Avery Dennison Foundation announces winners of 6th ‘Spirit of Invention’ scholarship
Gurgaon: The Avery Dennison Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Avery Dennison Corporation, today announced the winners of its 6th ‘Spirit of Invention’ (InvEnt) scholarship award 2017. With an aim to recognize and reward invention, innovation and excellence, the InvEnt scholarship honours 10 Indian students each year. This year, 10 winners from 5 reputed institutes including Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, Pune Vidhyarthi Griha’s College of Engineering and Technology, Pune and St. Stephen’s College, Delhi have been rewarded for their outstanding innovation capabilities in engineering, science and technology. The winners will get a scholarship award of USD $ 1300 and continued support for leadership and innovation development through alumni engagement.
Avery Dennison Foundation, in collaboration with the Institute of International Education (IIE), has developed this program to encourage students to continue with innovative thinking to pursue educational opportunities after graduation by helping them meet their financial needs during their college attendance.
Speaking on the occasion Alicia Procello, President, Avery Dennison Foundation said, “The InvEnt scholarship aims to foster the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship among university students. The scholarship program reaffirms our commitment to recognise and reward fresh thinking and provide a platform to express innovative ideas. We congratulate the winners for demonstrating a high level of creativity and potential to become important contributors to the economic well-being of the country.”
The 10 students who received 2017 “Spirit of Invention” (InvEnt) Scholarship Award include Nishad Sahu, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani; Rituraj Mahendra Patil, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani; Siddharth Mehta, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani; Sombuddha Chakravarty, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani; Abutorab Rafi, MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MSRIT), Bangalore; Aryaman Bansal, MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MSRIT), Bangalore; Pooja Hariharan, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli; Gaurav Vilas Gharate, Pune Vidhyarthi Griha’s College of Engineering and Technology (PVG COET), Pune; Gurpej Singh, St. Stephens College, Delhi and Srijit Seal, St. Stephens College, Delhi.
The program received an overwhelming response from over 75 students across 7 partner universities enrolled in eligible fields of study applied for the program. The participants underwent a three-tier selection process. As part of the first phase of the process, the selection committee reviewed and scored the online applications and filtered applicants as per the eligibility criteria. In the second phase, the committee identified twenty semi-finalists across various parameters including Innovation & Novelty of the idea; Technical & Commercial feasibility; Scalability; Benefit to Society / Addressing Real Need and Background Research & Thoroughness. In the final phase, personal interviews with the semi-finalists were conducted to select the top 10 winners.