National Innovation Foundation holds competitions encouraging school children to cultivate an innovative spirit.
Normally, Shah Rukh Khan’s effect on 15-year-old girls doesn’t warrant much attention. But when Nisha Choube from Noida happened to see a billboard of SRK sitting on the floor leaning suggestively against a travel case, she thought to herself, “It would suck to be such a big star and not have anywhere to sit.” And then it struck her – what if travel bags came with lightweight folding seats?
When she heard IGNITE — a competition encouraging school children to cultivate an innovative spirit — was calling for submissions, she thought her idea was worth putting into action. “I started out with a sketch and then made a rough model,” says Nisha, an articulate young girl in a perpetual state of breathless excitement. “Then I asked my father to help me find a manufacturer with whom I could discuss how to execute it.” A few weeks later, the IIT aspirant discovered her idea had won her an award and a chance to meet Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
The National Innovation Foundation (NIF), Ahmedabad, first organised IGNITE in 2007 in the four southern states. Surprised by the overwhelming response, in the following years NIF joined forces with the Central Board for Secondary Education and other partners to launch the contest nationally. Last year, NIF received 1,344 entries from 82 districts of 21 states. Ignite 2010 is now calling for submissions.
NIF’s Dr Nitin Maurya explains the importance of balanced parental support in encouraging children to think creatively, “An unappreciative parent could be as debilitating as an overtly enthusiastic one who may pass on ideas to the child. The independent thought process must not be hampered.”
A 2008 IGNITE winner in the 7th standard and below category, Meenakshi Padhe from Orissa, is only 12 but weighs her words with care as she describes the time she was stuck in traffic with an ambulance right in front of her. A woman stepped out of the van, desperately pleading with motorists to make way so that she could get her husband to the hospital. The image stayed with Meenakshi and she spoke to her father about it. Sachidanand Padhi, an electrical manager with LANCO told his daughter that in some parts of the United States, emergency vehicles are fitted with GPS systems that allow them to manipulate traffic lights, which enables speedy transit, but such an idea might not be feasible in India. Not satisfied with his response, Meenakshi decided to find out more and develop her own model. Meenakshi explains, “The GPS system will be installed in the ambulance and will only work when there is a patient. A remote control will be used to make the traffic light green while all the other lights within 200 metres will turn red until the ambulance can pass.”
Besides encouraging winners to give workable shape to their creative ideas, NIF offers financial and mentoring support, and also files patents on the students’ behalf. Seventeen-year-old Susant Pattnaik’s breathing sensor apparatus to assist the physically challenged enables communication using breathing patterns as a kind of Morse code that can be used to navigate wheelchairs, besides allowing a range of other applications. Even as NIF awaits a patent number for the invention, Susant is already displaying a scientist’s penchant for distraction. He offers, “This year, I’ll be submitting a new proposal for a vehicle that can traverse land as well as fly in the sky for small distances.”
Dr Maurya explains, “Such competitions help children shape their thoughts and become more confident. Interacting with other innovative children makes them aware of the work others are doing in different parts of the country.” But when we ask her if the IGNITE experience has fuelled her confidence, Meenakshi who wants to be a cardiac surgeon some day, takes a pause to correct us, “No, I was always confident.”
The last date for entries is August 31. They can be e-mailed to ignite10@nifindia.org. You can also post the entries to IGNITE 2010, National Innovation Foundation, Bungalow 1, Satellite Complex, Premchand Nagar Road, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad — 380 015. Visit www.nif.org.in.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}