Dubai: Creative ideas from students of BITS Pilani Dubai Campus (BPDC) for start-ups seeking to solve real-world problems in public health, mobility and many other sectors will be showcased over six months at India Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.
Over a dozen cost-effective tech start-up ideas have been selected by Innovation Hub at India Pavilion and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
The students have worked on ideas ranging from sustainability, drones, sports tech to mobility and retail. The shortlisted start-ups are being featured under themes such as Urban and Rural Development, Travel and Connectivity, Health and Wellness, Food, Agriculture and Livelihood, among others.
Pitch for investment
In collaboration with the Innovation Hub in India Pavilion, FICCI is offering these students a platform to pitch for investments from potential global investors. They will be able to connect with change makers, have fireside business conversations, enhance their capabilities and potentially take their tech ideas beyond the walls of BPDC.
‘Tech ninjas’
BPDC Director Professor Srinivasan Madapusi said: “Among the 12 star-ups shortlisted, nine are by students who are aspiring to be future tech ninjas and business leaders and three are by alumni of BITS Pilani who have already started their careers as entrepreneurs in Dubai. The students have designed these innovations with the ultimate objective of giving back to the society and making world a better place”.
‘Abundance of young talent’
Thanking Expo 2020 Dubai, Dr Aman Puri, Consul General of India in Dubai, said: “Coming out of the shadows of COVID-19, the Indian government has set up ambitious plans to garner massive investments in Indian economy by showcasing unlimited business opportunities, innovations and tech start-ups at India Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, allowing investors to be part of India’s growth story. I am extremely pleased with the innovations being showcased by young minds from BITS Pilani Dubai Campus proving that India’s huge market and abundance of young talent makes it an ideal business partner”.
Student projects
Ritik Jain and Jyoti Chowdhery are showcasing ‘Sieur’ at India Pavilion. Sieur, which means a Knight in old French, is a safety device that sends a signal to the smartphones of family members whenever someone is in danger.
Yashaswi Galhotra, Seerat Parvaiz and Aashi Goyal from Team Shopvite said their idea focuses on a smart shopping system to avoid long queues and physical exchange of currency.
Apart from these two projects, more interesting start-up ideas are lined up by BPDC along with the Innovation Hub and FICCI in the coming months.
Scheduled to be featured soon, project ‘Smart Dustbin’ focuses on segregating the waste such as metal, plastic, wood in the appropriate bins. Integrated with an SMS service, the solar powered bin will notify the user whenever it is full.
Meanwhile, the DJI RYZE TELLO Drone is launched for COVID-19 protocol surveillance. This project proposes a real-time surveillance system designed with face and mask detection features to enhance public safety.
Under the theme Travel and Connectivity are two projects, CHEM E CAR and TAPP. With CHEM E CAR, students aim to build a car that is powered by hydrogen, a sustainable energy source for the future of transportation.
TAPP is a simple mobile application that converts the smartphone in to a PCOS/card-reading machine. The user can send or receive money by just tapping the credit/debit card at the back of the smartphone, thereby easing the process and bypassing the additional charges.
Project VIM PULVERIS under the theme Food, Agriculture and Livelihoods, will see leftover restaurant food collected and converted into a powdered form. The food can be reconstituted to its original form by adding hot water. The packets are vacuum-sealed and have a shelf life of one year.
Also, projects such as MEDPAL, loLetics and FANTASY AKHADA are lined up.
MEDPAL offers a seamless process for healthcare such as medical appointments, records, information storage and follow-ups.
Fantasy Akhada is asSports tech startup covering Fantasy Cricket and Fantasy Football, where users can play and win contests.
