Students of second-rung engineering colleges have not had it easy so far, coping as they do with poor infrastructure and little scope to showcase their skills. But global technology competitions are now helping them overcome this handicap. The global competitions targeted at students—many hosted by technology giants such as Microsoft—have opened doors to these students from these colleges, who have exploited the platforms to the fullest.
Srinidhi Prahlad from NIE Mysore is a case in point. Prahlad, a third-year engineering student of the institute, developed Streamify, an online tool developed for users to host webinars, conferences and business calls, in two days at a hackathon. Mysore-based Reinventio, Prahlad's company, launched Streamify at the Great Indian Developer Summit at IISc Bangalore and showcased at the IBM campus in May.
Streamify requires the user to use Pynetra, a gesture recognition product the company developed and launched earlier this year. The user can make presentations by drawing or pulling slides out of thin air. "Passion is a big ingredient that I see in these students. We are venture capitalists in a way as we provide them (the students) with technology and offer mentorship," said Karthik Padmanabhan, country head of ecosystem development at IBM. Similarly, Microsoft Imagine Cup, an annual global student technology competition, saw four engineers of Faridabad-based Manav Rachna College of Engineering clinch the first place at the national finals held in Noida in April. Their product RespirON makes life easier for asthma patients by indicating the number of doses left in an inhaler with the help of an embedded app. The four students, who call themselves Team Dexters, will now participate in the international finals to be held in Seattle this July.
The students hope to commercialise their product in the Indian market by May 2015. "The first three places were won by students of Manav Rachna College of Engineering," said Saurabh Kanwar, a student who also participated in the Microsoft Imagine Cup. His team, which also had four members, grabbed the third spot with a software and hardware integrated device embedded in a helmet that alerts relatives in the event of an accident. Another event where students from the second-tier colleges are making their mark is the national finals of the "International Robocon", which is hosted every year by the Maharashtra Institute of Technology in Pune.
Srinidhi Prahlad from NIE Mysore is a case in point. Prahlad, a third-year engineering student of the institute, developed Streamify, an online tool developed for users to host webinars, conferences and business calls, in two days at a hackathon. Mysore-based Reinventio, Prahlad's company, launched Streamify at the Great Indian Developer Summit at IISc Bangalore and showcased at the IBM campus in May.
Streamify requires the user to use Pynetra, a gesture recognition product the company developed and launched earlier this year. The user can make presentations by drawing or pulling slides out of thin air. "Passion is a big ingredient that I see in these students. We are venture capitalists in a way as we provide them (the students) with technology and offer mentorship," said Karthik Padmanabhan, country head of ecosystem development at IBM. Similarly, Microsoft Imagine Cup, an annual global student technology competition, saw four engineers of Faridabad-based Manav Rachna College of Engineering clinch the first place at the national finals held in Noida in April. Their product RespirON makes life easier for asthma patients by indicating the number of doses left in an inhaler with the help of an embedded app. The four students, who call themselves Team Dexters, will now participate in the international finals to be held in Seattle this July.
The students hope to commercialise their product in the Indian market by May 2015. "The first three places were won by students of Manav Rachna College of Engineering," said Saurabh Kanwar, a student who also participated in the Microsoft Imagine Cup. His team, which also had four members, grabbed the third spot with a software and hardware integrated device embedded in a helmet that alerts relatives in the event of an accident. Another event where students from the second-tier colleges are making their mark is the national finals of the "International Robocon", which is hosted every year by the Maharashtra Institute of Technology in Pune.
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