Students from 8 different schools of JGU actively participated in this first of its kind program!
In total, nearly 100 students from 3 countries, Indonesia, India, and Australia, were chosen to participate and received academic course credit in each of their respective universities.
This two-week international innovation challenge and cross-university elective course was conducted in a pathbreaking partnership with Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, and Atma Jaya University in Jakarta, Indonesia, and industry partner Maker’s Asylum in India from 18 to 29 January 2021.
The SECAP program placed each student in a mixed university team. Each team was given the challenge to collaborate and find innovative solutions to some of the most pressing social and environmental global challenges.
Our Students worked with 20 industry experts and mentors, which included workshops on the Sustainable Development Goals, design thinking, problem and solution development, frugal innovation, assumption testing, prototyping with Figma and MIT App Inventor, and storytelling. The program drew mentors and experts from each of the represented countries and the US, France, and China.
A few of the solutions created by SECAP students:
- To combat plastic bag waste, a video game where players can trade points won in the game for cloth bags at retail stores.
- A social enterprise where local women learn to make mosquito net jumpsuits sold locally to help rice farmers in Indonesia combat malaria.
- A keychain that makes it easy for women to carry around menstruation products with them without shame or embarrassment.
- An app that helps the elderly find friends near them to combat loneliness.
- A menstruation product sanitizer using solar power for rural Indian women.
At the end of the program, each team presented their solution, in line with the respective SDG goal to the larger 100+ group. Special guests from the Australian High Commission to India and Deans from JGU, Monash University, and Atma Jaya University attended the final day to provide their support and insights on the importance of cross-cultural solution building.
Testimonials & Quotes from SECAP:
“This session was just an escape from my mundane lockdown routine but here I am sobbing while writing this, that I had the time of my life during this program. I’ve met such lovely people and my team was honestly the best. I’ve truly made friendships for a lifetime. With my meagre knowledge of social entrepreneurship on the onset, I can very confidently say that I am capable of doing something worthwhile in this forte just after 9 days.” – Noor Dewan, JGLS
“I’d been looking forward to SECAP since the first introductory webinar, and somehow the actual experience exceeded all my expectations. Not only was I left with invaluable insights on entrepreneurship, design thinking, and problem-solving, it also taught me some important lessons on teamwork, leadership, and collaboration, and left me with memories and friendships for a lifetime” – Unnati Patel, JSIA
“This program has changed my life” – Shubh Agarwal, JGBS
“One of the biggest learnings from the COVID year is that we don’t exist in isolation. So programs like SECAP provide our incredibly talented students the framework and guidance to work with other amazing young people to collaborate, and realize their role and ability to engineer solutions. SECAP has driven home for me how true it is that our young people have the ability to change the world.” – Prof. Ronita Choudhuri, Director of Startup JGU
“The only path to transformational future change at a global level involves the views of young leaders in the Asia Pacific. The SECAP program brought together bright young minds from India, Indonesia, and Australia to envision new solutions to our greatest social and environmental challenges. The result was truly inspiring and provides an optimistic view of what is possible for the future of global cooperation.” – Prof. Jeremy Wade, Director, Office of Academic Innovation, JGU
