IIT Palakkad launches national challenge for students to boost innovation in energy sector

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Palakkad’s Technology IHub Foundation has launched a National Grand Challenge to boost innovation, research and development in the national and global energy sector.

The Oorja Grand Challenge aims to enable innovators to design and develop intelligent, collaborative systems in the energy domain. Students, researchers and entrepreneurs can team up to take the challenge and lead fundamental research, product development, industry development and job creation for Indian and global energy sectors.

Applications are open from January 10 and the last date to apply is March 1.

The Oorja Grand Challenge is a pre-incubation activity that would pave way for innovation. After shortlisting, the prize money for the challenge might go up to Rs 1.5 lakh for designing. About Rs 10 lakh will be awarded for prototyping after a design review and up to Rs 25 lakh will be given for incubation after reviewing the prototype.

Those entering the contest must form a team with at least one subject-matter expertise industry / academic mentor. The applicants can be graduates from any Indian university and have at least five members or more in a team with a track record of invention/tinkering solutions among others, or volunteering with organizations to address/solve problems with societal/environmental impact.

The IIT Palakkad Technology IHub Foundation (IPTIF) is a section-8 company with a Rs 100-crore support from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), government of India. IPTIF focuses on attracting nationwide potential and harnessing expertise, thus fostering class research innovation, technology and product development.

Albert Sunny, IPTIF director and project director of Technology Innovation Hub on Intelligent Collaborative Systems (TIH ICS), said, “The aim of this nationwide contest is to scout for technology solutions in the energy domain. These solutions should be safe to use, economical at large scale, with high efficiency. The expected technology solutions include but are not limited to those for energy storage, generation, conversion, and transportation / distribution.”

IPTIF is conducting a two month-long Oorja Webinar Series from January 11 to February 24 on all Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays of every week. Everyone will have the opportunity to participate in the webinars and breakout sessions with the topmost leaders in the energy industry.

IPTIF general manager Harilal Bhaskar said, “We are also looking at energy generation technologies that are greener (like solar, thermal and wind, among others), with high power/energy density (similar to Nuclear reactors), and are safe to use (Ex: better nuclear storage/usage, better hydroelectric planning to avoid flooding risks).”

Applications for the Oorja Grand Challenge can be done here: https://tinyurl.com/Oorja-Challenge-registration.