “The ��Ƶ Centre in India will enable the kind of collaboration that can make real change for the better in India and around the world.” 

Study finds lethality of air pollution in India may be overestimated

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 14:12:10 +0000

Study finds lethality of air pollution in India may be overestimated

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 10/18/2022 - 10:12

Cutline

India has among the highest levels of air pollution in the world, but researchers have found that its impact on mortality rates in the country has been overstated (photo by Peter Adams/Getty Images)

Heidi Singer

Topic

Breaking Research

Unity Health

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Research & Innovation

St. Michael's Hospital

High levels of exposure to air pollution in India have a smaller effect on mortality than previously estimated, according to a study that covered the entire country.

Prabhat Jha

The nationwide study – published in Environmental Health Perspectives by Prabhat Jha, a scientist at Unity Health Toronto and a University Professor at the ��Ƶ’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, as well as his colleagues – linked concentrations of PM2.5 derived from satellite-based measurements of deaths in over 7,400 small areas among seven million people.

India has among the highest levels of air pollution in the world and nearly every person in the country lives in areas with fine particulate matter levels well above PM2.5 – the level considered safe by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The authors quantified the relationship between PM2.5 exposures over several years to the subsequent mortality risk, focusing on the leading killers of Indian adults: respiratory disease, heart disease, stroke and overall mortality. Their analyses adjusted for risk factors that make these diseases more common such as smoking, urban or rural residency, and education. Because these diseases and PM2.5 tend to cluster in some areas but not others, they also adjusted for spatial clustering.

“Measuring the health effects of air pollution is complicated,” says lead author Patrick Brown, an associate professor in U of T’s department of statistical sciences in the Faculty of Arts & Science. “There are so many things to tease out to establish if a relationship with deaths is true, or just noise in the data. Even the modest excess risks we found for stroke might reflect the uncertainty that is inherent in these types of epidemiological studies.”

Analyzing over 200,000 deaths of people aged 15 to 69 years, the authors found a nine per cent excess risk in stroke deaths for every 10 units of increase in PM2.5 exposure (measured as micrograms per cubic meter). However, there were no excess risks for respiratory or heart disease and for total mortality (after excluding stroke). Study results were broadly similar in different age groups and in areas with higher or lower use of household solid fuel, which itself is the major contributor to PM2.5 exposure as measured by satellites.

Results showing little or no effect on heart disease and only modest effects on stroke are similar to an earlier, smaller study led by McMaster University that examined air pollution and deaths in 750 communities in 21 countries. In contrast to these direct observations, earlier estimates of air pollution deaths in India use complex models that assume much higher mortality risks from PM2.5 exposure.

The results are one of many insights being generated by the Million Death Study – one of the largest studies of premature mortality in the world. The study, covering deaths from 2001 to 2014, is a long-running effort to better understand the causes of mortality in countries such as India, where the vast majority of people die at home without a death certificate. Launched by Jha, it has helped governments and health providers to better allocate scarce public health funding.

“Direct studies like the MDS are far preferable to extrapolating from models, many of which take reports from non-Indian settings and apply them – unseeingly – to India,” Brown said. “Earlier models have probably overstated the extent to which air pollution kills adults in India.”

“Most existing studies on air quality and health are done in high-income countries, where PM2.5 exposures are far lower and disease patterns are substantially different than in low and middle-income countries such as India,” adds co-author George D’Souza, dean of St. John’s Medical College in Bengaluru, India. “That needs to change.”

There remain many reasons to act on air pollution in India.

“PM2.5 may not be the big killer in India as has been touted, but action to reduce PM2.5 exposure is still necessary,” says Jha, who is also a physician at St. Michael‘s Hospital, a site of Unity Health Toronto. “Air pollution worsens child lung health and lowers quality of life, and that is sufficient justification to act.”

