Lighting the innovation lamp in enterprising young minds

At the Uniken Innovation lecture series 2011, organised recently in the city, three best innovative ideas were selected out of 28 presentations given by students of city institutes and entrepreneurs.

The day-long lecture series was organised by Uniken in association with Shantanurao Kirloskar Chair (University of Pune), College of Engineering Pune (COEP) and Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) IIM-Ahmedabad, on September 8 at COEP campus in the city.

World-renowned American cryptographer and one of the pioneers of public-key cryptography, Whitfield Diffie, motivated students with his talks at an interactive session conducted at the end of the event. Chief innovation officer and CEO of Uniken, Sanjay Deshpande, was also present on the occasion.

“Education in India is more about understanding the mechanics of examination, rather than real application of knowledge. For innovation to happen on campus, we have to bring the concept of freedom in academics,” said Deshpande.

The lecture series, based on the theme ‘students as innovators’, was organised to encourage students to become innovators and entrepreneurs. Students from city institutes and entrepreneurs were invited to present and showcase their innovative ideas, final year projects and ready-to-market products.

Out of the 28 presentations that were showcased, three best innovative ideas were selected. Projects of teams of final year students, Abhijit Navale and Nikhil Bhagwat (JSPM’s Jayawantrao Sawant College of Engineering) and Puneet Sutar, Vipul Amler, Prajakta Tambe, Neeraj Thakur (Pune Institute of Computer Technology) along with city-based entrepreneur Koustubh Yadre, were selected as the top three winners.

A technology innovation, product design and engineering firm, Uniken is headquartered in Florida (US), with its innovation centre in Pune. Uniken has partnered with CIIE (IIM-Ahmedabad) to set up a national innovation network across the campuses in India. Internet security expert, Whitfield Diffie, is on the scientific advisory board of Uniken. 

The three best innovative ideas: Abhijit Navale and Nikhil Bhagwat (Final year students of electronic and telecommunication)

Their project helps paralysed people to communicate with others using infra-red (IR) sensors installed on a goggle to detect facial muscle movements of the patient. The IR sensors send signals to a microcontroller, which uses the basic concept of interrupt generation to make words. A cost-effective and easy-to-operate mode for paralysed people to communicate, it does not require any touch interface.

Puneet Sutar, Vipul Amler, Prajakta Tambe, Neeraj Thakur (Final year students of computer science)
They have created Git-Torrent distributed version control system, which provides re-visioning that keeps track of the history of all changes done to a file. Targeted towards large data producers such as animation industry, the system uses Git-Torrent to help them work easily in remote locations. The innovative idea envisages providing a solution for re-
visioning large data.
 
Koustubh Yadre (Entrepreneur)
As an alternative to disposing household wet garbage, he has designed a portable compost tumbler. Adding daily waste in the tumbler along with a waste binder turns the waste into compost within 15 days, which can be used for gardening. All types of bio-degradable material like food and vegetable remains, fruit peels, flowers and garden waste can be used. The specially designed tumbler is UV  resistant and thermo controlled drum. The compost culture used are beneficial fungus and bacteria. The tumbler also helps in keeping the waste free from rodents, bad odour and flies.