Shortlisted finalists from engineering colleges and technological institutes across India showcase innovative, high-impact solutions to address transportation and energy challenges.

KPIT (BSE: 532400; NSE: KPIT), a global technology company specializing in product engineering and IT consulting, has announced the winners of  Sparkle 2015, a national design and development innovation contest, in association with College of Engineering, Pune (COEP). The contest was aimed at fostering the culture of innovation among science and engineering students by inviting breakthrough ideas to address ongoing challenges in the areas of transportation and energy. 

The contest received 424 varied ideas from over 1100 students from more than 114 colleges across 17 states of India. In the final round, the shortlisted teams presented ‘proof of concept’ of their solutions for global issues, from unconventional power generation and hybrid solutions to intelligent transport systems and driver safety.

The ideas were reviewed and judged by a jury comprising eminent figures from the field of science and technology including Dr. RA Mashelkar, Head, Innovation Council, KPIT; Shri. Anil Datar, General Director, DRDO (Defence Research & Development Organization); Shri Arun Firodia, Chairman, Kinetic Group; Prof. Mathai Joseph, former Executive Director at the Tata Research Development and Design Centre, Pune; Dr. Ashish Lele, Polymer Science and Engineering Division, NCL (National Chemical Laboratory); Shri Satish Gokhale, founder of Design Directions Pvt. Ltd.;  Shri Alok Mukherjee, Head of Robotics  at R&D E (Engineers), Pune and Dr. Sahasrabudhe, Director of COEP. The finalists were evaluated for novelty, utility, and inventiveness of their ideas at a grand exhibition held at KPIT’s campus in Hinjewadi.

Jainendra Mishra from Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumkur, Karnataka won the grand prize (Platinum award) of INR 10 lakhs for his innovation.  He developed a solution that was aimed at increasing efficiency of hybrid and electric vehicles, which run on lithium-polymer battery pack, by using a novel circuitry grid using SANDY (Switching algorithm ANd cell DYnamics) algorithm.

The team of Suraj Aru, Shubham Gajabhiye, Tejas Auti, Harshal Nikam, and Pravin Jadhav from College of Engineering, Pune won the Gold award of INR 5 Lakhs. They had worked on creating centrally suspended cage-less differentiator for automotive sector.

There were three Silver award winning teams —  Shruti Kharwandikar and Kruti Patel from MKSSS's Cummins College of Engineering for Women, Pune; the team of Ajay Kandgal and Vivekanand Kulkarni; as well as the team of Sourabh Alagundagi, Rajat Bapuri, Sumitra Malagi from B.V. Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology, Hubli, Karnataka.  Each team won cash prize of INR 1 lakh. Prof. MS Ananth from IIT Mumbai was the chief guest at the awards ceremony.