At Samsung too, the brightest minds from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and other reputed engineering colleges join us and become part our innovations culture, with the aim of developing meaningful technology that transform people’s lives.

While our young minds do their jobs around the world, Samsung Newsroom India thought of catching up with three young Indian innovators who have identified real world problems and came up with innovative solutions.

A few years ago, Arman Gupta was bothered by a simple household problem that is the worry of every child – spilling juice or food on the floor, and getting a reprimand from mom!

So at 10, the Mumbai boy created what he calls the “Mopping Machine”.

Fortunately for him, his keen interest in science and robotics that was nurtured by his parents from an early age came in handy when developing this machine.

“I had been working on robotics since I was nine. So, I could turn my ideas into innovation,” says Arman.

Arman Gupta: Developed an innovative Mopping Machine.

“Young Innovators need to be encouraged. They are makers and their ability to connect the dots and create innovations is exceptional and needs to be celebrated by schools, parents and society at large,” says Amitoj Singh, Senior Director and Head, Product Innovation Team at Samsung India.

Samay Godika did exactly that: Connect the dots. His inspiration to innovate was a ‘close family member’s’ suffering from an acute neurological disease. So he worked on establishing a correlation between Circadian Rhythms and the effectiveness of medical treatments, which is something that can be potentially useful in preventing diseases like Cancer or even Alzheimer’s.

“I have always been inspired by people who are trying to make a difference in the world and solving problems that are large scale. That’s what innovation should be aimed at,” says the Bengaluru lad who turned 17 last year. He is now working on developing “a Circadian Rhythm wearable and a lamp that can make us more productive.”

Samay Godika: Combining Science with Story Telling.

Now, he wants to change the way science is taught. “Our generation likes to watch engaging videos about interesting concepts. So I am trying to combine science with storytelling. Theatre and science have to go hand-in-hand. I want to tell new stories with science, through science. That’s what innovation is,” adds Samay, who is a student of National Public School – Koramangala, Bengaluru.

Amitoj points out that young innovators have a unique ability to think at the intersection of business, consumer and technology. “I am amazed to see the work of these young innovators. They have a bright future.”

Another innovator is Abhik Saha, an alumnus of Don Bosco English Medium school in Odlabari in Jalpaiguri district of North Bengal. His first brush with computers happened in 2011 when he was the only one in his class to fail in the subject. But that’s where the story begins. He did well in the next exam and never looked behind.

Soon he was working with international clients on website designs, and also created a slew of gaming, educational and tutorial apps. He even created a whole computer programming language – Lino.

“I wanted to do more research – on coding, on AI and so many other things. But somehow, I wasn’t really getting the material that could satiate me,” says Abhik. So, he developed a search engine for everyone to find good content.

Abhik Saha:: Innovators need to believe in their ideas.

The 17-year-old who loves product design, has now moved on, and with a friend is working on a new product that will aggregate content from OTT as well as music providers on a common platform.

Singh says what differentiates creative young minds and young innovators is the ability to create experience prototypes.

“Innovators need to believe in their ideas and convert their ideas into prototypes. These can be quick and dirty prototypes to simulate the product experience or high fidelity functional prototypes to test the usability performance. Prototyping helps them to validate their hypothesis and also helps in further evolving the concepts,” he says.

Samsung has engaged with India’s education system at an early stage. Through Samsung Smart Class programme, the company has set up a smart class each in 645 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya schools across the country. Students at these schools have been coming with several interesting innovations.

Also Read: Samsung Star Scholar Program to Offer Scholarships to 560 IIT & NIT Students from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya

Samsung’s three research institutes in Bengaluru and Noida also hold programmes from time to time to encourage young innovators.

[Samsung salutes the indomitable spirit of Young Innovators of this country – the bright future of a scientific India]

But why? “So far, most companies introduced innovations that, in some way or the other, sought to change consumer behaviour. It’s just the opposite now. People want to change. We will all need to develop products that will fit into this change,” explains Amitoj.

Precisely why Amitoj and his team is studying the changing lifestyles of people, and is working on predicting which of these lifestyle changes will be part of “The New Normal”, going forward.

Working from home the last couple of weeks has been a very enlightening experience and Amitoj says his team’s productivity has gone up. While most people feel collaboration is the key to innovation, he says that is a paradox.

“For innovation, collaboration is important, but success comes from individual contributions and self-belief.” His team members are now getting more time to think, introspect, pursue their passions, and as a result their productivity has increased. One team member has finally got back to automotive sketching after a year-long-gap, and he keeps posting it on the team group for inspiration. Another has turned his passion for books into a YouTube channel on book reviews.

“Creative satisfaction that these individuals get from pursuing their passions drives their work, their thoughts on innovations. Work from home is giving fuel to their individuality,” says Amitoj.