The research received support from the Indian Council of Medical Research, Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

With app to cut emissions from rice burning in India, U of T student wins global entrepreneurship competition

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 14:53:18 +0000

With app to cut emissions from rice burning in India, U of T student wins global entrepreneurship competition

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 07/26/2022 - 10:53

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The e-Parali team shares their slide deck during a meeting. From top to bottom: U of T student Satya Sathwik Juttada and teammates: Advait Iyer, Richmond Theophilus Ghanney and Karthi Hari Krishnan (photo courtesy of e-Parali)

Safa Jinje

Topic

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Chemical Engineering

Sustainability

Undergraduate Students

In his first-ever hackathon, Satya Sathwik Juttada and his three teammates finished first out of 72 teams at the Global Challenge Lab 2022, hosted by Imperial College London.

The virtual entrepreneurship program brings together students and recent university graduates from around the world to form international teams that generate solutions to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This year’s event focused on Goal 13, Climate Action.

“This competition was something that just popped in my email inbox one day, and it looked cool, so I joined,” says Juttada, a second-year chemical engineering student in the ��Ƶ's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “I had no idea who I would work with, or that we would end up winning.”

From introduction to presentation, the teams had 10 days to work together. Juttada, based in Toronto, connected with Advait Iyer and Karthi Hari Krishnan, students at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, and Richmond Theophilus Ghanney, a recent graduate from the University of Ghana. They worked across three time zones to create e-Parali, an agricultural machinery rental-sharing application that aims to cut carbon emissions in India.

In northern India, approximately 23 million tons of straw from rice harvests are burned each year. The smoke from this burning degrades local air quality and human health, while also causing massive carbon emissions.

The team’s app – named after the Punjabi word for stubble, parali – aims to help reduce the air pollution from burning stubble residue by offering small-scale farmers access to stubble-removing machines.

While the Indian government subsidizes the purchase of machinery needed to manage rice paddy stubble, the technology is still too costly for farmers who own less than five acres of land.

That’s where e-Parali comes in. The app allows machinery owners to rent out their stubble-removing machines to smaller farms. It also offers additional economic benefits to the regions by connecting farmers with local truck drivers, who can collect the recovered stubble and sell it as a resource. Stubble has many uses: it can be made into paper, reinforce bricks, fertilize crops or be fermented for biofuel.

The team benefitted from the guidance of Massimiliano Colla, a physicist and senior lecturer at Singapore University of Technology and Design.

“Our mentor gave us the biggest boost and helped us expand our idea to include opportunities for farmers to sell carbon credits to multinational companies around the world,” Juttada says.

“With the technology boom in India and growth of Wi-Fi availability in rural areas, our app would empower small-scale farmers to get essential machinery at reasonable prices. We presented a strong business model that would not only reduce air pollution, but also create job opportunities and promote biofuel, a renewable energy source.”

Juttada and his teammates plan to use the £4,000 prize money (approximately $6,200) from the hackathon for market research and to help purchase app development software to keep working on e-Parali, while they are using their academic networks to connect with local farmers.

Startup founders share journeys at Indo-Canadian Entrepreneurship Exchange event

rahul.kalvapalle — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 16:02:13 +0000

Startup founders share journeys at Indo-Canadian Entrepreneurship Exchange event

rahul.kalvapalle Wed, 10/27/2021 - 12:02

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Clockwise from top left: Saket Modi, CEO and co-founder Safe Security, Vishakha Singh, vice-president of WazirX, Manmeet Maggu, co-founder and CEO of Trexo Robotics and Ankit Mehta, CEO of ideaForge.

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Alumni

Creative Destruction Lab

DCSIL

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship Hatchery

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Health Innovation Hub

Rotman School of Management

Startups

When Manmeet Maggu’s nephew Praneit was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, the then-engineering student set out to find a wearable robotics product that could help his nephew walk. After failing to find a solution on the market, he decided to build his own – and so Trexo Robotics was born.

“Watching Praneit walk is definitely the proudest moment in my life. It allowed us to realize – for him – experiences that would not have been possible otherwise,” said Maggu. “Our goal with this technology is to give every child who wants to walk the opportunity to walk.”

