Eight students have been selected for award and 12 for appreciation certificate
The APJ Abdul Kalam Ignited Mind Children Creativity and Innovation Awards 2021 has received around 4200 innovative ideas from children in 24 states of India through online and offline media. A jury comprising distinguished experts evaluated the shortlisted ideas and selected 20 innovative ideas for awards and appreciation. Eight students have been selected for award and 12 for appreciation certificate, a statement said.
In order to promote creativity and originality among children, students up to class 12 participated by sending their ideas, innovations with or without proof of concept or prototypes.
Prof Anil Gupta, Founder, Honey Bee Network, SRISTI, GIAN and NIF recalled the support, guidance and encouragement received from former President Late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam for all the innovation related activities. He said that creative and inclusive minds of children will help India become self-reliant and also a developed country soon. Many of these innovative ideas don’t address only local problems but also national and in some cases global problems. Most of the students have shown a deep empathy about the unmet needs of the society.
The jury was particularly impressed with the identification of the problems by the children which in some cases even the grown ups have missed. The Honey Bee Network appreciates the efforts of all those who participated in the competition even if award and appreciation have covered only a few. The network site will share all the relevant ideas soon after seeking consent of the children.
Some of the very relevant ideas could not be recognized because someone had developed those already even if many of these were not available in market. We did make an exception in some cases where the societal need is very high and recognizing some of these ideas may draw the attention of designers and policy makers. Help will be provided to the students in connecting them with mentors and fabricators in deserving cases, he said.
The award is given to commemorate the legacy of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, Bharat Ratna and former President of India.
