Editorial | IRCC Notes | News | Environment | Traditional Craft
 Analytics | Commentary | Focus | Technology

Techfest 2003
Saurabh Saxena,* Department of Metallurgical Engineering & Materials Science



Satellite model displayed by ISRO at the R&D exhibition

 


The sixth Techfest (2003), IIT Bombay’s annual technological extravaganza this year (31st Jan to 2nd Feb), brought an entire posse of attractive events chosen from a wide spectrum of technology areas.

Unprecedented in its scale of organization, Techfest 2003, attracted the largest ever participation from the country’s student community, which took part in a varied range of technology competitions. In addition, the presence of a large number of corporate personnel, researchers, academicians, industrialists and IITB’s alumni took the event beyond participation by novitiates. The "festival" was covered by the National Geographic Channel, The Week, Digit, and was also webcast live on the internet.

The highlight of Techfest 2003 was a strong line up of competitions. In all there were nineteen of them encompassing various aspects of design, innovation, ingenuity and skill. The regular competitions like Open Hardware, Open Software, Contraption, Yantriki, LaSTraw and others saw very innovative entries which were appreciated by the judges, and the audience alike. Perhaps the most consummate among these was Yantriki, which featured a "robo-sports" competition.

Another special feature of the Techfest was the Industry Defined Problems. It provided the student community an opportunity to try their hands on practical problems posed by the industry. Companies like Mastek and Tata Power offered mentorship to the winners of this event, to whom an impressive sum of Rupees Five lakhs was given away as cash prizes. Such an array of competitions and prizes now make Techfest the biggest event of its kind in Asia.

The contribution of the institute alumni came in the form of a Techpreneurs Meet, which aimed at acquainting the students with the essence of entrepreneurship. The focus lay on manufacturing industries. The students were provided with an insight of the critical inputs needed for setting up a manufacturing facility, and some of the strategies for achieving success in the Indian industrial scenario. Groups were formed which comprised alumni and students who belonged to the same geographical locations of the country – to enable enthusiastic students to receive sustained mentorship for their ideas.

Another event which caught the attention of the students strongly was Tech-e-Tete, the Lecture Series featuring a group of persons eminent in their own fields. The speakers included Prof. M G K Menon (Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Bombay), Dr. R Chidambaram (Principal Scientific Adviser to Govt. of India), Dr. Bernhard Schoelkopf, (Director, Max Planck Institute of Biological Cybernetics, Germany) and Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan (CEO, Rediff). There was also a lecture on Prime Numbers by Prof. Manindra Agarwal, IIT Kanpur, acclaimed internationally for his recent work on an algorithm for deciphering prime numbers....more on next page

Home | Top | Next