Maggu was one of four startup founders who discussed their entrepreneurial journeys at the ICEE Speaker Series last week. The event was organized by the Indo-Canadian Entrepreneurship Exchange (ICEE), a new program offered by U of T in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) and IIT Bombay’s Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) incubator.

Moderated by Jon French, director of U of T Entrepreneurship, the discussion also featured Ankit Mehta, CEO of India-based drone manufacturer ideaForge; Vishakha Singh, vice-president of non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace WazirX; and Saket Modi, co-founder and CEO of Silicon Valley-based cybersecurity and data science startup Safe Security.

ICEE will create opportunities for students, entrepreneurs and faculty in Toronto and Mumbai – and generate high-impact research and innovation to address a range of challenges, French said. He added plans include “a two-week innovation bootcamp where entrepreneurs from both Toronto and Mumbai are able to immerse themselves, integrate and be a part of the local ecosystems in each of these two great cities.”

Participants will be able to connect with “the investor community, the non-profit and foundations in each of these two communities – and also gain exposure to other startups, have working space and be able to experience what it’s like in the two countries – and learn from each other as well,” French said.

In his remarks, Maggu noted that U of T’s entrepreneurship ecosystem played a key role in helping Trexo Robotics take its early steps.

After building and testing an early prototype of a robotic exoskeleton with Praneit, Maggu and friend Rahul Udasi co-founded Trexo Robotics in 2016 while Maggu was doing his MBA at the ��Ƶ’s Rotman School of Management and Udasi was completing his master’s degree in engineering at the ��Ƶ.

The company graduated from the Creative Destruction Lab accelerator at Rotman, and also received support from the Entrepreneurship Hatchery at the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, the Health Innovation Hub (H2i) at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and the Department of Computer Science Innovation Lab (DCSIL). Trexo Robotics then went through the accelerator programs of U.S.-based Techstars and Y Combinator.

Today, the company’s exoskeletons are being used in homes and hospitals around the world.

Manmeet Maggu’s nephew Praneit played a key role in the development of Trexo Robotics by testing early prototypes of the company’s child-sized robotic exoskeletons, which are now being used in homes and hospitals around the world.

Asked how startup founders should decide which accelerator programs to enrol in, Maggu said it’s difficult to go wrong with U of T’s programs.

“For programs that are part of a university – like CDL, the Hatchery, H2i and DCSIL – there’s generally a lot of upside and very little downside to participating in these programs,” Maggu said. “You’re really opened up to an amazing network of not just other founders, but mentors and advisers, as well as future investors.”

Among the questions Maggu said he had to confront early in Trexo Robotics’s journey was how to balance having a social impact with running a scalable, revenue-generating business.

“I like to think of it as: what is the way that maximizes the impact of your idea?” said Maggu. “Could we open-source all of our code and designs and put it on the web? Will that maximize impact? We soon realized that’s just not going to do anything at all.

“If you want to really maximize the reach of your product, you have to build a very successful business. You need to have IP; you need to able to raise capital from the best venture capitalists in the world; you need to scale it up; you need to have really good margins – so that you can grow the business and expand its reach all over the world.”

Mehta’s company ideaForge was incubated in IIT Bombay’s SINE program. He said his experience spearheading hardware projects on modest budgets while studying engineering set him up for a career in entrepreneurship.

“The first prototype that I built was from 1,500 rupees [around $25 CAD] that I borrowed from a project that my professor was running. From that point to then spending close to $10,000 of my institute’s money on my ideas – I felt that I was really privileged,” he said.

“I thought I should build on this privilege even though I knew that doing hardware in India was going to be extremely challenging. I felt that if not us – then who else?”

Today, ideaForge is India’s largest manufacturer of drones for defence, homeland security and industrial applications. It’s also the first home-grown company to develop Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) drones in India.

