Innovation in focus at IIT-Delhi’s science, technology festival

New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi’s three-day annual science and technology festival, ‘Tryst’ kicked off at its campus here on Friday.

The event could not be held for two years in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sponsored by US-based Graphite GTC, a leading no-code software development platform, Tryst 2022 aims to provide opportunities to aspiring technologists to showcase their technical prowess and serves as a perfect launchpad for brilliant ideas.

The event began with the virtual address of Bombay Stock Exchange managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Ashish Chauhan who spoke on the workings of financial markets.

Asked for some advice on investments, Chauhan told students: “Don’t trade. It’s not investment, it’s speculation. That’s my advice for young people who are starting their careers. They should focus on developing capabilities.”

The inaugural address was followed by an incubation challenge event wherein students presented their startup ideas. The idea of a portable, app-driven chimney to tackle kitchen smoke, mobile app offering instant medical health facility at low cost, app for early detection of chronic diseases and an app to make travels easier for travel enthusiasts were among those pitched by the students.

All the ideas were “fresh and innovative” and mostly centred around issues faced by Indians, Graphite GTC co-founder and CEO, Chris Gali, said.

“I was pleasantly surprised. My idea of innovative startups in India was what we read in the news and they mostly look like imitations of what is already there in western countries. That idea was completely squashed after what I saw today. Almost all the ideas presented by students were innovative and fresh. What really touched me was that most of the ideas were very specifically focussed on Indian problems and issues,” he added.

A bunch of interactive key-note sessions, including innovations in aerospace engineering by Kishore Jayaraman, president of Rolls Royce, India, and Bipul Chandra, managing director of Ducati, on the importance of innovation in the Indian two-wheeler market was also held.

A panel discussion regarding the evolution of the education system and the impact of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 also took place.

Explaining the significance of events like ‘Tryst’, Bryan Rishforth, executive chairman of Graphite GTC, said: “The platform allows students and universities to demonstrate advanced activities and technologies developed by them. We have over 15,000 students registered for the conference and it shows how much interest they are taking. The response has been amazing.”

The next two days of ‘Tryst’ are expected to witness a series of activities and addresses by prominent personalities, including Rubrik CEO Bipul Sinha, UpGrad co-founder Phalgun Kompalli and Padma Shri Awardee entrepreneur Milind Kamble.