Students have come up with innovative plans to improve the lives of the elderly and those with chronic illness.
The three-day workshop on generating and promoting innovative ideas and prototypes in palliative and elderly care, organised by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) and Creativiti Council, concluded here on Saturday, with experts helping students shape up their ideas.
Improving lives
The workshop, ‘Creative I –Makeathon’, focused on improving life through innovations in palliative care, with emphasis on more than 20 pressing needs , including transfer and mobility. These issues were identified and documented from various districts of Kerala.
Students presented models and prototypes with the support and guidance of innovators and experts.
Experts helped students to mould their ideas of a motorised backrest for beds in hospitals, movable toilet seat and a system to drink water and read newspapers for the elderly. The products will be followed up with patent search, economic viability and business plans.
Jippu Jacob, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amaljyothi College of Engineering, Kanjirappally, Kottayam, and inventor of coconut de-husker ‘Keramitra’ and Augustine Thompson, entrepreneur and national award-winning innovator, mentored the participants.
Jose Babu , Medical Director , Alpha Pain and Palliative Care Centre; Unnikrishnan, Muthoot Engineering College, Kozhenchery; Bobby Issac , Co-founder Creativiti Council ; James T.J., Senior Fellow, KSUM; Arun S Chandran , Technical Manager, Creativiti Council; Tom Thomas, Project Director, KSUM; and Sandhya Seetharaman, Project Officer, RuTAG-IIT Madras; also guided the team.
The workshop was inaugurated by Saji Gopinath, CEO, Kerala Startup Mission.
Entrepreneurship
The KSUM and RuTAG-IIT Madras will facilitate support for select projects to set up their startups while Creativiti Council will offer mentoring support. A non-profit organisation, Creativiti Council is a community partner with the KSUM. The KSUM is the nodal agency of Government of Kerala for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the State.
