Student Open Innovation Challenge 7th Phase lifts up Gujarat’s essence for innovation

40% of the grant awardees are from Parul University

Students of this Vadodara based Parul University have once again raised the city’s essence of innovation in yet another addition of the Students Open Innovation Challenge which is a flagship initiative of the Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP), developed under the aegis of the Education Department, Government of Gujarat, to create a unique environment across academia in the state.

The recently announced results of SOIC’s 7th phase, brought to the spotlight 9 students of Parul University, who received grants totalling to Rs 5,37,000. The challenge included a total of 22 teams from Universities across Gujarat, out of which 40% of the winners were students from Parul University.

As a way of developing innovative solutions to some of the major challenges which have been faced throughout this pandemic, the Student Startup Innovation Policy put together this innovation nurturing and shaping platform SOIC, where students of Parul University, have been displaying their innovative acumen all throughout the year.

The 5 lac grant which was awarded to these students was inline with the innovative prowess which they displayed across multiple disciplines of Engineering, Ayurveda, Pharmacy and Applied Sciences. The winning teams prior to this challenge, had spent time identifying some of the lecunas and various problems which had arisen within the society and industry.

Their participation was not only inspired by the need to avail funding for their projects, but also by the Parul University’s ideology, which is centred on providing the most effective practical learning solutions, with a high level of social utility. For this purpose, as part of its COVID-19 teaching strategies, the University set up virtual practical lectures, through video systems, which also contributed towards nurturing the students’ innovative minds.

Some of the projects which received this grant include a project on indegenous development, characterization and application of novel eco-friendly and cost-efficient electrocatalysts for electrooxidation of recalcitrant organic pollutants by a team from the Engineering Faculty.

Another of such projects includes development of selective dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) gtpase inhibitor: Allusion for diseases in mitochondrial dysfunction, by students from the University’s Pharmacy institute. From the Ayurveda institute an innovative project centred on developing herbal eyeliner-boon in the effective management of computer vision syndrome.

All the 9 projects which the students presented were found to be having utility and through this grant they will be going for further development.

Throughout all the SOIC challenges, Parul University has received grants amounting to Rs 31,73,000 as the University has been focusing more on developing within the students a drive for entrepreneurship. “In these times we are living in, as a University we have been focusing on developing platforms for our students to nurture their competencies in entrepreneurship. We have been encouraging and welcoming innovations from students across multiple fields from pharmacy to engineering and ayurveda, and seeing so many of our students bag such grants, is really a moment of immense pride for Parul University ”, said the University’s President Dr. Devanshu J Patel.