IGNITE 2010 winners felicitated in Ahmedabad

The National Innovation Foundation (NIF) felicitated IGNITE 2010 award winners on Sunday, at IIMA (Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad)'s Ravi J Mathai auditorium.

NIF is a grant-in-aid institute of the department of science and technology (DST) of the government of India. IGNITE is a national-level competition instituted by them for students up to class 12, which rewards technological innovations.

NIF had announced the names of the award winners on October 15. In all, 22 students won awards in different categories.

Among the winners, three are from Gujarat. While Vishan Popat and Ashuni Patel are from Vadodara, Hetal Vaishnav is from Rajkot.
Popat was awarded for his 'peelgroove knife', to be used for chopping pineapples.

"Peeling a pineapple can be a tedious job. Hence the innovation of the peelgroove knife, wherein, the peeler is placed horizontally and the groove (to remove the eyes of the pineapple) is placed vertically. Both operations take place simultaneously, making the task of cutting the pineapple much easier," Popat explained.

Popat is a class 10 student of Navrachna School, Vadodara. His classmate Patel designed a 'locator beeper' and won a consolation prize. This device consists of an LED light, radio  receiver and transmitter and sound beeper, which help track lost items, she explained.

Vaishnav (class 12) from Late Shri DG Dholakia Memorial High School in Rajkot, stood third in her category. She designed a machine that uses plastic food packets to create daily-use furniture.