INNOVATE AND IGNITE: A DIALOGUE WITH YOUNG MINDS ON INNOVATION

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan and the Innovation Council of IIT Palakkad jointly organized a session on innovation. The event saw the participation of approximately 45 school students and teachers from across the region. The session was led by Dr. Jacob Chandapillai, Chief Innovation Officer, IIT Palakkad, and featured discussions on innovative ideas and proposals by the school students. Faculty members and research scholars from IIT Palakkad provided valuable feedback on each proposal. Dr Sarath Sasi, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics; Dr Prasanna Bhat, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Engineering; Dr Kanmani Subbu, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering; Dr Sahely Bhadra, UBA Institute Coordinator and Associate Professor in the  Department of Data Science and Mr Anurenj P Kumar, Project Coordinator for UBA-IIT Palakkad, along with research scholars, participated in the event and discussions.

The session featured interactive discussions, hands-on practical sessions and opportunities for  school students to present their innovative ideas and receive feedback. The event included an interactive dialogue to explore and discuss innovative concepts, a design thinking workshop to encourage the application of creative problem-solving techniques, and pitch sessions where students showcased their ideas. Additionally, there were sessions that focused on discussing the innovative ideas submitted by students to the Young Innovators Program (YIP). Among the key innovations presented were a drug detector, an automatic on/off mechanism for street lights and geofencing to keep wild animals out of farmlands.