Workshop on innovation and Business Model Canvas

On 30.1.2023 a “Workshop on Innovation and Business Model Canvas” was organized by the Entrepreneurship Development Cell and IIC in association with the Department of IT. The guest speaker was Dr.T.C.Subbulakshmi, Associate Professor, Department of Information Technology, Francis Xavier Engineering College. 55 first year students and 1 staff member from IT department participated in the program. The program was coordinated by Dr. L.Gandhimathi, Assistant professor, Francis Xavier Engineering College from 10.00 AM - 4.00 PM.

The program started with the introduction of Guest Speaker Dr.T.C.Subbulakshmi. The resource person explained the concept of Business Model Canvas and the use of preparing the business model canvas. It is a Strategic Management and Lean Startup template for developing new or redesigning existing business models to create competitive advantage. She said that the business model canvas is presented as a visual chart with 9 building blocks. These elements cover the areas of the organization's core offering, infrastructure, customers, and finances. They include: Customer Segments, Value Propositions, Channels, Customer Relationships, Revenue Streams, Key Resources, Key Activities, Key Partnerships and Cost Structure. This innovative and increasingly popular tool can be used in a collaborative setting such as a strategic planning workshop. It helps organizations to align their activities by illustrating and discussing potential trade-offs in a structured manner. It is a hands-on tool that fosters understanding, discussion, creativity, and analysis. The resource person gave few examples such as Apple, Facebook, Skype, Amazon, Google, Starbucks, Nespresso, Xiaomi, Uber, Grab etc.

Students were given assignment to prepare the Business model Canvas for their proposed project. The resource person helped the participants to draft the business model with the help of the explanation given in the morning session. While helping the students to prepare the business model she inspired the students with motivating stories. The students presented the business model and the same were taken up for the discussion and the prepared models were finetuned by the resource person. Students were also given exposure about the innovations and they asked lot of questions about innovations and how to present the business model. The session was an interactive one where the students were very much participative in order to learn the preparation of business model and to clarify their doubts. The session came to an end by the feedback session by the students.