Navrachana University Innovation Studio showcases innovative projects at VCCI Expo
Six startups incubated at the Studio participated in the four-day event and generated a significant number of leads for their products/services.
Vadodara: Six startups incubated at the Navrachana University Innovation Studio, an initiative of Navrachana University, the region’s premier multi-disciplinary private university, showcased innovative and relevant products at the VCCI Expo in the city from January 27 to 30.
The Navrachana University Innovation Studio’s stall at the four-day event attracted more than 1,200 footfalls, generating significant leads for the startups’ products/services. Participation in the Expo also provided exposure and experience to the startups and aspiring entrepreneurs.
“At Navrachana University, we believe that our youngsters have a lot of talent and many ideas. The Navrachana University Innovation Studio is an initiative to provide young students and entrepreneurs with a support system and an environment where they can work on giving concrete shape to their startup ideas. The studio is a place where students can work on real-world challenges, they can develop sustainable, scable and adaptable startup.” said Prof Sandeep Vasant, Registrar of Navrachana University.
The startups showcased ideas and projects in the domain of sustainable design, recycling waste, healthcare, traditional Indian knowledge systems, and others were showcased at the VCCI Expo.
The projects/products showcased at VCCI Expo include:
Sustainable design solutions: The idea by Dhavan Kateliya promotes recycling and using recycled plastic to generate new construction materials for diverse applications. The idea is focused on the use of recycled plastic for small-scale and easy-to-build architectural/interior elements.
Waste to wealth Creation: The idea by innovators Sumaan Khan and Mangilal Raika is to use waste materials such as sugarcane fibre/coir/ rice husk/eggshells/ animal feathers as reinforcement with a polymer matrix to develop a new material that can be used as a conventional metal or wood substitute.
Another idea of circular economy showcased at the Expo was of innovator Firdos Solanki, who aims to prevent cooked food wastage. The idea is to develop an app where instead of customers placing an order, restaurants put out requests to collect excess food for the needy.
Herbal washes: – The innovation by Sakshi Jain, Chitra Mahant and her team uses traditional Indian knowledge system to process vegetables and cereals before cooking to eliminate surface pesticide residues and thus reduce the associated health risks.
Herbal mosquito repellents: An idea of Twinkle Agarwal, Jisa Jacob and team, the project aims to identify a natural substitute for synthetic mosquito repellents. Synthetic repellents contain pyrethroids, which are known to cause various allergies, inflammation, and rashes. The use of herbal repellents can help in preventing health risks.
Healthcare systems: Innovator Kashyap Raval’s idea of Infratorch, a screening tool to detect early breast cancer and breast abnormalities was also showcased at the Expo. The handheld device would use skin-visual sensing technology through infrared lights to detect any anomalies in the breast.