IITs can play major role in changing India

CHENNAI: Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan on Sunday said that IITs can play a major role in changing India if they are more practical.

He was addressing a gathering at the Lemelson Recognition and Mentoring Program (L-Ramp) Award of Excellence, a joint initiative of Indian Institute of Technology-Madras and Rural Innovations Network, supported by The Lemelson Foundation USA, here.

Chief Executive Officer of Rural Innovations Network Paul Basil said "this year there were 234 applications and the number of women applicants were more. This way, there is hope that we may have more number of women innovators in future" he said.

For the Young Category award, Naman Sanghvi won the first prize, while the Certification of Appreciation was given to K Moha for an innovative Herbal mosquito repellant.

In the Women's category, Dr Malavika Vinod Kumar won the first prize while K Uma won the top prize for a Market instrument for System of Rice Intensification (SRI).

In the Grassroots category T Muthu Ayyapan won the 'Certificate of Appreciation Award', while S Alphonse won the award for a device to attract mosquitoes and electrocute them.

for innovating a machine of handloom yarn sizing A Manoharan won the first prize and Self Employed Women's Association Founder Ela Bhatt won the 'Lifetime Achievement Award'.

The objective of the programme is to provide incubation support to innovations that show strong promise for positive social benefits, while also leading to self-sustaining enterprises.