Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

Team Think — comprising Mukkabir Rahman, a class XII student of Pragya Academy, Ankush Yadav, a student of IIT-Kanpur, and Varsha K.J, a student pursuing chartered accountancy, all from Assam’s Golaghat district — was adjudged a winner of Solve for Tomorrow (SFT) 2023, a CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiative of Samsung (India).

Their innovation ‘Kavach’ (shield in Hindi), a lightweight, affordable and wearable cooling device that prevents people from experiencing extreme heat or cold, was adjudged one of three winner inventions. At a grand finale staged in New Delhi last October, the Top 3 teams received grants of Rs.1.5 crore each.

Samsung’s national innovation competition attracted participation from more than 70,000 students in the 16-22 years age group. They showcased their inventions to solve extant global problems in the Education & Learning, Environment & Sustainability, Health & Wellness and Diversity & Inclusion categories. The Top 10 teams qualified for the grand finale after six months of rigorous training and mentoring by experts from Samsung and knowledge partner Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT), a unit of IIT-Delhi.

Team Think attributes its success to Samsung and IIT-Delhi faculty mentoring. “Early exposure to industry leaders and tech innovators helped to build an innovation mindset. Participation in SFT 2023 has provided us with a valuable head start for taking our project forward,” says Team Think spokesperson Ankush Yadav.

Kavach was inspired by the World Bank’s Climate Investment Opportunities in India’s Cooling Sector Report 2022. It warned that India could face unbearable heat waves challenging human survival if it misses UN Sustainable Development Goals targets. “Kavach is a vest engineered to regulate body temperature, ensuring prolonged comfort in hot and cold environments. By utilising advanced semiconductor technology, our product eliminates limitations of traditional cooling and heating,” explains Mukkabir.

Team Think has ambitious plans for the future. “We intend to commercialise kavach to enable affordable cooling and address the needs of the millions obliged to toil in extreme climatic conditions without adequate protection. Beyond this initiative, our intention is to establish our own innovation hub,” says Varsha.

Urgently required to end India’s prolonged inventions drought (see https://www.educationworld.in/indias-prolonged-inventions-drought/).