After completing a PhD in Emotions & Design and Masters in Industrial Design from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, and working at the institute’s Design Centre as an Assistant Professor for a few years, Amitoj joined Samsung in 2010 to set up the Product Innovation Team to drive localized consumer innovations.

This team works with businesses across the company to create innovations that Samsung consumers have come to love over the years. The latest in the line of innovations is the Curd Maestro Refrigerator that was unveiled by Samsung in January this year. This is the world’s first refrigerator that makes curd.

Over these years, the biggest ammunition for this team has been consumer insights.  But in the current scenario, getting consumer insights is a challenge, so they had to find an alternate route. His team is now busy getting responses from employees across the company in India and then studying it to understand effects of staying at home on people, their pain points and the impact it has on their lifestyle and attitudes.

He himself gets a lot of these insights from his big joint family – his parents and his elder brother’s family and his wife and two children, and appreciates the advantages of living in a joint family much more in such trying times.

“We practice social distancing but not emotional distancing. With so many of us at home, we aren’t missing too much of the fun,” he says.

Everyone in his family is using technology to follow their passions. His wife and daughter’s Zumba classes have now moved online, and so have his son’s drum lessons. These days, when not working, he is rekindling his passion for sci-fi movies, and initiating his son to the fascinating world of these movies!

Three Mantras for Innovators

• Be Honest
• Fail Fast
• Think Big

(Next Monday in Rediscover Yourself, we will speak to another Samsung India leader to share his or her experience. And in tomorrow’s  Quick Tech, a senior technology writer will tell us about his favourite Samsung innovation and share some interesting tips for #WFH. Stay inspired).

“Galaxy S10 Lite is an embodiment of our sustained effort to deliver industry-leading innovations for our millennial consumers. We’re confident that Galaxy S10 Lite’s Pro-Grade Camera, flagship performance and uninterrupted visual experience will excite consumers and create a huge demand for the smartphone,” said Asim Warsi, Senior Vice President, Mobile Division, Samsung India.

Speaking about the much-awaited launch, Aditya Soni, Senior Director – Mobiles at Flipkart said, “At Flipkart, we are committed to bringing cutting-edge technology and best-in-class products to Indian consumers at great prices. In line with our vision to offer a greater choice to consumers who are seeking to upgrade their smartphones, we are happy to strengthen our premium offering with the launch of Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite.”

Galaxy Premium Features

Pro-Grade Camera

Galaxy S10 Lite’s Pro-Grade camera takes your photography to the next level with the main Super Steady OIS Camera (48MP), Ultra-Wide (12MP) and Macro (5MP) cameras. The 48MP main camera helps take vibrant, high-resolution photos day or night, while the 123-degree UW camera – like human eye – is capable of capturing breathtaking landscape scenes. The Macro lens allows you to get as close as 4cm to uncover the finest details, while the 32MP front camera is meant for share-worthy selfies.

The biggest USP of Galaxy S10 Lite’s Pro-Grade camera is its Super Steady Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), a gimbal-like hardware that tilts the camera unit to ensure blur free photos and videos. Super Steady OIS provides higher stability for action-focused photos and videos, letting you share your world, your experience, without any compromise. Super Steady OIS adds UHD quality to your videos even in low-light conditions.

With Galaxy S10 Lite’s Pro-Grade camera, you can also capture Live Focus videos, recording what you want to focus on and also add artistic effects on to your videos. S10 Lite is also equipped with the Zoom-in Mic, which features three microphones to effectively target and enhance the sound in real time.

Galaxy S10 Lite not only helps you take great pictures and videos, but also arms you with an all-in-one built-in video editing suite to edit on the go. With Galaxy S10 Lite’s video editing suite, you can add captions, combine and even speed up clips.

Galaxy S10 Lite’s Pro-Grade camera comes with AI Scene Optimizer, your intelligent shortcut to professional-looking photos. The Scene Optimizer recognizes 30 types of subjects and adjust them perfectly.

There’s also the Intelligent Flaw Detector, which intelligently detects common photo mistakes―closed eyes, blurring, and excessive backlighting― and lets you know so that you can fix the problem and capture flawless photos.

Flagship Performance

When it comes to performance, Galaxy S10 Lite packs in a punch to keep up with the fast-paced lives of millennials. The Galaxy S10 Lite comes with Qualcomm® Snapdragon 855 processor for flagship performance. The cutting edge 7 nm processor ensures highly responsive and blazingly fast speeds to accelerate your workflow. Galaxy S10 Lite comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB internal memory for great multitasking experience. Galaxy S10 Lite features a long-lasting 4,500mAh battery that manages your phone’s power intelligently and takes less time to charge with its 25W Super Fast Charging technology. Galaxy S10 Lite is also equipped with Game Booster and Performance monitor to take your gaming experience to another level.

