Vishwakarma Award launched by the ©Maker Bhavan Foundation is awarded annually to young innovators among students of Indian Science and Engineering colleges. Each year we shall choose a theme focused on an area of pressing concern for which students teams will compete to build novel systems and solutions.
Vishwakarma Awards 2022 focused on the area of Water & Sanitation. Global warming taking place and with the growth of the economy, India’s water problem has become acute. That makes this theme highly relevant for India’s future.
We are pleased to report in its first addition itself, Vishwakarma Awards 2022 became a success. 120 Teams with the total of 300 plus students, from across India applied.
The grand finale of Vishwakarma Awards 2022 was held on August 27, 2022 at IIT Gandhinagar. The competition was co-sponsored by Wheels India Niswarth (WIN) Foundation and partnered with Kiran Patel Center for Sustainable Development (KPCSD) at IIT Gandhinagar.
120 applications received
35 teams shortlisted (received mentoring from experts)
10 teams invited to show case at the grand finale
3 projects/ teams won prizes.
Distinguished Jury Panel
- Ravindra K Mariwala, Founder & CEO, SMAART Water Suresh Redhu, CTO & Senior Vice President, Eureka Forbes
- Padmaja Ruparel, Co-Founder & President, Indian Angel Network Anuj Sharma – CEO, Piramal Sarvajal Pvt. Ltd,
- Prof. Jaichander Swaminatahan, IIT Gandhinagar Ruyintan Mehta, President, WIN Foundation
From a Jury
“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 grass roots.”
– Shri Ruyintan Mehta
President, Wheels India Niswarth (WIN) Foundation.
From the mentors
“The Vishwakarma Awards was the perfect platform for students to design, innovate and develop prototypes of products catering to water-based societal challenges. As a mentor, it was an exciting journey interacting with the student teams with their creative and ingenious ideas to take on some of the pertinent societal challenges.”
– Prof. Soumyadip Sett
Professor, IIT Gandhinagar.
“True to its name, Vishwakarma challenge presented an unique opportunity to transform abstract ideas and concepts into reality by doing. The overwhelming participation from more than 200 teams all across India reinforces the core philosophy of active young minds that look forward to applying their engineering skills to the development of nation through scientific interventions carrying societal implications.”
– Prof. Subramanium
Professor, IIT Bombay.
From the winners
“The constant feedback from the experts working in the field of water and sanitation steered us in developing the Hyperboloid Toilet. The feeling that our product is valued by the industrial experts and the fact that it has the potential to develop in to a commercial product gave a sense of accomplishment. We intend to make flushing sustainable”
Abishek G, Akshatha Devi Lolla, & Suchithra
PSG College of Engineering, Coimbatore.
From a student participant
” It was a great opportunity to interact with industrialists and academicians and to know their views on developed technologies. Heartfelt thanks to organizers of Viswakarma awards for creating a common platform to make this possible. Looking forward to more such events in the near future.”
Shreeniwas Sathe
IIT Kharagpur.
The Winners
Abishek G, Akshatha Devi Lolla, & Suchithra from PSG College of Engineering, Coimbatore became first prize winners defeating teams from 5 IITs and IISERs. Their solution – the Hyperboloid Toilet reduces water consumption in conventional toilets by 2/3rd the current usage without any compromise in the quality of the flush. The prototype’s testing yielded encouraging results, using only 2 litres of water as opposed to 6 litres in conventional toilets.
Ananya Sah, Mohammed Aslam Villan & Shubham Tiwari from IIT Bombay won second prize for their solution entitled SWAP-Solar Water Antimicrobial Purifier. This is a fully functional prototype for rapid water disinfection using solar energy with net zero carbon footprint.
Third prize winners were Ravi Kumar Yadava & Ravneet Kumar Yadav from IISER, Mohali. Their Solution iHydroMET is a wastewater treatment and resource recovery technology which employs the concept of hydroponics and microbial electrochemical technology. It is a cost effective and eco-friendly solution to manage wastewater at point source providing resource recovery in the form of reclaimed water, horticulture yield and some energy.
Other Projects which were showcased at the grand finale
- Prem Kumar from IIT Guwahati: Near real-time monitoring and quantification of inland water using satellites
- Megha R Raj, K Vidyalashmi, Keerthy Remesh, Sarath SS, Sudeep K S from TKMCE, Kollam: Removal of microplastics using psidium guajava leaves
- Neelanjan & Indranil from IIEST Shibpur: Development of arsenic removal unit with electrocoagulation and activated alumina sorption
- Abishek G, Suriya N from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore: AquaReGenerator, a one-of-a-kind solar desalinator
- Shreeniwas Sathe, Dr Inrajut Charabory, Rishabh Raj from IIT Kharagpur: Application of waste-derived carbon- based electrodes for tertiary treatment of wastewater
- Nekita & Abhishek from IIT Delhi: EcoFilter: An eco-friendly and economical water treatment unit
- Akansha Saini, Prakriti Gupta, Pala Dobal, Mohd Touseef, Aryan Shukla from IIT Jammu: Real-time water leakage system using vibration in pipes
