Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam award 2021: Providing internet access to people with disabilities, easy passage of garbage collection vehicles along the conveyor belt, converting kitchen waste into manure, developing writing instruments for the blind, and NEURON (Networking for End Users as Reachable Organisaed Nexus) etc, among other creative suggestions that won the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Ignited Mind Children Creativity and Innovation Awards, 2021.
The awards were conferred on June 23, 2022, at a virtual ceremony. Every year, these award are given in honour of former president Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam jointly by the Honey Bee Network, Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI), and Gujarat-Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN).
Both Prof Anil Gupta, the founder and convener of SRISTI, and Dr. R. A. Mashelkar, chairman of the SRISTI Board and chief guest of the event, attended the ceremony to show their support for the young awardees. Eight students were chosen for the prizes while twelve students were given appreciation certificates.
The ‘APJ Abdul Kalam Ignited Mind Children Creativity and Innovation Awards’ 2021 received around 4200 innovative ideas from children in 24 states through online and offline submissions. A jury comprising distinguished experts evaluated the shortlisted ideas and selected 20 innovative ideas for awards and appreciation, a statement said.
Prof. Anil Gupta recalled how he received all the support and direction for recognising the initiatives of children from late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the former president. President Kalam believed that young imaginative mind new perspectives contribute to India’s development.
Some young and Ignited awardees
Avni class 9 from Amity International School in Uttar Pradesh received this award for Accessibility of the internet for the visually challenged and disabled. Explaining her concept with The Statesman she said, “I and my friend Adity Manuja developed this project as part of a class assignment.” Her innovation is a piece of artificial intelligence-enhanced computer software that enables users to pose queries to the speaker, who then converts the request into text. Since the application is still in the prototype stage, anybody can utilize the internet to download and use it. “My parents work in the IT industry, so they can teach me about coding and the books that are out there”, said Avni.
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