Modi, whose cybersecurity firm Safe Security was also incubated in SINE, discussed how being backed by a world-renowned, higher education brand like IIT Bombay helped him secure the time and attention of potential clients and investors early in the company’s development.

Today, Safe Security counts the likes of Google, Facebook, British Telecom, Munich Re and KFC among its clients.

“There is a transfer of trust as a new startup because nobody knows about your brand, nobody knows who you are, nobody knows about what you’re trying to do,” Modi said. “But the moment you say ‘I’m incubated at IIT Bombay’ – it just means you’ll probably get that first meeting, which a lot of people are trying to get.”

That’s an advantage U of T entrepreneurs can relate to, French noted. “You still need to have the business and be able to walk the talk, but [you can] leverage the brand of our respective institutions.”

For Singh, who acted in and produced several films in India, the move to entrepreneurship was a journey of self-discovery.

“Over the last few years, I’ve realized that I have a huge appetite for risk,” said the vice-president of WazirX NFT Marketplace, a Bengaluru-based NFT platform for digital artists and creators.

Singh said entrepreneurship, much like show business, is about the hard work behind the scenes rather than the glamour on the surface.

“Being an entrepreneur is not about glamour, it’s not about being ‘cool’… it’s a thankless job until you make it. And when you make it, people generally tend to forget about the hard work that you’ve put in.”

As a young entrepreneur, Singh said she hopes to contribute to the evolution of startup workplace culture. “Earlier, startup culture was all about working 24-7, success at all costs, becoming a unicorn,” she said. “The pandemic has proved that none of it matters if we’re not healthy, if we’re not taking care of our mental health and if we’re not spending time with family.

“I think it’s time for founders like us to change startup culture and focus on ensuring a healthy work-life balance not just for ourselves, but for our team members as well.”

Richie Mehta, a U of T alumnus, finds validation in International Emmy win for Delhi Crime

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 16:10:52 +0000

Richie Mehta, a U of T alumnus, finds validation in International Emmy win for Delhi Crime

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 12/14/2020 - 11:10

Cutline

Richie Mehta's Delhi Crime tells the story of the police investigation that led to the apprehension of the six perpetrators of the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student – a crime that shocked India and the world (image courtesy of Netflix)

Topic

Filmmaker Richie Mehta was finishing a project in Delhi when the Nirbhaya (Hindi for “fearless) case broke out. The 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in the national capital territory shook India to its core, making headlines around the world.

As details emerged "over the course of several days your whole understanding of what a human being could do to another human being was altered,” says Mehta, an alumnus of the ��Ƶ Mississauga, who recalled the protests, riots and re-writing of laws.

“The crime changed the country’s psyche forever. I was there. I was a part of it, experiencing the same frustration and sadness.”

Mehta, who is now based in London, won the International Emmy Award for best drama series last month for Delhi Crime, which he wrote and directed. The Netflix series tells the story of the Delhi police investigation that led to the apprehension of the six perpetrators of the gang rape and murder.

“The investigation was led by women,” Mehta says, “so essentially, it’s about the women who are trying to solve this incredibly vast problem of violence against women in the most heinous sense.”

Mehta began work on the project in 2013. A family friend connected him to a former police commissioner who introduced the filmmaker to the investigation team and to the woman who led it. Mehta got to know the officers over the course of several years.

“They were real-life superheroes,” he says. “I thought it just turned the whole story about India on its head. People have this perception of the dangers that women face, which is not unfounded, but at the same time, it’s an environment where you come face-to-face with a kind of courage you’ve never seen before.”

Mehta says it was initially tough to find supporters for the project, but that he ultimately found a group of producers and financiers in the U.S. and India – including women – who “took a real stand” (photo by Arsh Sayed/Netflix)

The majority of the six years Mehta spent making Delhi Crime was devoted to research. Accuracy was crucial to the project – an extremely sensitive subject, still raw in the mind of the nation – so he worked closely with police, interviewing detectives and reviewing their files. “This is not stuff I was going to make up,” he says. “It’s about a real case; real people were affected and there were real victims.”

