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Title Festival of Innovations (FOIN), March 12-19, 2016 including innovation exhibition and other activities at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and plans for third FOIN during March 4-10, 2017
 
Abstract The second Festival of Innovation (FOIN) was inaugurated on March 12, 2016 by the Hon’ble President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. At the inaugural function of the second edition of FOIN, the book FOIN 2015, a catalogue of all ideas and events shared in the previous edition, was released by the President. Mrs Omita Paul, secretary to the President, remarked that the programme has been expanded this year to include innovation scholars, writers and artists in-residence from across the country.
 
Details The festival brought in focus the untapped creative potential of knowledge-rich, economically poor people. The President’s Secretariat was assisted by the NIF, SRISTI, Gujarat Grassroots Innovations Augmentation Network (GIAN) and the Honey Bee Network. The President interacted with the innovators at the exhibition and appreciated unique features of all innovations. Global roundtable conferences and a meeting of National Innovation Clubs were held to deliberate on the progress and future plans of innovation in India. Smt Omita Paul, Secretary to the President, narrated the genesis of FOIN and said, “In 2013, the President met the vice-chancellors of various central universities. During the meeting, she shared the need for triggering an innovation movement in India. This idea was followed up with the directors of Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institutes of Technology and other central and state universities. This also led to a detailed discussion with Dr R A Mashelkar and Prof Anil K Gupta. The discussion laid foundation for an event that would include discussions and debate to generate new ideas and tap the potential at grassroots.” FOIN saw a wider participation, both nationally and globally this year. A total of 65 grassroots innovators exhibited their innovations, including newly-developed crop varieties and farm machineries developed by the farmers, creative energy-saving and other utilities by mechanics and school children and ITI students. Eighty five innovation clubs participated from various universities/institutions across the country. Seven innovation scholars, two artists and two writers were hosted by the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan for two weeks, as part of the FOIN. Nobel Laureate Shri Kailash Satyarthi and other distinguished national and international thinkers, policymakers, academicians and entrepreneurs and scholars were part of the festival this year. Global roundtables on inclusive innovationThe global roundtable discussions, held on March 12, focused on three perspectives: (a) Inclusive innovation; (b) Leveraging science, technology and innovation in developing an inclusive ecosystem; and (c) Education for inclusive innovation development. The participants discussed the need for inclusive innovations and accelerated growth. Three key steps to boost innovation were identified: speed, scale and sustainability. The requirement of policy changes to address the issues plaguing innovation was also sensed. It was noted that very few innovation policies are synchronised with changes in education and social development policies and programs. Hence, there is a need to have citizen-driven innovations along with the tech-driven ones, to bring about durable change in the ecosystem. Later, a summary was presented to the Hon’ble President. The President, in his speech, mentioned that a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship needs to be institutionalised as part of our socio-economic ecosystem. Innovation and entrepreneurship needs to be inclusive and focus on a variety of enterprises, such as young technology firms, upcoming manufacturing businesses and rural innovator companies. He mentioned that scaling up of these processes would require initiatives that are built around: a) financially-sustainable business models; and b) participation by lower-income and excluded groups.In the session on innovation and skill development, various skill development mechanisms and the role of institutions such as Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) was considered as key to promote innovation. Shri Kailash Satyarthi, while addressing another session on social innovations for large-scale change, remarked, “Over centuries, our minds have become seasoned to think within the box. It’s important to start with the question mark and not with a full stop”. He proposed a 3D model for social innovation – Dream for big, dream for better; Discover inner strength, new ideas, things outside the box and opportunities around us; and ‘do and act now’ attitude. National roundtable on public service delivery Macro-level initiatives for innovations and grassroots action for inclusion was held on March 14. The discussion centred on innovations in public service delivery at different levels of governance play in bringing about change. Outstanding sarpanch, district, state and central-level officers, head of various central services and other scholars attended the discussion. The crux of this roundtable was how to meet the needs of those who deserve services but cannot desire. Four dimensions in public service delivery were identified: Accessibility to resources and technology; assurances, both vertical and horizontal; ability, skills transformation; and attitude. Many public service personnel, including a women sarpanch, and various district collectors, shared innovations undertaken in