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Now that results have started coming in from the techpedia.in initiative of SRISTI, new benchmarks can be created to measure productivity of technology among youth.

For last 14 years, SRISTI has been organising shodh yatras in rural areas. The 28th yatra was in Mizoram about which I wrote last week. I will share more insights later.

An initiative inspired by these yatras was started by many private and government technical colleges in Gujarat last summer.

If everything goes well, the summer of 2012 will also be the summer of social and industrial connect, leading to identification of problems and generation of innovative solutions.

Let me illustrate the efforts in food sector. Hetal did a project to improve moisture retention in different varieties of bread at ADIT, Vallabh Vidyanagar. The industry has profitably used it. Dhruva Enterprise found its sales increasing by incorporating the technologies developed by D. Parekh for Nagali papad. Similarly, her technology for guava jelly has helped Bhartiya Agro Industrial Foundation. Earlier, Dhruva used pectin as a binding agent but she developed a method without use of pectin. Mitali Patel and others at the same institute used natural colours for multi nutrient beverages, an idea that was found useful by Anshul Agencies. The industry proudly mentions that they have saved about Rs13.44 lakh per annum because of her contribution. Not only that, the use of hazardous chlorine came down by about 65%. Gaurav Roy estimated the nutritional loss and developed a method to recover it at Vadilal Industries. The loss of about Rs39,000 per day had been avoided.Another group of students has developed quick ready slimming soup mix.Mohamad Lakdawalla working at Safal Mother Diary Foods and Vegetables made a useful contribution in developing fruit puree and pulpy juice. Anush Kumar Jala made sugar-free shrikhand with less fat. Every year, around 60 students, under the guidance of professors RKJain, AS Kulkarni, FM Sahu and others at ADIT, Vallabh Vidyanagar, have guided large number of practical projects solving real life problems of this industry.

Now, these projects will be offered to the coming batch so that they can take these forward and develop a kho-kho model, i.e., relay of projects to develop new products and practices. Not all projects get completed in one year.In the absence of database and a steering mechanism, such a linkage does not get forged.

We are all aware of the nutritional problems affecting children all over the country.Developing nutritional food for children and mothers in an affordable manner using local materials is a priority. SRISTI is committed to draw upon its large database of local recipes collected during shodh yatras to engage with the food technology. Who knows, blending of formal and informal science may generate viable options for producers, consumers and of course the entrepreneurs.If techpedia.in had a venture and incubation arm, it could easily have supported large number of young people try their startups based on people's best practices. I hope some companies and other agencies come forward to invest in the ideas of young food scientists and help them enrich the culinary choices of masses as well as classes.The experience of Sattvik Food Festival convinces us that there exists a huge demand for nutritional, bio-diverse and affordable snacks, food, beverages and other nutraceuticals. The challenge is to empower the faculty and students and strengthen their linkage with communities and entrepreneurs. Those who doubt the value of such connections should talk to the industrial entrepreneurs who have benefited from the ideas of these students and encourage more active and vibrant social and industrial connect.

anilgb@gmail.com