Students across India showcased their brand-new innovations at a grand finale event of Vishwakarma Awards for Engineering Innovation 2022 held at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IIT-GN). They built engineering solutions for water and sanitation challenges, including an innovation that decreases water consumption in flushing a conventional toilet by almost 66% for solar thermal disinfection of drinking water. There was also a cost-effective and sustainable liquid waste treatment and recycling system for domestic dwellings during the Vishwakarma Awards for Engineering Innovations (IITGN) held on August 27, 2022.
Sponsored by the Make Foundation India, and Wheels India Niswarth (WIN) Foundation in partnership with Dr Kiran C Patel Centre for Sustainable Development (KPCSD), the competition aims to focus on different themes every year. In 2022, it was based on building novel systems that offer solutions to the myriad water and sanitation-related problems affecting the quality of life in urban & rural India.
The contest held in January drew 120 applications from student teams from science and engineering colleges across the country. Following a rigorous analysis of these applications and ideas, 35 teams were selected to work on a prototype of their solution. They were also provided financial support and mentoring by experts from the water and sanitation sector.
Dr Hemant Kanakia, Founder of the Maker Bhavan Foundation addressed the gathering and said, “Technology and science have come together to aid some of the pressing concerns on water that plague many parts of the world today, and many water-related industries have emerged all over. All of these are creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs and jobs for engineering talent. Our vision and goal are to encourage India’s emerging engineering talent to focus on solving societal problems with innovations that make a difference.”
Shri Ruyintan Mehta, President, Wheels India Niswarth (WIN) Foundation, said, “Innovations in Water and Sanitation domain are required to enable water availability and sanitation for underserved communities in a sustainable manner, and we are happy to partner with Maker Bhavan Foundation for the Vishwakarma Innovation Prize, which has, in turn, brought forth many highly promising innovations in this domain. WIN Foundation supports such innovations to be adopted at grassroots.”
Sharing thoughts on the initiative, Prof Amit Prashant, Officiating Director, IITGN, said, “Our country has no dearth of young talent to find innovative solutions to the challenges faced in our day-to-day lives. All they need is the right amount of motivation, support, and mentorship, as provided under the Vishwakarma Awards for Engineering Innovation, to turn their ideas into reality. I am sure these innovations would be able to bring the desired change for the pressing issues of water and sanitation.”
Winners:
Three teams were declared winners of the programme based on their unique and relevant solutions:
The first grand prize of Rs 5 lakh was won by Abishek G, Akshatha Devi Lolla, and Suchithra S from PSG College of Engineering, Coimbatore, for developing an innovation that reduces water consumption by almost 66% in a conventional toilet by changing the shape to a hyperboloid.
Students from IIT Bombay, namely Ananya Sah, Mohammaed Aslam Villan, and Shubham Tiwari, won the second prize of Rs 2 lakh for their solution on SWAP-Solar Water Antimicrobial Purifier, a device for solar thermal disinfection of drinking water. SWAP is a fully functional prototype for rapid water disinfection using solar energy with a net zero carbon footprint.
The third prize of Rs 1 lakh was awarded to Ravi Kumar Yadava and Ravneet Kumar Yadav from IISER, Mohali. They have developed iHydroMET, wastewater treatment and resource recovery technology that employs the concept of hydroponics and microbial electrochemical technology.
