Kanpur: IIT Kanpur recently held Building Bharat Sampaark Innovation Boot Camp in Civil Engineering. Conceived and led by the Association of Infrastructure Industry (India), the initiative was organised in partnership with JSW Group and supported by office of principal scientific adviser to govt of India under Manthan platform. It was in collaboration with National Institute of Urban Affairs and All India Council for Technical Education and IIT-K was academic partner. It was second chapter of the Building Bharat Sampaark series, following its inaugural programme at IIT Gandhinagar. Boot Camp is dedicated to strengthening innovation capacity among civil engineering students through structured industry–academia collaboration.The 3-day immersive programme brought together over 300 civil engineering students from leading institutions across India, along with distinguished faculty members and senior industry professionals. Structured around interactive sessions, panel discussions, mentorship engagements and a Hackathon-cum-Start-up Contest, the boot camp enabled students to ideate and prototype solutions to pressing infrastructure challenges, reinforcing its role as a focused platform for applied learning and innovation in civil engineering. A defining highlight was strong participation of women civil engineering students.Trustee and director general, Association of Infrastructure Industry (India), Dr Rajaneesh Dasgupt, who is national director of Building Bharat Sampaark, said the programme envisioned to redefine how civil engineers are prepared for India’s future. IIT-K director Professor Manindra Agrawal said, “Such initiatives help young engineers develop critical thinking, practical judgement and ability to innovate responsibly at scale.“JSW Cement CEO Nilesh Narwekar said energy witnessed at IIT Kanpur demonstrated that the next generation of civil engineers was ready to move beyond textbooks to solve real-world problems.
