BANGALORE: A three-member student team from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, comprising Sandeepan Sarkar, Ruchi Verma and Nitin Agarwal, has been declared Runners Up at the Regional Finals of the Networked Society Cities Case (NEST) Competition.

Sandeepan, Ruchi and Nitin are pursuing their Executive Post Graduate Program in Management (1 Year Full-Time), at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.

“The contest was exciting and the competition was tough. We had just 24 hours to make our presentation. The concept of mentoring, from Round One itself, was very helpful in preparing for a complex case such as ‘Smart City’ which is a topic not usually discussed in the classroom,” said Sandeepan.

The Regional Finals of the Ericsson NEST Competition was held at Gurgaon on September 7 & 8, 2013. The four teams – from IIM Calcutta, IIM Bangalore, ISB Hyderabad and Mohali, and XLRI Jamshedpur – got the case on Saturday (September 7) and presented their solutions on Sunday (September 8). The jury included people from Ericsson, its customers, local business executives and urban experts.

IIM Bangalore was the runners up in the competition and IIM Calcutta was first. These two teams will represent India in the next global round, which will take place – online – from September 24 to 26.

As many as 14 global teams, including IIMB & IIMC, will be writing white papers on a case. They will have only 48 hours to work on their papers. Seven teams will be selected for interviews and, depending on the outcome of the interviews, four teams will make it to the final at Miami, USA in November, 2013.

Prizes

Prize money will be offered to the four schools that make it to the final in Miami. The winning team will share USD 21,000, second place USD 15,000, third USD 9,000 and fourth USD 3,000. The prize money will go directly to the three-member student teams.

Ericsson is also providing mentors for each of the 12 students travelling to Miami. These mentors will serve as resources for career development and deeper understanding of ICT worldwide.

What is Networked Society (NEST) Cities Case Competition?

Millions of people are moving to the world’s cities in search of opportunity, education, work and a better life. And that is creating new challenges, putting stresses on infrastructure, the environment, and societies themselves. The aim of the Networked Society Cities Case (NEST) Competition is to examine how cities can work more effectively and sustainably through the creation of innovative solutions made possible by ICT.

NEST is an Ericsson-sponsored forum to discuss the Networked Society and its impact on global urbanization.

NEST 2013 will be held in Miami Beach, Florida, USA, on November 17 and 18, 2013.

Round-table discussions will examine how ICT can help solve challenges such as transport, energy, and healthcare.

Guests at NEST 2011 in Hong Kong included former US President Bill Clinton and Nobel laureates Sir Harry Kroto and Dr Daniel Shechtman.