Gandhinagar, India: 18th November, 2018: Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the former President of Indiagave away the Dr A P J Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards 2018 to creative and innovative students. The competition is organised by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), 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.
This year, 31 students from 11 States were awarded for their 21 ideas/innovations. Overall, more than 90,000 submissions were received from 643 districts of the country. List of award winners and Dr A P J Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards 2018 book is annexed.Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were Dr. P.S. Goel, Chairperson, NIFand Prof. Anil K Gupta, Founder Honeybee Network.
Speaking on the occasion Shri Pranab Mukherjeecongratulated award winning children, teachers and motivators; and further observed that creativity is ever pervasive and abounding as the experience of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE competition demonstrates and most of the ideas and innovations recognised in the award competitionsince inception have aimed at solving persistent problems. He further noted that children are able to identify local problems,think of possible solutions, evaluate them and develop the best possible solution.He expressed his happiness while taking a note of the fact that large number of children identified through the IGNITE competition are from Government schools, rural areas and from disadvantageous sections of the society. Adding further he suggested, when children learn to identify problems and solve them on their own, the future can only be bright for the society and the country.He urged parents and teachers across the country to ensure that our children get a nourishing and empowering environment where their skills, creativity, knowledge and learning gets augmented and not curtailed.
Dr. P.S. Goel, Chairperson, NIF said recognitions like Dr A P J Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards helps create a culture of innovation in our society right from the childhood itself. The large number of entries this year i.e. approximately 90,000 makes us believe that nearly one million children may have thought of fresh ideas and innovations that could help our society. He further added Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE competition helps spread the message of innovation in the entire country and the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) is committed to take this message further.
The vote of thanks was delivered on the occasion by Dr Vipin Kumar, Director, NIF and he congratulated the award winners and expressed his gratitude towards the various State Boards/ Councils/ Directorates/ Departments of Education / Institutes and others which have immensely helped NIF during the Dr A P J Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards competition year on year.
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE competition is organized by NIF in association with Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Honey Bee Network, and other partners. A number of other State Boards/ Councils/ Directorates/ Departments of Education/ Secondary Education/ Higher Secondary of Uttarakhand, Tripura, Punjab, Nagaland, Maharashtra, Haryana, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, State Councils/ Institutes of Education Research and Training of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and West Bengal Council of Rabindra Open Schooling, Chhattisgarh Sanskrit Vidyamandal, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan – Chhattisgarh also actively promoted the IGNITE 2018 campaign.
NIF, an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, has been actively engaged in promoting creativity and innovation in our society. NIF has taken major initiatives to serve the knowledge-rich but economically poor people of the country. It is committed to making India innovative by documenting, adding value, protecting the intellectual property rights (IPR) of the contemporary unaided technological innovators as well as of outstanding traditional knowledge-holders and disseminating their innovations on commercial and non-commercial basis. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Award is an effort to focus primarily on the creativity of the children and promote inclusive and compassionate thinking among them.
