Gandhinagar: Former President of India Bharat Ratna Shri Pranab Mukherjee, gave away the Dr A P J Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards 2019 to 21 creative and innovative children for their 18 distinct ideas and innovations (List of awardees included in the Annexure 1). The competition is organised every year by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) – India, an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. An exhibition to showcase all award-winning ideas by young, creative minds of this nation was also organized on this occasion.

Among the other dignitaries present on the occasion were Shri Acharya Devvrat, Governor of Gujarat; Dr P S Goel, Chairperson NIF; Prof Anil K Gupta, founder, Honey Bee Network and Dr Vipin Kumar, Director, NIF.

The innovations being recognized this year encompass a great diversity of Science and Technology, be it Vishwa Goswami a student of UKG from Gandhinagar, Gujarat who gave the idea of “Plate with inbuilt detachable glass” or Innovator trio A.J. Surya, S. Venkateswaran and Venuram R.R. from Chennai who gave the idea of “Semi-automatic flower garland maker and packer”.

Shri Acharya Devvrat, Governor of Gujarat presented the first copy of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE 2019 award book to Hon’ble former President of India Bharat Ratna Shri Pranab Mukherjee.

Over 60,000 submissions of students from 544 districts of all the States & Union Territories of India were received during the IGNITE 2019 competition, which ran from September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2019. The award winners hail from 9 distinct States and Union Territory of the country representing the true diversity of India.

Dr P S Goel, Chairperson, NIF in his welcome address reiterated the commitment of NIF towards recognizing children creativity in this country. He expressed his heartfelt gratitude towards former President of India for constantly motivating our country’s young innovative minds and towards Shri Acharya Devvrat, Hon’ble Governor of Gujarat for gracing the occasion and encouraging children of our country to innovate. He also touched upon the great journey of IGNITE awards ever since the year 2008, then a humble beginning until today, wherein children from nearly ninety percent districts of the country have been participating in the competition year on year.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Acharya Devvrat, Governor of Gujarat appreciated the high potential that innovators of India possess and an ever increasing need to connect this potential with opportunities. He cited various examples of people who contributed to transformation of the world at large through Science and Technology and expressed his happiness that youth of India is keeping pace with rest of the world in terms of innovations. He expressed his confidence in next generation innovators in the country.

Shri Pranab Mukherjee recollected the initiatives like Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (FINE) during this presidency which proved to be an excellent platform for innovators of the country. He remembered India’s glorious history characterized by emphasis on education through Universities and evolution of Social Innovations since time immemorial. He acknowledged the potential of innovators in our country who always keep needs of the society at the forefront. He congratulated innovators who proved to be a game changer for society by being the reason for a quantum jump from bringing incremental changes historically to radical changes in present times.

Mukherjee appreciated the efforts of NIF in promotion of innovation in the country and shared few areas where he would anticipate more innovations will emerge in coming days viz. Poverty eradication, Rural communications, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Wind Energy and those which would help address the Climate Change problems.

Hon’ble former President of India Bharat Ratna Shri Pranab Mukherjee gave a mantra of 3 I’s for India – The first “I” being Impatient, second “I” being Innovations and the third “I” being Inclusive. He urged the innovative minds of the country to keep trying, trying again until the time when efforts result in success of an endeavour.

The Vote of Thanks on the occasion was proposed by Dr Vipin Kumar, Director, NIF and he expressed his gratefulness towards Hon’ble former President of India, Hon’ble Governor of Gujarat, students from different parts of the country who participated in the competition wholeheartedly and those who were present, team NIF, volunteers and everyone who contributed towards success of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards 2019.

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE competition, a national competition of original technological ideas and innovations by children up to class 12 or those out of school up to the age of 17 years, is organized by NIF every year to promote creativity and originality among children. The winners of the 2019 competition were announced on the 15thOctober, 2019 late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam’s birthday, which is celebrated as the Children’s Creativity and Innovation Day by NIF.

A number of State Boards/Councils/ Directorates/ Departments of Education/Secondary Education/ Higher Secondary of the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Telangana, Meghalaya, Mizoram, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Chhattisgarh actively promoted the IGNITE 2019 campaign.