He proceeded slowly and with trepidation. The horrific detail of the police reports was, of course, disturbing. He was living between Toronto and Delhi then. “I’d spend time with the cops for two or three months, gathering research, go home to Toronto and just sit in a room and cry,” he says. “Then, I’d have to sort everything out.”

At times, he doubted the project’s worth. He also worried about the toll it was taking on him. He says it took a few years to finally realize that “something productive could come out of this.”

Initial conversations with the film industry were difficult. No one was eager to do a film or a series about gang rape in India, Mehta says. After he’d written the script, however, he found a group of supporters in L.A. and India – including women – who would become Delhi Crime’s producers and financiers. “They took a real stand,” the filmmaker says. “They thought it was relevant, meaningful and that it should be made.”

Mehta calls the International Emmy win “a validation.”

“I was trying to do something that would not only address deep issues for Indians within the justice system,” he says, “but also patriarchal misogyny, violence against women, class, the caste systems – all these issues swirling together.”

At the same time, Mehta says he wanted to show global audiences how this crime, which happened in a country where sexual violence is endemic, was absolutely devastating to India. “Ninety-nine point nine per cent of people there were as hurt and as shocked as we are. They are as ethical as we are and they are trying their best to fix this thing. It is important that people see that.”

Delhi Crime will continue as an anthology series, following different crimes set in India’s capital territory in Season 2, though Mehta will not be at the helm. The city makes a compelling backdrop for such a series, he says.

“Delhi is a very dark place in a certain manner of speaking. It has the reputation in India of being the hardest city with the hardest type of people … But it’s also the place where you find the most humanity – sometimes it’s just hiding well.”

U of T alumnus Richie Mehta wins International Emmy: New Indian Express

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 16:01:10 +0000

U of T alumnus Richie Mehta wins International Emmy: New Indian Express

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 12/04/2020 - 11:01

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Filmmaker Richie Mehta, an alumnus of U of T Mississauga, poses for photo during the promotion of web series Delhi Crime (photo by Sarang Gupta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Topic

Delhi Crime, a web TV series created by ��Ƶ Mississauga alumnus and filmmaker Richie Mehta, has won an International Emmy for best drama series.

"I never anticipated getting here,” Mehta told the New Indian Express. “It is the culmination of years of work by hundreds of people, sometimes in total isolation and defiance. Delhi Crime is a complete labour of love, born out of sadness, anger, frustration and, ultimately, compassion. The entire team from start to finish should take a bow for giving their all to this vision.”

The Netflix series tells the story of the Delhi police investigation into the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student that sparked international outrage in 2012. The student was dubbed “Nirbhaya,” or “the fearless one,” in the Indian press because she couldn't be named under the country's laws.

Mehta dedicated the award to the women who not only endure violence at the hands of men, “but are also tasked to solve the problem,” according to Yahoo News.

Mehta graduated from U of T Mississauga’s joint program with Sheridan College in art and art history in 2001, with a minor in cinema studies from the St. George campus. “I didn’t put any pressure on myself. I was just learning and participating,” he once recalled of his education at U of T. “It was the best thing I ever did.”

Read about Richie Mehta in the New Indian Express

U of T and IIT Bombay to launch entrepreneurship program, shared innovation pipeline

rahul.kalvapalle — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 19:50:10 +0000

U of T and IIT Bombay to launch entrepreneurship program, shared innovation pipeline

rahul.kalvapalle Thu, 03/12/2020 - 15:50

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The new entrepreneurship program developed with the Indian Institute of Technology will be a key component of U of T's new Entrepreneurship Centre in Mumbai, India's financial capital (photo by Pramod Thakur/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Topic

The ��Ƶ and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) are developing a new entrepreneurship program that will strengthen ties between the innovation ecosystems in Canada and India, benefitting startups in both countries.