their respective states. Children’s creativity workshopA workshop of innovative and creative children was organised by SRISTI in collaboration with UNICEF, NIF and HBN. Selected privileged and underprivileged children sought solutions to societal problems in slums around Delhi through their creative ideas. The workshop began with exposure of these children to innovations by other children, technology students and people at the grassroots. Held over two days, the first day involved brainstorming, visiting the displays at FOIN exhibition and meeting grassroots innovators, followed by their visits to the slums. On the second day of the workshop, the children worked in groups, sketching various problems identified and their proposed solutions to them. The children came up with multiple solutions to various problems. It reinforced the belief that children should not be treated as a sink of sermons but rather as a source of innovative ideas. Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) Awards 2016The GYTI Awards, organised by SRISTI with support from Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, were held on March 13. The award is an initiative to foster youth-driven innovations across India and celebrate the spirit of ‘service before self’ taught by Mahatma Gandhi. SRISTI had received more than 2,363 entries from 50 technology domains of 272 universities across 26 states. Of these, 43 teams were awarded and/or appreciated. Fifteen students were awarded ¹ 15 lakh each while 100 students were awarded ¹ 100,000 each for their ideas by the DBT. In addition, five HariOm Ashram prerit Dr A K N Reddy awards of ¹ 50,000 were given.Meeting of national innovation clubsA meeting of national innovation clubs was called on March 15 in which representatives of six clubs shared their experiences — IIT Kanpur, Central University of Jammu, IIT Madras, IIT Tiruchirapalli, Jamia Milia Islamia and IIT Delhi. Roundtable on the innovations in medical science and biotechnology A need for looking at innovative solutions at affordable costs for low-income households was reiterated by most of the participants. Prototyping and product development through testing, re-testing, validation and partnering with industry was cited as necessary. A number of institutions have been able to come up with low-cost devices which have brought down costs for various tests. Many of these institutions are supported by ICMR and some by DBT. However, remarked a discussant, it is painful to say that many medical devices haven’t reached the point where the Ministry of Health can use them for public healthcare. Industry support is needed to achieve this. Also, too much of dependence on imported medical devices and equipment needs to be brought down. Interaction with the leaders of banking and financial sectorsAn interaction with the leaders of banking and financial sector was held on March 17, followed by a presentation on key recommendations to the Hon’ble President. The discussion focused mainly on four areas: (a) Grassroots innovations; (b) How incubation systems could be strengthened further; (c) Angel funding; and (d) Financing from other than angel and early seed-focused funding. It was recommended that we should keep at least one per cent aside to fund low-cost innovations. Special efforts are needed to commercialise public R&D innovations. It was also suggested that a separate branch or counter be made in banks to finance only innovations. More suggestions included that a National Innovation Promotion Board should be set up which could govern and lay policies for innovation in India. The session was attended by Shri Jayant Sinha, Union Minister of State for Finance; Shri Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister, MSMEs; Shri Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister of Railways and Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Shipping, among others. The role of government as a facilitator, the need to set up innovation centres in various places, the need to start thinking differently so that one can get new ideas in place and the need to generate employment were discussed.The President also launched Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)’s Startup Mitra portal during the conference. On March 18, an exhibition of outstanding innovations related to Swachh Bharat and a workshop on enhancing excellence in fabrication at grassroots level with farmer innovators and community workshop coordinators of NIF, facilitated by Prof Neil Gershenfeld, director, CBA, MIT, USA was held. Prof Neil Gershenfeld, Prof Anil K Gupta, Prof Gajendra Singh (former DDG-Engineering, ICAR), Prof Amit Seth (IIT Gandhinagar), principals and instructors from ITIs, people from Fab Labs and grassroots innovators attended the workshop.FOIN 2016 concluded on March 19 with a 12-hour Hackathon (non-stop rapid development) coding competition to develop web and mobile applications. The topics on which applications were developed were: a) Teachers taking attendance after every class, b) Examination authentication for students, c) Monitoring entry into public monuments, and d) Monitoring of public toilets. Innovation Scholars In-Residence programmeSeven innovation scholars joined the third batch of Innovation Scholars In-Residence programme at the Rashtrapati Bhavan during March 12-26, 2016. The scholars interacted with the President and his Secretariat and many other dignitaries. Linkages with technical institutions helped the innovators explore the standards necessary for broader market acceptance and also strengthen their access to mentoring support.
 
Volume No. Honey Bee 27(2) 17-21, 2016

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