Srinagar: Three-day long National Conference on Industrial fest and innovation hunt began on Wednesday at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar. The conference is being organized by Innovation Incubation Entrepreneurship Development Centre (IIEDC) NIT Srinagar in collaboration with the Indian Army.
Dr. Dinesh Kumar Rajendran and Major BS Shekhawat are the Organizing Secretaries of the workshop. The event was presided over by Director NIT Srinagar Prof. (Dr.) Rakesh Sehgal and Colonel David was Chief Guest on the occasion. Dr. Tousheef Bhat, CEO Indo Khash Professional was the Guest of Honor at the event.
In his address, Prof. Sehgal said it is an honor to host such conferences on the campus for students of the Valley. At IIEDC NIT Srinagar two startups including seed sowing machine and the Saffron processing machine have already received grants of 15 lahks each, he said.
“With the help of DST, we have got funding of 5 crores rupees where we have to provide financial help to at least 20 startups over the 2 years in the region,” he said.
Prof. Sehgal said inventions are the new solutions to technical problems and can be protected through patents. Patents protect the interests of inventors by ensuring that an inventor can control the commercial use of their inventions, he said.
“NIT Srinagar is also part of many flagship programs of Govt. of India like Skill India, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan. Being regional coordinators of UBA, we have 35 colleges associated with us and each college has adopted 5 schools and some villages,” he said.
On the occasion, Col. David said innovation is one of the most important driving forces behind a successful economy. India is currently focusing on AtmaNirbhar Bharat’ or Self Reliant India, slogan given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Institute’s Registrar, Prof. Syed Kaiser Bukhari urged students to “bring their ideas to reality through the use of technology and knowledge”.