Road to innovation

The Youth to Youth foundation is a five-year-old organisation that has played an important role in mobilising the young force of Pune to address diverse societal concerns. At the launch,Ameya Jagtap,president of the organisation,said,“An innovation is more of a human attitude than talent. You need to have the urge to bring about a change. Through this initiative,we will try to inspire the youth to think out of the box. We will also help them meet people who might fund their projects and models,thereby ensuring that the lack of funds does not hamper the youth from coming up with innovative ideas.”

Stressing on the need for such a platform for young minds,Gantavya Sharma,coordinator of Novatians,said,“The process,right from the innovation and formation of the product to taking it to the market,is a difficult one. Novatians will act as the connecting factor between the innovators and the market by providing them with funds. This will give them a push to take up more projects.”

Chief Guest A D Sahasrabuddhe,director of College of Engineering Pune (COEP),added,“In our days,there was little or absolutely no scope for encouragement of talent. Today,the advent of technology and also platforms like Novatians has made it much easier for students to showcase their talents on a broader platform. Students should make full use of these opportunities.”

The event also saw students making presentations of their models. Shachi Pande,a student of COEP,who along with five other students,has come up with the unique idea of charging a cell phone while walking,said,“Novatians is a good way for us to meet people who will understand and show interest in our projects. Through this initiative,we will also get to meet other innovators. For instance,we just came to know about other models like a photo clipping machine,a river cleaning project and a hybrid power generator.”

Since the process of patenting a new machine or device is very important to any invention,Novatians will also hold various seminars and workshops to make the students understand the process in a better way. “It is difficult to understand the process of patenting if you do not have someone to guide you. Through these workshops and seminars,we will be able to meet people who can explain the concept. This is extremely important for innovators like us,” said Rahul Bedarkar,another student who participated in the event.