PM urges scientists to fight against terror

News papers carried Prime Minister's speech at Shati Swarup Bhatnagar awards on 20th December, where few priority areas were identified for scientists to fight terror- Surveillance systems, cryptography, near real time search and identification from distributed large data bases and computer simulation exercises. While most activities needed heavy resaerch, there are also opportunities for independent innovators and start-ups eligible for TePP support. TePP funded 4 innovators working on innovations of releance to security. There are also cases, where applications in cryptography etc could not be supported as testing at end of the project is not clear. In the coming years , we can expect to suport more security related innovations coming from garage scientists.

Shodh Yatra in Bihar

The Shodh Yatra is organized by SRISTI twice a year. Primarily, the Shodh Yatris, walk around a distance of roughly 250 k.m or so in a span of seven to eight days.

The 22nd SY is being organised from December 29, 2008 to January 3, 2009 , will start from Motihari and conclude in Betiah. , Dr. Ambedkar Sansthan (AWCCDS), Siwan will be the hosts and local organizers.

Contact person:

S.Nadeem (Researcher). nadeem@nifindia.org (09906595175)

Innovation Camps in North East

TePP will be participating in the exhibition organised during Indian Science Congress at Shillong from 3rd January to 7th January 2009. During this period innovation camps will be organised for interaction with innovators of the region.

For details Innovators may contact:
Prof Fazal A Talukdar, National Institute of Technology, Silchar-788010 (Assam), fazal@nits.ac.in, 038422-242911, 241313

The proposals will be screened on the spot by TePP officials and TUC cordinators.

SKG Sangha

SKG Sangha headed by Dr Vidya Sagar implements projects in sustainable living. Activities include: Integrated vermicompost bioreactor systems, improved cook stoves, solar lanterns/geysers, large scale organic fertiser production etc. They received several awards like Ashden award, Tech Museum.
Contact:
SKG Sangha
#532, 2nd main road
Gandhi Nagar
Kolar 563101

Innovators camp at Hyderabad

Innovators camp scheduled on 13th December 2008 at 9.30 AM in TUC, ICRISAT campus. Interested innovators can contact:

SM Karuppanchetty,Deputy COO,ASP-ICRISAT & Manager,ABI-ICRISAT ,ICRISAT,Patancheru,AP-INDIA

Ph +040 30713414/Mob 09866396443

I will be present to discuss with innovators.

It is part of intensive drive to meet innovators across the country. I had an opportunity to meet several innovators at Chennai on 2-4th December and again at FMS, Delhi on 6th December. After Hyderabad meet, I will be meeting innovators at Bangalore on 15th and at Pune on 23rd.

Asu machine by Mallesham

Mallesham is a grass root innovator, whose machine was exhibited at Inventors of India workshop, CIIE, Ahmedabad. Normally, a weaver has to move his or her hand almost 18,000 times to prepare the yarn. As a result they are prone to get arthritis in seven to eight years. He got the inspiration to develop this machine to relieve her mother of pain and he did it with his own money.
story: TOI

Temperature Indicating Crayons

Innovator Sreedhar G Patil of Bangalore was supported under TePP for development of this product. More than 60 formulations of High Temperature Indicating Crayons (ranging from 400 deg C to 1200 Deg C) were developed.

Usage of Tempindic is simple - mark on the surface of the metal /sheet with the required Tempindic, once the surface reaches the rated temperature of the crayon, the mark would melt and show liquid smear. These crayons are free from lead, sulfur, mercury, cadmium, poly-brominated biphenyls (PPB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), hexavalent chromium (European RoHS banned substances).Each Tempindic formulation is designed to melt within the accuracy +/-1% of the rated temperature. The Crayons length would be 125 mm having dia of 8.1 mm (arch dia 9.5 mm). A few sample Tempindic Crayons are shown in the picture.

New TUC opened at Tirupati

TePP Outreach Centre was inauguration on 22nd Novemeber 2008 at Sri Padmavati Mahila Visva Vidyalayam, Tirupti. This is expected to make TePP more accessible to women innovators. Prof GSarojamma, Vice Chancellor presided over the function.
For more details : Hindu

Lunar Baby Thermometer

An illustration of creativity is `Lunar Baby Thermometer' by designer Duck Yong Kong.
source: idea connection

support to unattached researchers

TePP has no provision to support research work. The primary support is for entrepreneurs taking their innovation to market. Researchers working in universities, IITs etc get research grants from UGC,AICTE,DST,DBT,CSIR,DIT,DRDO etc. Who supports researchers not working in any research institute? Probably none. TePP recieves requests from many such unattached researchers and they are generally advised to publish their research work in peer reviewed journals as there is a possibility institute researchers may show interest in tie-upwith them .
One such researcher is Muraleekrishnan from kerala, not supported under TePP or any other govt program- working on a novel cryptography tool . His paper has now appeared in 'AmericanInstitute of Physics' and NASA digital library.

http://link.aip.org/link/?APCPCS/1052/185/1

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008AIPC.1052..185M

Padmavati Women University joins TePP Network

Very few women innovators could be supported under TePP. A major initiative to redress this imbalance is taken with Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam joining TePP Network as TePP Out rech Centre.
The university with a mission
Emanicipation Of Women Through Aquisition Of Knowledge
is led by Vice Chancellor Prof G Sarojamma.

