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Schneider Electric India Pvt. Ltd (SEI), a 100% subsidiary of Schneider Electric Industries, hosted the 4th edition of Innovation Challenge on 12th December 2008. This is a unique contest to explore the budding engineering talent in India. The focus of this contest is to make students think ‘out of the box’ and provide an opportunity to come up with innovative solutions to showcase efficient utilization of energy. The topics identified were “Electrification of rural areas at low cost”, “Innovative solutions to optimize energy usage” & “Web and wireless technologies to measure, monitor and control energy”. The foundation of this contest was laid in October 2005.
150 teams from numerous engineering colleges across India participated in the contest this year. The 10 teams which qualified to the finals were from BITS Pilani, MIT Manipal, HIT Kolkata, NIT Rourkela, KIIT Bhubaneshwar, IIT Kharagpur, MSRIT Bangalore and IIIT Hyderabad.
The esteemed judges who were present to evaluate the contestants were: Dr. Shreepad Karmalkar (Prof. EEE Dept., IIT Madras), Mr. M. Siddhartha Bhatt (Additional Director, ECDD CPRI), Dr. R. Nagaraja (MD, Power Research & Development Consultants Pvt. Ltd.), Mr. Ashok Hattangady (Director – Technology Development, Conzerv), Mr. S. Sumanth (Managing Director, Mescom), Mr. Veerendra Vasamsetty (Senior Tech Lead, Innovation & Anticipation, Schneider Electric) and Mr. Arunvel Thangamani (Senior CAE Analyst, Schneider Electric). The participants were evaluated on the basis of quality of innovation, technical feasibility of solution, alignment to the contest theme and the proof of concept given.
MIT, Manipal represented by Mrityunjai and Arpit Gandhi, who presented “Solar Powered Embedded LED Street Lamp” won the 1st prize of Rs. 1,00,000/-. MIT, Manipal represented by Rupan Sarkar, Gaurav Kumar Barman and Pranab Purakayastha, who presented “Efficient Energy Management ” won the 2nd prize of Rs. 75,000/-. IIT, Kharagpur represented by Debdutta Bhattacharya, Siddharth Ajith, Ankur Goel and Kaushik Kislay--, who presented “Electrification of Rural areas at low cost - Microbial Fuel Cell” won the 3rd prize of Rs. 50,000/-.
The contest was open to students of all engineering streams. Each team could propose their innovative ideas in accordance with the contest theme. The short-listed teams were invited to present their ideas/solutions at the Schneider R&D facility in Bangalore. Each team was allotted 30 minutes to present their idea and for Q&A.
About Schneider Electric
Schneider Electric India Pvt. Ltd (SEI) in India is a 100% subsidiary of Schneider Electric Industries SAS, a global leader in the field of Electrical Distribution, Industrial Control & Automation. With sales more than Euros 13.7 billion and a strong force of 1,12,000 employees and market supremacy in over 190 countries worldwide, the company is well known for its unique vision, progressive management and above all for its exemplary Quality that redefines excellence. Schneider Electric entered India in 1963 through a first joint venture with Tata group. In the year 2000 Schneider Electric further consolidated its position in the Indian market by acquiring Crompton Greaves LV division and S&S Switchgear. In the year 2004, India witnessed Schneider Electric opening its first Global Technology Centre in Bangalore, India. With 480 employees working on product development, GTCI’s gamut of activities, include research in the fields of electro mechanical design and software development. The innovative products and technologies prepared at the centre are available in all markets across the globe. Tasks at the Bangalore Centre are accomplished in synchronization with Schneider Electric’s major Design & Development Centre in the field of Power Protection and Control, Industrial Automation and Installation Systems and Control.
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