Anveshana 2012 connects engineering and school children through innovation

BANGALORE, INDIA: Synopsys India and Agastya International Foundation, an education trust that provides science education programs for disadvantaged children and teachers, today held Anveshana 2012, a science fair aimed at bridging the gap between schools and engineering colleges. Thirty-six schools and 36 engineering colleges across Karnataka participated in the event.

Anveshana 2012 is aimed at developing innovation and creativity among students from engineering colleges and schools in Karnataka. In advance of today’s fair, more than 61 ideas were generated from the engineering colleges. Out of these 36 problems were selected for the competition. Participating school children were then teamed with college students to develop projects that could address a given problem. Participating teams underwent training in model-making, conceptualization and leadership skills. Each team presented its research project during the fair.

During their presentations, the school children explained the workings of the models and presented their findings. Projects were judged on the concepts, methodology, findings, and presentation by the students. Examples of some of the projects include: Induction of systemic resistance and management of okra wilt with biocides, effective disposal of waste using minimum resources, and portable spectrophotometer for analysing the purity of drinking water.

Dr. Pradip K. Dutta, corporate VP and MD, Synopsys, said: “Anveshana is an important initiative for Synopsys that is close to our hearts. It will help in the cross-pollination of ideas between school children and college students. We hope it will inspire school children to continue their studies, thus reducing the school dropout rates. Participating in Anveshana can also link engineering colleges with corporations. Such cooperation can lead to innovative product development, incubation and seed funding. We plan to expand this project to Hyderabad and Delhi, and later pan-India.”

Ramji Raghavan, chairman of Agastya International Foundation, added: “Our aim has been to infuse and propagate a creative spirit among disadvantaged rural students. Anveshna plants the seed of scientific thinking and can build a foundation for future research avenues.”