Last week, hundreds of students and faculty from diploma engineering students from Parul Polytechnic Institute, LCIT Bhandu, Hashmukh Goswami college of Engineering, Govt polytechnic Surat etc., part of GTU were provided a national platform to showcase their talent through SRISTI's techpedia.in. DG CSIR, Dr Samir Brhamchari, VC GTU and many other senior colleagues interacted with the students and appreciated their ideas. Dr Mashelkar's stress on getting More form Less for Many ( MLM) could not have been better illustrated. SRISTI also announced the Gandhian Technological awards for socially useful innovation to be given on Macrh1, 2012 by Dr Mashelkar for which entries are invited from all over india. Shaikh Shehbaj demonstrated a low cost “Portable Solar cooker”. This Project shows the analysis of portable solar cooker. Chavda Bhupendrakumar P, Gambhva Govindbhai B, Suthar Sureshkumar R, Bihari Mahebilkhan M, Panchal Chiragbhai V, and guided by Prof. M. K. Modh and Prof. Y. L. Raol designed a low cost CNC machine having three axis movement for cutting design, milling, drilling and reaming. A Turbocharger for Two Wheelers which used exhaust gas to rotate the blower and improve the engine efficiency by 25% compared to the conventional two stroke petrol engines was much appreciated. LPG Refrigerator guided by Prof. A. B. Patel and made by student group led by Patel Birenkumar K and Patel Chintan D. Future Group has shown interest in this innovation for trying out in their food courts. Honey Bee Network feels very optimistic about creating market for frugal innovations. Just a sfood will get cooked, the cold chambers storing cakes and sweets will automatically get cooled without extra energy. A diploma drop out student, Mithilesh has made Water-petrol fuel kit for two wheeler waiting to be properly tested to prove it claimed fuel efficiency advantage. Can one of the most prosperous states not find money for such testing, prototyping and incubation in each district for young Gujarati boys and girls?
Use of recycled aggregate for old concrete, solid waste management for rural areas, use of industrial waste for manufacturing paver block, recharging of groundwater utilizing storm water in residential townships, manufacturing FAL-G bricks using local material, Social networking platform for problem solving, , cathod ray protection device, developing electricity from public areas and dancing floors, smart train system with auto loading of goods and passengers and heart beat monitoring device were other models presented in the exhibition. Dr. D. J.Shah, Prof Sheetal Shah and other principals of various Engineering colleges motivated the students to design proof of concept of their ideas, many of which were identified during industrial shodhyatras in summer this year. What is remarkable is that many students finished their final year project much ahead of the schedule and asked for second project with additional credit which GTU has agreed. From a state where many students did not take even one project too seriously, the situation where many are demanding a second project is a complete turnaround in their motivation levels. Tribute is due to their teachers who have worked hard to bring about this fundamental change in attitudes.
We need now to test the intentions of policy makers whether they want Gujarat to be on the top in a) filing patents before March 12 ( at highly concessional terms through a pro bono network of IPr attorneys already built by Honey bee Network), b) decentralized incubation of worthy ideas for product development, entrepreneurship and/or licensing and c) social diffusion of open source technologies for larger community benefit. Even the large and medium private sector which has benefitted so much from so many state policies should take it as its moral duty to invest in the dreams of young techno-innovators. Time will tell.