Uninterrupted Visual Experience

Galaxy S10 Lite comes with Super AMOLED edge-to-edge Infinity-O display that introduces you to the 20:9 expansive view with remarkable screen ratio. The unique Infinity-O Display packs an array of sensors and camera technology into a hole-in display – so you can maximize your screen real estate without any distractions. The 6.7-inch infinity screen provides an immersive experience, enabling you to enjoy seamless viewing of your favorite multimedia content even in bright daylight. Galaxy S10 Lite also comes with on display fingerprint scanner.

Accessible Intelligence and Services

Galaxy S10 Lite comes with Samsung’s ecosystem of intelligent apps and services, including Bixby (Vision, Lens Mode, Routines), Samsung Pay and Samsung Health. Galaxy S10 Lite is protected with defense-grade security platform Samsung Knox.

Price, Offers & Availability

Galaxy S10 Lite, available in Prism White, Prism Black and Prism Blue colours, is priced at INR 39,999. You can pre-book Galaxy S10 Lite starting January 23 till February 3 across Flipkart, Samsung.com and leading retail stores. Galaxy S10 Lite will go on sale from February 4. Customers Pre-booking the Galaxy S10 Lite get one-time screen replacement at INR 1,999 covering accidental screen damage within 1 year of purchase and there is also an additional INR 3,000 cashback with ICICI Bank Credit Cards.

Specifications

Galaxy S10 Lite
Display	6.7-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity-O Display, 2400×1080 (394ppi)
Camera	Rear: Triple Camera – Macro: 5MP F2.4 – Wide-angle: 48MP Super Steady OIS F2.0 – Ultra Wide: 12MP F2.2– Front: 32MP F2.2
AP	Qualcomm® Snapdragon 855 Octa-core processor (Max. 2.8 GHz + 2.4 GHz + 1.7 GHz)
Memory	8GB RAM with 128GB internal storage
Battery	4500mAh (typical), 25W inbox Fast Charger

The Samsung Innovation Lab at IIT-Guwahati will train students on Internet of Things (IoT), Embedded Systems, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, helping them learn industry-relevant skills and making them job-ready.

Samsung Digital Academy is Samsung’s corporate social initiative that aims to bridge the digital divide and proficiency gaps in the country by skilling students on cutting-edge technology. Through this partnership with IIT-Guwahati, the academy targets to train over 300 students in the next three years on these cutting edge technologies.

“I sincerely feel that Samsung Digital Academy Programme at IIT -Guwahati would increasingly help Assam to emerge as a key player in the development of next-generation technology ecosystems and help the state in becoming a potential destination for skill development mission from a digital perspective. I further hope that the collaboration between Samsung and IIT-Guwahati in rolling out this skill initiative will definitely play a crucial role in helping the government develop sustainable employment options in the state,” said Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal.

“Samsung R&D Institute India, Delhi has been working closely for many years with premiere engineering institutions of India to foster collaborations for joint teaching, mentoring and promoting research on advanced and emerging technologies. We are committed to work in the field of next generation technology development and participate in the growth of advanced research areas such as IoT through the network of Samsung Innovation Labs under the Samsung Digital Academy program,” said Kiho Kim, Managing Director, Samsung Research & Development Institute, Delhi.

“At Samsung, our aim is to foster a culture of innovation amongst the students and provide them with the best possible infrastructure. We are confident that Samsung Innovation Lab, which is part of our citizenship initiatives, will help students leverage the growing digital technologies market and develop their talent,” said Peter Rhee, Corporate Vice President, Samsung India.

“IIT-Guwahati is actively looking forward to the association with Samsung India to impart cutting edge education to the students of the institute. Such initiatives will help bridge the academia-industry gap and foster more collaborations that would be a win-win situation for both. The strong interest and support of the state government, will go a long way in extending the expertise of IIT-Guwahati and Samsung Innovation Lab to other parts of Assam. It would provide technical opportunities for academic excellence and development,” said Prof. TG Sitharam, Director, IIT-Guwahati.

The curriculum at the Samsung Innovation Lab at IIT-Guwahati will include Internet of Things (IoT), embedded systems, artificial intelligence and machine learning. The course will be taught over 14 weeks through classroom lectures, assignments and lab room sessions, self-study and mini projects. Extensive tutorials and approach documents will also be provided to students to facilitate practical exercises.

Samsung has so far set up five Samsung Innovation Labs in IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Hyderabad, IIT-Kharagpur and IIT-Roorkee as part of its Samsung Digital Academy program. More Samsung Innovation Labs will come in the near future. The current focus of the labs is on activities such as collaborative research with Samsung and course/training offered by Samsung. The Samsung Innovation Lab at IIT-Guwahati will carry out research on areas such as Pervasive Computing, Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning, IoT, Embedded Systems.

