The Department of Zoology in collaboration with Eco Club, Assam Don Bosco University organized a Counselling Session on ‘Navigating the Journey from Academia to Entrepreneurship’ on 26th April 2024, at the Auditorium of Academic Block I. The Speaker for this event was Dr. Bula Choudhary, Senior Scientist, Guwahati Biotech Park, Assam.
The objective of the session was to bring together students of the various departments of the School of Life Sciences and introduce entrepreneurship opportunities, that are often considered distant from the usual academic professions, and help them navigate through the process.
The program kick-started with Ms. Natasha Boruah, student of MSc Zoology 2nd Semester, sharing a short idea about the objectives and role of the counselling session. Dr. Prasanta Kr. Choudhury, Director, School of Life Sciences, felicitated the guest speaker and presented the welcome speech. He urged the students as well as the faculty to seize any opportunity that comes with the session.
Dr. Bula Choudhary was then invited to the stage to start the presentation where she explained basic concepts about the entrepreneurship ecosystem. She introduced the risks and opportunities that comes with venturing into entrepreneurship from an academic background. She elucidated different examples of innovations and entrepreneurship journeys in the scientific field such as, biodegradable plastic, fabric dye produced from bacterial culture, local fish feed, eco-friendly packaging material, water purifier and so on. She briefed about the different funding agencies and schemes in both the public and the private sector like the National Innovation Foundation, the Global Bio-India, National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board, Oil India Limited, Ideation by NRL, NECTAR, and so on. She also introduced the variety of facilities, instruments and laboratories that are presently available at the Guwahati Biotech Park, Assam, as well as various upcoming projects and plans of the institute. She emphasized on the importance of choosing the right partners in any entrepreneurial ventures. Dr. Choudhary urged the students to visit the Guwahati Biotech Park and also expressed her desire to collaborate with Assam Don Bosco University in future projects that will be hosted at the institute. Dr. Bula Choudhary’s presentation was followed by a brief Question and Answer session for the students. The session had 105 students in attendance, along with representatives from 10 different Faculties from various Departments.