Ready to test a device that will make toddy tapping easy, but without the risk of replacing man with machine?
The product, invented by NAVA Design & Innovation, was formally launched by Aruna Sundararajan, Union Telecom Secretary, at the inaugural session of the National Deeptech Startup Conclave, Hardtech ’19, organised by Maker Village at the Kinfra Hi-Tech Park at Kalamassery on Friday.
Charles Vijay Varghese, NAVA founder and CEO, said in a release that the product improved the efficiency of toddy tapping by 72 times. “Tapping toddy from coconut trees is a three-month cycle that requires manual climbing of the palm three times a day. That is a total of 270 times. This electromechanical device for toddy extraction bases its technology that facilitates cutting, beating, and collection of the beverage,” he said.
Mr. Varghese said the product, supported by the Kerala Startup Mission and Bharat Petroleum, was out in the market. The conclave showcases 64 live products, of which 40 are incubated by Maker Village. Ms. Sundararajan said maintaining global yardsticks would be a key challenge that start-ups would face in future. “The role of the administration is critical in building a favourable start-up milieu in the country. They won’t be able to achieve the desired results without the governments creating ideal ecosystems,” she said at the inaugural session.
M. Sivasankar, Kerala IT Secretary, said the hardware sector needed to overcome its problems regarding materials and design. “Marker Village, in this respect, can utilise the backbone projects in the start-up sector such as Kerala Fibre Optic Network, space start-up project by the ISRO and VSSC, and Intel laptop manufacturing project,” he said.
Belgium for tie-ups
Meanwhile, Mark Van De Vreken, Belgium Consul General to South India, was quoted in a release as saying that the West European nation is interested in forging ties with India in the hardware sector by going for more collaborations with start-ups, particularly in Kerala. The move comes amid Belgium’s efforts to come up with more number of private high-growth tech companies called unicorns. “Start-ups are key to the advancement of a digital economy. Belgium, with 11 million people, is aiming to generate jobs for 50,000 peopleby 2020,” he told delegates.