The awards were presented by Dr. Aloknath De, Corporate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Samsung R&D Institute – Bengaluru (SRI-B). Prizes worth INR 3.5 lakhs were awarded to the top three winners, while the other three finalists received award of merit from Samsung.

(Extreme left)- Dr. Hemant Borkar, SESC Convener, IIT Indore 3rd prize winners- Nemath Ahmed, Suraj Polamaina, Shavez Malick, Dr. Aloknath De, Samsung R&D Bangalore (Centre), Dr. Mukesh Kumar, Associate Professor- IIT Indore, Dr. Abhishek Srivastava, Associate Professor- IIT Indore, 1st Prize Winner- Ram S. Mohril, Dr. Ajit Bopardikar, Samsung R&D Bangalore and Second Prize winner Chaitanya Mehta- (Extreme Right)

The First prize went to Ram S. Mohril for the project “AR/VR Enhanced Textbook reading and learning experience”. The project is a revolutionary idea where it aims to transform the technical writing and learning field by developing a book for higher education students and through augmented and virtual reality technologies.

The Second Prize was grabbed by Chaitanya Mehta for his project “Tree Climbing Quadraped Robot”. Chaitanya developed the quadruped which is capable of traversing the terrain smoothly, transition from ground to the trunk of the tree without assist to meet future requirement of smart and automated farms.

The Third prize was awarded to Nemath Ahmed, Suraj Polamaina, Shavez Malick for their project “Immersive Acoustic Spatial Awareness for Visually Impaired”. Their project aimed at helping the visually impaired to navigate, socialize and stay aware of near hazards with the use of echolocation technique.

The Merit awards were given to the projects “Fingerprint Spoof buster”, “AI based Contactless Biometric system” and “Leukemia Classification from Microscopic Images using Deep learning techniques”.

“Over the past nine years, Samsung Innovation Award has been delighted to recognize the talent pool across various IITs in India. We are happy to see sharp problems, novel ideas and smart execution of the participating teams. This edition at IIT Indore brought forward some of the innovative renditions in sync with the theme. At Samsung, innovation is deep rooted in our DNA and our constant endeavor is to promote the culture of innovation amongst bright minds”, said Dr. Aloknath De, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Samsung R&D Institute – Bengaluru (SRI B).

The six-finalist teams had the opportunity to present their ideas to the jury consisting of senior researchers and scientists from Samsung and IIT-Indore. The winning projects were selected on the basis of originality of the product and solution, feasibility of implementation, completeness, relevance in the market and presentation to the jury members at IIT-Indore.

“At IIT Indore, we envisage the convergence of traditional disciplines and advocate interdisciplinary research programme focusing on basic and applied research, technology development, innovation and entrepreneurship. Students from various disciplines have participated with great enthusiasm in Samsung Innovation Award and submitted their ideas and proof of concept for evaluation. We intend to take this event further and develop a long standing association with Samsung Research Institute Bangalore to nourish research, innovation and entrepreneurship eco-system at the institute for the benefit of the society,” said Prof. Pradeep Mathur, Director, IIT- Indore

Samsung Innovation Award 2019 was initiated five months ago wherein students submitted their entries to the entrepreneurship cell at IIT-Indore. The Award received an overwhelming response, with 50% increase in submissions over last year.

Initiated and conceptualized in 2011, Samsung Innovation Award aim to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship amongst students. The Award aim to support talent who showcase an inventive approach and develop products, solutions that solve real time problems of the society.

Today, Samsung Innovation Award is most sought after and awaited contest at the IITs. Over the last 9 years, Samsung Innovation Award has recognized the efforts and dedication of over 60 finalist teams from premiere IITs like Delhi, Kanpur, Roorkee, Madras, Kharagpur, Guwahati, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. The last edition was held at IIT-Hyderabad was great hit amongst the participants. Samsung in association with the partnering IITs will continue to provide an opportunity and challenge to the young innovators to showcase their skills and talent.

Samsung Electronics will showcase its next-generation innovation at an event in New Delhi on May 2. More information about our latest products will be available on Samsung India Newsroom on May 2.

Please visit Samsung India Newsroom at 12 p.m. on May 2 to watch live action from the launch event.

For Samsung’s Product Innovation Team (PIT), truly innovative products not only solve key challenges, but do so in meaningful and exciting ways. Every day, Samsung’s diverse team of engineers, designers and researchers works together to bring the “wow” to imaginative products that tangibly improve users’ lives.

Watch in the video above as members of the Mountain View, California-based team discuss their signature approach to innovation.