The partnership will see the two top-ranked universities implement exchange programs for budding entrepreneurs, support research collaborations and develop a strong, two-way innovation talent pipeline.

The program will be an important component of U of T's new Entrepreneurship Centre in Mumbai, part of the upcoming U of T Centre in India, a wide-ranging collaboration that will also include the Indian affiliate of U of T’s School of Cities. Programming will include an innovation conference that alternates between Canada and India, startup competitions, workshops and sustained support for entrepreneurs.

There will also be opportunities for placements within the entrepreneurship hubs of select Indian companies.

“The ��Ƶ is delighted to build on our already strong relationship with IIT Bombay, an institution that’s recognized worldwide for excellence in teaching, research and innovation in the engineering and technology disciplines,” said Derek Newton, U of T’s assistant vice-president, innovation, partnerships and entrepreneurship.

“As leading universities in Canada and India, each located in our respective countries’ commercial hubs of Toronto and Mumbai, this partnership will leverage our many commonalities, as well as our unique strengths, to promote research collaboration, knowledge-sharing and market access, while creating an environment where new business ideas can thrive.”

Poyni Bhatt, the CEO of IIT Bombay’s Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SINE), said the partnership will enrich entrepreneurship activities in both countries.

“SINE IIT Bombay is excited to work with U of T to leverage mutual synergies for startups from India and Canada,” she said. “We look forward to productive outcomes out of this partnership in the coming years.”

Both U of T and IIT Bombay are leaders in university-managed startup incubation.

Over the past decade, U of T has nurtured more than 500 startups that have secured more than $1.5 billion in investment. SINE, set up in 2004, has supported more than 150 startups that have raised more than $223 million in funding and created more than 4,000 jobs.

Exchange programs will be a central part of the new initiative, with U of T Entrepreneurship set to welcome IIT Bombay startups to Canada and curate their engagement with the Canadian innovation scene, and SINE doing the same for U of T startups in India.

Up to 30 U of T entrepreneurs will have the chance to go to India through the Mitacs Entrepreneur International program, allowing them to explore new business development opportunities. Mitacs is a not-for-profit organization that fosters growth and innovation in Canada by solving business challenges with research solutions from the best academic institutions at home and around the world.

It’s an initiative that resonates with the entrepreneurs behind iMerciv, a U of T startup that developed a wearable mobility device for people with vision loss called the BuzzClip. Co-founded by U of T civil engineering alumnus and CEO Bin Liu and chief operating officer Arjun Mali, iMerciv received support from U of T’s Impact Centre accelerator, one of several U of T campus-linked entrepreneurship hubs. The company is active in India, where Mali’s family are longtime supporters of a school and orphanage for blind children – and where much of BuzzClip’s early testing took place.

Bin Liu, CEO of iMerciv, and Rylan Vroom, a digital accessibility expert who is one of iMerciv’s senior advisers (photo courtesy of iMerciv)

Mali said U of T’s partnership with IIT Bombay presents a great opportunity for entrepreneurs in both universities.

“The market potential in India is massive,” said Mali. “If your product is competitive when it comes to quality as well as cost, it can be a very large market for your business.

“That’s a key benefit for Canadian entrepreneurs who go and explore the Indian market.”

As for IIT Bombay entrepreneurs who get to take part in exchange programs in Canada, Mali said: “It’s about understanding how the culture and sales-cycle process work on this side of the world … learning how to take a company that’s growing in India and adapting that to make it essentially global.

“Toronto is a great stepping stone to go international.”

U of T researcher helps develop simple, low-cost way for countries to measure public health

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 13:48:04 +0000

U of T researcher helps develop simple, low-cost way for countries to measure public health

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 11/13/2019 - 08:48

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Prabhat Jha's National Burden Estimates method combines uses open-source data to get a snapshot of a country's health in a bid to prioritize efficient health programming and improve health care (photo by Dave Chan)

Françoise Makanda

Topic

Breaking Research

Dalla Lana School of Public Health