Samsung Innovation Awards 2014 Presented to Young Innovators

Samsung today presented the Samsung Innovation Awards 2014 to the young and enterprising innovators at IIT Kharagpur Extension Centre in Kolkata. Samsung Innovation Awards challenges the students to design and develop innovation in technology and demonstrate the potential of the idea to address practical business solutions. Taking the first prize was team Devender and Rohan Jain for Picture Vocabulary App for Competitive Exams. The other two teams were Karan Kakwani and Satya Narayan Shukla for Non Invasive Cuff less Blood Pressure and Heart Rate measurement system and Subarna Chatterjee, Arijit Roy and Sanku Kumar Roy for Big-Sensor-Cloud infrastructural framework for persuasive and pervasive virtualization of physical sensors into effective real-time services. The awards were presented by Dr Aloknath De, Sr. VP & CTO, Samsung R & D Institute, India – Bangalore.

This year’s awards saw an overwhelming response from the students who got an opportunity to present their ideas to the eminent jury comprising Dr. Aloknath De, CTO, SRIB; Prof Rajib Mall, HoD, Computer Science Department, IIT Kharagpur and Prof Indranil Sengupta, MD, Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Park, IIT Kharagpur.The top three winners were given cash prizes worth Rupees One lakh, Seventy-five thousand and Fifty-thousand respectively. The other finalists received consolation prizes. Samsung R & D Institute – Bangalore is exploring the option of inviting the award winners to join them to further develop their innovations.

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Aloknath De, Senior VP & CTO, Samsung R & D Institute, Bangalore India said, “Samsung has a strong history of innovation, and at Samsung Research & Development Institute Bangalore, we pride ourselves on our ability to create cutting edge technology that goes into defining the future. We are very keen to be a catalyst in encouraging research and inculcating the spirit of innovation amongst the student community. These awards are an attempt to identify the potential innovators and take them to the next level. We are pleased to see the level of innovation and creativity among these IIT students; we had a delightful time vetting through and shortlisting entries.”

Seven such entries made it to the finals of the fourth edition of the Samsung Innovation Awards, conducted by the Samsung R & D Institute, India – Bangalore (SRI-B); in collaboration with the Entrepreneurship Cell and Department of Computer Science at IIT Kharagpur. The event was open for participation to all students of IIT Kharagpur. The Awards invited innovative projects from student teams advised by faculty members in the areas of Internet of Things, Multimedia, Web Technology, Machine Learning, Mobile Computing, Sensors, Security and related technologies.

Dr. Partha Pratim Das, Head, Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering Entrepreneurship, IIT Kharagpur, said, “As an institution, we place tremendous importance on research and welcome any opportunity that encourages our students to use their knowledge to develop innovative solutions. Working with an R&D centre such as the SRI-B gives our students the added perks of understanding the kind of research and solutions the industry expects and requires.”

Picture Vocabulary App for Competitive Exams, Big-Sensor-Cloud infrastructural framework for persuasive and pervasive virtualization of physical sensors into effective real-time services, The Guiding System 1.0, Intelligent Android Notebook (IAN) were some of the futuristic innovations presented by IIT Kharagpur students that were recognised by the Samsung Innovation Awards 2014.

Devender and Rohan on winning the award said, “We are excited and overwhelmed to be the Samsung Innovation Awards winners this year. This is a great boost to our interest in research and we look forward to working with the SRI-B to understand how we can take this further. We thank our professors at IIT Kharagpur for their training, support and encouragement all along.”

2014 edition of the Samsung Innovation Awards was initiated at IIT Kharagpur campus three months ago through an open entry where students submitted proposals for their innovative ideas. Shortlisting process was led by IIT Kharagpur Professors and SRIB team who selected the finalist. The final teams presented their idea to the panel of judges at IIT Kharagpur campus. The winning project was selected based on the degree of innovation, feasibility, usability, relevance and overall impact on masses.

Conceptualised in 2011 the Samsung Innovation Awards seeks to support and encourage young talent/ professionals who have incorporated innovative approaches, sought to improvise different systems and processes, developed indigenous products and services for fulfilling mass needs thereby transforming lives and creating sustainable solutions for the benefit of the society at large.

Synopsis of shortlisted projects: Samsung Innovation Award 2014