Dimapur, July 16 (EMN): Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) has notified that the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE 17 competition under the initiative of the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, is underway and entries are being accepted till August 31. Dimapur, July 16 (EMN): Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) has notified that the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE 17 competition under the initiative of the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, is underway and entries are being accepted till August 31. The nationwide competition aims to harness the creative and innovative spirit of school children.
The awards are announced on October 15, the birthday of Bharat Ratna and former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, which is celebrated as Children’s Creativity and Innovation Day by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF).The competition is organised by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India in collaboration with the Honey Bee Network, CBSE, National/ State Education Boards and other partners. Till date, NIF has filed over 178 applications for patents and design registrations in the name of student awardees. For those ideas which have market or social diffusion potential, NIF also engages designers/ fabricators to develop value added prototypes/ products so that companies or partners for non-commercial diffusion can be approached. One such awarded idea of a walker with adjustable legs of Shalini Kumari, Patna, has been commercialised as well.Apart from the awards and incubation support, NIF also provides IGNITE winners an opportunity to participate in events like exhibition of innovation at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Indian Science Congress, etc. Heads of institutions are informed to disseminate the IGNITE campaign information to the students and encourage them to actively participate in the competition.The last date for submission of entries to NIF directly by the students or through schools at the following entries or through email at ignite@nifindia.org is August 31.(a) Entries may be submitted in the following categories:i. Technological practical ideas to solve any problem in day to day life.ii. Real life technological projects demonstrating innovative ways of solving problems or reducing drudgery or generating efficiency or conserving resources (projects demonstrating application of known scientific concepts or theories will not be accepted).iii. Traditional knowledge practices documented from elders in and around one’s family.iv. Information about some other innovators in the neighbourhood.(b) Each entry (in case of i and ii above) should be accompanied with a certificate from parents and teachers saying that the idea/innovation has been developed and documented by the student concerned entirely on his/her own without any guidance or support from them.(c) NIF will provide support for patenting and incubating innovative projects into products in all deserving cases. For the last few years, NIF has been able to file patents for each award winner of the IGNITE competitions apart from facilitating prototype development in most of the cases. Winners of the earlier IGNITE competitions have also won awards in NIF’s National Competition at the hands of the President of India and other awards.(d) IGNITE Awards winners are also eligible to get 10 bonus marks while applying for admission in B.Tech program at Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi (IIITD), an autonomous institute of the Government of Delhi. These bonus marks are in addition to the 100 marks an applicant gets based on the JEE (Mains) and Class XII marks.
