57
/
5
Min Read
Innovation has been central to Newgen's journey, driving its evolution as a technology company committed to anticipating change, challenging conventions and building solutions that help enterprises transform. Taking this innovation ethos beyond its own ecosystem, Newgen Software, a leader in intelligent enterprise orchestration, today announced the winners of OIEquestra: The Quest for What's Next, a nationwide innovation challenge conducted in partnership with the AI Club, IIT Madras.
Rooted in Newgen's philosophy of Ahead of What's Ahead, OIEquestra brought together the ingenuity of India's emerging technology talent and the possibilities of enterprise innovation. The challenge invited students from leading engineering institutions to look beyond conventional applications of AI and develop solutions that address real-world business challenges.
As India advances towards its ambition of Viksit Bharat @ 2047, building a strong innovation ecosystem, nurturing technology talent, and strengthening indigenous capabilities will be essential. Newgen believes that this journey requires active collaboration between industry and academia, creating opportunities for young minds to experiment with emerging technologies and apply their knowledge to challenges that matter. OIEquestra was conceived as one such initiative, connecting academic learning with enterprise realities and empowering the next generation to participate in shaping India's technology future.
The response reflected the depth of innovation talent emerging across the country. More than 1,800 teams from over 30 IITs, NITs and leading engineering institutions participated in the challenge. Following multiple rounds of evaluation, mentoring, solution development and jury assessments, 140 teams advanced to the final stages.
The top three winning teams were:
} First Byte, IIT Madras: Winner
} Wizards, IIT Roorkee: First Runner-up
} SheCodes, Chennai Institute of Technology (CIT): Second Runner-up
The winning teams were recognized with prizes worth lakhs for their innovation, technical excellence and ability to translate ideas into meaningful enterprise applications.
Taking Innovation beyond Technology
For Newgen, innovation has always been about more than developing technology. It is about anticipating what businesses will need next, reimagining established ways of working, and bringing together people, processes and intelligence to create meaningful outcomes. This philosophy is reflected in Newgen's vision of Orchestrating Intelligent Enterprises, where technology works seamlessly with human intelligence to transform how organisations operate.
OIEquestra draws inspiration from this vision. Participants were encouraged to move beyond isolated AI applications and explore how AI, automation, workflows, content and human decision-making can work together to address complex enterprise challenges. The objective was to demonstrate how technology can move from experimentation to practical application, creating solutions that are relevant, scalable, and capable of delivering measurable business value.
Participants built their solutions on NewgenONE, Newgen's unified low-code platform for orchestrating intelligent enterprises. Combining process automation, content services, communications management, and AI capabilities, the platform provided students with an environment to turn their ideas into structured enterprise solutions. Through the challenge, they explored how intelligence can be embedded across business workflows to enhance decision-making, improve customer experiences, and drive operational efficiency.
Runki Goswami, Chief Marketing Officer, Newgen Software said, "At Newgen, innovation has always been about looking beyond the present and creating possibilities for the future. As India moves towards the vision of Viksit Bharat @ 2047, our progress will increasingly depend on our ability to build, innovate and develop solutions that address the challenges of tomorrow. This calls for more than technological advancement. It calls for an ecosystem that encourages curiosity, nurtures talent and turns ideas into impact. Through OIEquestra, we wanted to take Newgen's innovation ethos beyond our own ecosystem and create a platform where young minds could experiment, challenge conventions and build solutions for real-world enterprise needs. It is our way of connecting Newgen's innovation DNA with India's next generation of technology builders. Being Ahead of What's Ahead is not just about anticipating the future; it is about empowering people to create it."
Recognizing Innovation with Enterprise Impact
The evaluation process brought together Newgen's product and technology leadership, including Varun Goswami, Sanjay Pandey and Dinesh Parikh. Participating solutions were assessed on innovation, business relevance, quality of user journeys, technical feasibility and potential enterprise impact. The final selection of winners was made by Pramod Kumar, Chief Growth Officer, Newgen Software.
Commenting on the conclusion of the initiative, Pramod Kumar, Chief Growth Officer, Newgen Software, said, “OIEquestra has reinforced a belief that is central to the future of enterprise innovation: AI creates its greatest value not when it simply demonstrates what technology can do, but when it transforms what businesses can achieve. What stood out was the ability of participants to look beyond individual AI capabilities and envision solutions where AI, automation, workflows and human intelligence come together to solve complex, real-world challenges.
Through NewgenONE, we wanted to give young innovators more than a technology platform; we wanted to give them the canvas to turn ambitious ideas into enterprise-ready possibilities. The ingenuity, courage to experiment and depth of problem-solving demonstrated by these teams are a powerful reminder that the next wave of intelligent enterprises will be shaped by those who dare to think beyond the obvious. And OIEquestra is just the beginning of that journey."
