Mumbai:  Lenovo today announced the launch of the Do Network in India, an online platform designed to inspire people to take action and turn their big ideas into positive outcomes. Building on Lenovo’s “For Those Who Do” global brand campaign, the Do Network extends Lenovo’s brand promise to empower the communities they operate in with the best tools, technology and resources.

The focal point of the Do Network is an online space where like-minded Indians can unite to share and discuss ideas that they are passionate about, and to form project teams to develop these ideas into workable and concrete plans. The Do Network also serves as a platform to connect these project teams to other people in the community who can provide advice and lend their skills and expertise. Lenovo will be providing the top ten teams with valuable resources in the form of mentors and Lenovo technology. The winners will receive the prize money of USD 25,000 meant as seed funds to turn their projects into tangible reality.

“Lenovo is a company focused on action, and we create technology that appeals to people who don’t just dream but get out there and accomplish things,” said Shailendra Katyal, Director, marketing, Lenovo India. “Through the Do Network, we want to create not just a platform but a movement that brings Doers together to push the limits on collaboration and creation, and inspire them to unleash their great ideas and turn them into something meaningful and tangible for their communities.”

Lenovo will be setting up a Do Lab in India where the top 10 finalist teams will work with the mentors to discuss and refine their projects. A full-scale promotional campaign will also be run by Lenovo to excite audiences in the Do Network, the project teams and their inspired ideas.

The Do Network will comprise a series of four 90-day contest cycles, with different themes and thematic challenges introduced for each cycle. The first cycle will be based on the theme of ‘Innovation through Technology’ and will run from now till March 7, 2012. Interested participants can start submitting their project ideas from today at http://donetwork.lenovo.com

‘Innovation through Technology’ challenges project teams to come up with new ways of using technology to create solutions that address the tough problems that exist in their communities. Project teams will be required to work on one of the four challenges issued — portable education, traffic jam or products=progress. The fourth, a wildcard challenge, will also be provided to allow Doers to pursue their individual ideas that may not fall under the specific challenge categories, but still fit with the ‘Innovation through Technology’ theme.

MENTORS

Rajiv Makhni (Managing Editor for Technology at NDTV, New-Delhi, India)

Rajan Anandan (MD Google India, India)

Mahesh Murthy (Managing Partner, Seedfund)

Kishore AK(CEO & Co-Founder at Althea system)

Mentors will play a central role in guiding the project teams throughout the contest duration, and will be part of the selection process for the top 10 finalists. Finalists will also get to work with these mentors to fine tune their projects.

At the same time, Lenovo is launching the Do Network in Indonesia and Russia. In each country, the top 10 finalists will receive Lenovo branded equipment of up to USD$2,000 each. In addition, the Grand Prize Winner in each country will receive a USD$25,000 grant to continue working on their project.