State bags five Gandhian Young Technological Innovation awards

The haul this year is more than all previous years combined

Three of the five awards bagged by the State were for projects by Indian Institute of Science students.— file Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

With five awards — including three for students of Indian Institute of Science — Karnataka occupies top position among those chosen for the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) award.

Over 1,700 nominations

The fourth edition of the science awards received over 1,700 nominations, covering more than 50 technological specialisations. Eventually, 17 projects were selected for the award for their ability to address social, environmental or technological problems, or the potential to impact a pressing national need.

Bengaluru, with four projects, emerged first when comparing cities in the list, and IISc. had the largest share when comparing institutions.

The haul this year is more than the awards given to institutions here cumulatively over the last three years. In 2014, just one project from the State was selected, while in 2013, it was two. The first edition saw no award coming the city’s way.

This year, Shiva Kumar H.R., Medical Engineering and Language Engineering Lab, IISc., was selected for developing a user-friendly tool that converts printed books in any language to Braille. A project to evaluate blood pressure and arterial compliance with a simple device won the six-member team, represented by Sharath Umesh from the Department of Instrumentation and Applied Physics, IISc., the 2015 award.

Amit A. Vernekar, working at the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, IISc., was recognised for his work on ‘Novel nanozyme technology for combating oxidative stress related disorders’ that may lead to cures for ageing-related issues, cardiac disorders and several neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.

The development of a new antibiotic that fights drug-resistant bacteria won Venkateswarlu Yarlagadda and his five-member team from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) the award.

A project to monitor wounds and analysis through image processing on mobiles, proposed by Abhiraj Gupta from Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, was the otheraward-winner.

The awards come with a purse of Rs. 50,000, and were recently given away at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.