Winners for innovation platform, KPIT Sparkle 2020 announced

KPIT, a global automotive software and mobility solutions play, has announced the winners of the annual national-level contest, KPIT Sparkle 2020. The theme was ‘Mobility and Energy for the Future.’ The teams with 30 best ideas were shortlisted from over 3,000 entries across India and presented transformative solutions in mobility and energy. The winners were selected on parameters such as the novelty, completeness of the prototype, technical knowledge and the social impact of the solution.

KPIT Sparkle is an innovation platform that nurtures, mentors and supports aspiring entrepreneurs, students from the STEM (science, technology, engineering, management) streams and connects them with incubators in the ecosystem to transform their inventive ideas into viable products. It also encourages and facilitates students to secure intellectual property for their solutions. This year, KPIT Sparkle featured two competitions.

'i Innovate' winners
A design and development challenge, it received more than 3000 ideas from over 20,000 students across more than 1000 colleges in India. It provided students of undergraduate, post-graduate and PhD courses from science, engineering, design and management colleges and universities across India with an opportunity to develop smart, safe and clean solutions for the energy and transportation sectors.
Team Detox from the Army Institute of Technology, Pune won the gold award of Rs 5,00,000 for designing a modified vertical axis wind turbine, inspired by an airplane nose design, that increases the efficiency in extracting energy from the turbine. It has applications in both commercial and industrial sectors.
Two teams, Team Vortex from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and Team ZincAir from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru won the silver awards of Rs 2,50,000 each.
Team Vortex was awarded for designing a novel technology to harvest renewable energy from hydrokinetic energy by taming vortex-induced vibrations, which are otherwise traditionally considered as destructive.
Team ZincAir designed a bi-functional material for making the eco-friendly rechargeable zinc-air battery for electric vehicles more efficient.
Team Bio from St Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering, Kanyakumari won the 'Most Popular Award' for designing a photobioreactor to enhance biomass productivity from microalgae growth by producing bio-hydrogen through the dark fermentation method, which is environmentally friendly and cost effective.

'i can crack IT' challenge
This challenge invited students and faculty members from science, engineering, design and management colleges, and universities to solve industrial problems provided by a team of technical experts from KPIT.
The winners received Rs 50,000 each and include Himanshu Sharma, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Goa; Anup Kanare, Vidya Prasarni Sabha’s College of Engineering & Technology, Pune; Prajakta Pokharnikar, Akhilesh Magdum, Prof Madhura Raste, Annasaheb Dange College of Engineering & Technology, Sangli; and Shreyas Thombare and Prof Sanjay Mohite, DY Patil Institute of Engineering & Technology, Pune.

Promoting innovation
Dr Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Rajiv Gandhi Science and Technology Commission and former Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission), was the guest of honour. Dr Unnat Pandit, program director, Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog and Dr Anita Gupta, adviser and associate head (Innovation & Entrepreneurship), Department of Science & Technology (DST) were special guests at the event.

Ravi Pandit, Chairman, KPIT Technologies, said, “The mobility ecosystem is evolving, and it needs skilled talent to be able to cater to consumer demands. With our strong reputation as a technology disrupter for the automotive industry, KPIT is strongly positioned to contribute as creator of new-age talent in the mobility ecosystem. KPIT Sparkle facilitates the academia and the industry to join forces and promote innovation with solutions led by new talent.”

KPIT partnered with the Centre for Innovation Incubation & Entrepreneurship (CIIE), IIM Ahmedabad; Incubation Cell, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai; Science and Technology Park, University of Pune; Bhau Institute of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership, College of Engineering Pune; Aartech (AIC), one of the first corporate Atal Incubation Centres established under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM); Sandip Incubators (AIC); to provide incubation opportunities to deserving ideas.

Pandit, added, “KPIT Sparkle is setting new benchmarks in innovation every year. The projects help make cities smarter with clean, green and intelligent technologies in energy and mobility.”