THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology (MBCET), here, will play host to the tenth edition of the National Innovation Contest - TechTop- 2015, to identify and recognize the best innovative talents from among the students of engineering colleges.
This year TechTop 2015 will be held from June 25-26. and the theme is ‘Smart Designs for Healthy Living’. Over 340 project proposals were received this year from engineering colleges of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
“A total of 86 projects with their working models were chosen by the judges’ panel for the next round. The selected teams are now busy in developing their proto model for selection to the final round. 20 to 25 teams will be selected for the finale in Thiruvananthapuram,” said Moossa C Kandy, chief coordinator, TechTop 2015.
As part of its 10th year celebrations, TechTop has extended an Innovation Challenge titled ‘National Junior Innovator Contest’ to school students studying from classes VII to XII. Students are invited to present innovative science projects, which shall be displayed during the TechTop contest from June 25-26 at the Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology.
The best project will be given a cash prize of Rs 25,000 followed by Rs 15,000 as second prize and Rs 10,000 as third prize.
“The TechTop Charitable Trust designed TechTop as an event to celebrate outstanding innovations relevant to the community from engineering students and to inspire the next generation of engineers. Conceived in the year 2005, this contest has become the most sought-after platform now to showcase the path breaking innovative ideas by students of engineering colleges. Many of the winning projects have moved subsequently to become successful start-ups,” said Rajesh Nair, managing trustee, TechTop Charitable Trust.
“We have aspired that this contest evolves to push more people to unleash their potential in entrepreneurship and what we notice now is that our efforts have been successful to a great extent. It is our hope that a decade of initiatives in encouraging innovation will be rewarded with a grand show in June 2015,” he added.
The workshop will involve hands-on activities including ideation, design fabrication and validation of solutions together with researchers from MIT and other mentors. The annual TechQuiz for school students of X to XII standards will also be held this year. The entry level contest for the quiz will be online for which the registrations on www.techtop.in will begin from June 3. The finals for the TechQuiz will be held in on June 25 in Thiruvananthapuram.
TechTop 2015 will conclude with the valedictory function on June 26, where the winners will be announced with the best projects. The best project will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, which is sponsored by Degree Controls. The second prize is Rs 50,000, third prize is Rs 20,000 and two consolation prizes of Rs 10,000 each will be given.
Women in Technology prize of Rs 20,000 will be awarded to the best All Women Team.