Smartphone brand, vivo on Feb 9 announced the 10 National winners of its country-wide initiative – vivo Ignite, Science and Innovation Awards in New Delhi. The winning projects included most scientifically innovative and socially relevant projects: Early Detection Of Vocal Disorders Using Voice Analysis & Machine Learning, Converting Mould To Gold (Community Garbage Disintegrator), FWWA – Food and Water Wealth for Animals, Bloodice – Bluetooth-Enabled Blood Testing Device, Squirrel-Based Rescue Robots For Remote Places & Natural Disasters in Concept Category and MARIMO – Eco-Friendly Mechanism To Clean Oil Spills, Driver Drowsiness Detection System to Prevent Road Accidents, G-LED: Reusable LED Bulbs & Tubes With Replaceable LED Cartridge, Detecting Air Pollution Levels using Machine Learning on Plant Leaves, Valuable Trash – Using Advanced AI To Recycle & Upcycle Waste in Prototype Category.
The winners were felicitated with a trophy, a certificate, along with cash prizes ranging from ₹5, 00,000 to ₹75,000 at the hands of Chief Guest Rajendra Prasad Singh, Chief Scientist and Head, IMD at CSIR, Ministry of Science & Technology. Over 1000 entries were received from students of across the country in the contest, which was announced in September 2022 for all Indian students of grades 8 to 12 and was conducted in three stages this month. The top 25 students battled it out at the Grand Finale, wherein they displayed their projects in person and were judged based on their creative thinking, innovation, use of science and technology, and potential to make a positive social impact.
The jury panel consisted of eminent personalities from the field of Education and Science, including Prof. Indu Kumar, Head – DICT, CIET, NCERT; Prof. Swaroop Ganguly, Professor – Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay and Prof. Kamal Jain, Professor – Civil Engineering, IIT Roorkee; Dr. Ashok A. Sonkusare, Deputy Adviser – Science and Technology, NITI Aayog, Anuradha Chimalapati, Lead CSR, vivo India and Rhythma Kaul, Deputy Editor – Health, Hindustan Times.
“It is a joy to see that India’s future is so promising and in the capable hands of bright young minds who have the potential to become world-class leaders’ thinkers and innovators who can solve socially relevant problems through technology. Through this initiative, our aim is to foster innovation and creativity in the next generation of India and encourage a problem-solving approach along with providing a platform for young minds to present their ideas,” said Yogendra Sriramula, Head Brand Strategy, vivo India.