ICRISAT Agro Business Incubator joins TePP Network

Agriculture innovations get a boost with ICRISAT Agro Business incubator joining TePP Network as TePP Out reach center.
For range of service offered by ICRISAT :
http://www.agri-sciencepark.icrisat.org/agri-business-incubator.html

CSIR engineering Labs join TePP Network

TePP Network is strengthened with several engineering labs of CSIR joining TePP Network as TePP Outreach Centers. They are:
Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute, Pilani
Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur
Central Scientific Instruments Organisation, Chandigarh
Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur
National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur
North - East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat
Central Glass & Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata

The networking with CSIR labs adds to the techological depth and innovators needing support from any these labs can contact TePP.

Sciforum

We receive many queries from students about some basics on science and engineering. This reflects on the poor quality of teaching science & engineering and probably inaccessibility of teachers. But this is a gap TePP cannot substitute. One useful resource is Sciforum, where students post their queries. Link: http://www.sciforum.indianscience.in/

Arvind Narayan bags Best Success Story award

TePP Innovator Arvind A Narayan has been selected as one of the Best Success Stories promoted by Trec Step, Trichy by Euro Office Services, a business network of Business incubators across Europe. He collected the award from them on 23 October in Lyon, France.

Rural technologies from Bhinge Brothers

Bhinge Brothers offers a complete irrigation package to farmers.This package consist of simple and low cost pond liners for collection and storage of water during rains , low cost flexi storage tanks with simple gravity microirrigation kits of various types and Ecoflo Pump.

This Ecoflo Pump weighs just 12 kgs such that even a child can carry it to any place and by simple stepping action can pump upto 5000ltrs of water from a depth of upto 7mtrs to a height of upto 15 mtrs. The Ecoflo pump's piston cylinder and manifold assembly is made in reinforced plastic which makes it very smooth to operate and also gives very long operating life. The use of special microirrigation kits for vegetable and horticulture plants further ensures the best yield with minimum water.

The products include:

• Plastic sheets -pond liners for rain water harvesting
• Ecoflo Treadle pump
• Micro irrigation kits for growing vegetables, horticulture crops

Contact:

Naren Bhinge

Bhinge Brothers,

Nasik, India

Mobile- +919823067081

solar-powered refrigeration system

Promethean Power Systems is developing a solar-powered refrigeration system for commercial cold-storage applications in off-grid and partially electrified areas of developing countries. Their refrigeration technology will enable food suppliers to store and preserve perishable food items—such as milk, fruits and vegetables—without the need for expensive diesel-powered generators. The refrigeration technology is works with thermoelectric cooling based on the Peltier effect discovered by Jean Peltier in 1834. When a current is passed through a circuit of two dissimilar conductors, there will be a rise or fall in temperature at the junction depending on the direction of the current flow.

Will thermoelectric cooling emerge as a disruptive technology that will some day displace conventional, vapor-compressor refrigeration in consumer and commercial applications throughout the world.

13th International Human Genome Meeting

TePP Innovators Dr Arup Dutta and Dr G.Prakash participated in the Exhibition held during HUGO's 13th International Human Genome Meeting, September 27th - 30th, 2008 at Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Hyderabad. TePP participation is coordinated by TUC, ANU, Guntur.

"Solekshaw”, the solar-electric rickshaw

The Chief Minister of Delhi, Smt. Sheila Dikshit, launched “Solekshaw”, the solar-electric rickshaw for eco-friendly urban transport, at a function organized on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti near the Chandni Chowk Metro Station on 2nd October in the august presence of Shri Kapil Sibal, the Vice-President, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR and Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences. Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari, the Director General, CSIR was among the other dignitaries who were present on the occasion. This innovation has come from CMERI, Durgapur, the lab that has given indegeneous tractors.

2008 Global Development Marketplace: Sustainable Agriculture for Development Competition

TREC-STEP has been awarded a prestigious World Bank grant at the 2008 Global Development Marketplace: Sustainable Agriculture for Development Competition, at Washington DC on the 26^th September 2008. Mr. R.M.P. Jawahar, received the Award. The Project titled, ‘Mini Cold Storage Ventures’, aims to establish a cold chain of PPP enterprises among our trained youth (from SKILLS), using the latest technology in refrigeration, adapted to the needs of small farmers.They are ranked 4th among the 22 winners, from out of 1800 applicants.