School Children with Innovative Models and Industry-Academia Stalwarts Steal the Show on second day of Industry- Academia Conclave at NIT Jamshedpur

Day 2 Highlights

Day two of the Conclave featured panel discussions of four national and industry relevant topics and participation of schools in model presentations on themes leading to “Vikshit Bharat -Vikshit Jharkhand” -the theme of the conclave.

The panel discussion on the topic “Strategic Approach for Social Development and Responsibility by Academic- Corporate Partnership” featured participation by industry academia stalwarts, Prof. Dheeraj Kumar (Dy. Director, IIT-ISM-Dhanbad), Dr. Deepak Mishra (ISRO), Satyanarayana Nanda (Head CSR, TSLPL) Dr. Aradhana Ray (Owner, Laxmi Associates) Ramdas Katre(VP-Jindal Power Ltd) and Gaurav Anand (Founder, Swachhtapukare-Foundation). The panel members highlighted need for strategic alignment between Academia-Industry-Government for achieving “Vikshit Bharat – Vikshit Jharkhand”. They dwelt on most successful models for collaborative project-designs and their implementation. They also suggested various methods and metrics to evaluate the impact of such tri-party projects. Panel also highlighted the role of government policy in achieving impactful implementation of these social development projects. They discussed on PPP mode of project implementation for capacity building and training to achieve “Vikshit Bharat” goal.

The other panel discussion featured the topic “Exploring Real World application of Industry 4: Robotics, IOT and Cyber-physical-systems for Sustainable Manufacturing”. The panel members included Prof. A. Elayaperumal, (Director-NIT-Nagaland), Dr Salim G Purushothaman, (ED Braithwaite & Co.Ltd), Prof. Prabhat Kumar (NIT-Patna), Prof. Rajesh Tiwari (Principal, RVSCET-Jamshedpur), Manowar Ismail (Sr. General Manager-DVC), Dr. Rohit Anand (CEO Rosa Technology Private Limited), and Kunal Ghosh (Founder, VSD-Bangalore). Panel’s discussion was focused on Industry 4.0 technologies for sustainable manufacturing using Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and cyber-physical systems technologies. Industry 4.0 is signalling a change in the traditional manufacturing landscape which encompasses three technological trends driving this transformation: connectivity, intelligence and flexible automation. Industry 4.0 converges Information Technology and Operational Technology to create a cyber-physical environment leading to emergence of digital solutions and advanced technologies associated with Industry 4.0. The panel concluded that “Vikshit Bharat- 2047” can be achieved with adoption of Industry 4.0 paradigms by industry within Jharkhand and across India.

One another panel discussion on topic “Cost, Benefit and Adoption of Digital Twin in Smart Manufacturing: An Industry 5.0 Perspective” was between eminent panellists as Prof. Shubhasish Bhoumick (IIEST-Shibpur), Prof. Atul Krishna Banik (NIT-Durgapur), Debi Prasad Dash (Former GM-Indian-Railways), Rajeev Shukla, (Managing Partner, Himalaya Enterprises), Jayadev Patasani (Plant Head, RKF Ltd) and Anumita Sen Gupta (Unit Head, TSTI). The panel dwelt upon the Challenges in Adopting Digital Twins in Smart Manufacturing setup in India. Further they discussed the role of innovation in the field of Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Virtual Reality in the development of digital twin technology for various industrial products, processes, and services. The panel further also proposed the use of digital twin in education leading to more effective teaching-learning outcome in institutes/ universities.

A Model Presentation competition in which 800+ students applied, however screened to 300 students with 90 models representing 70+ schools and colleges from across the country was a key event. Participants demonstrated a variety of innovative projects, including models on sustainable smart technologies, robotics, and applications of IoT, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence. The award ceremony, with prizes worth Rs1 lakh, recognised outstanding models with distinctions for the winner(Aastha Kumari and Shatakshi of Holy Cross School, Bokaro) 1st Runner-up(Anjali Sharma, Saragya Singh, Krish Verma of DPS Bokaro), 2nd Runner-up(Tuhin Dutta, Kumar Atharv of DAV Bistupur). The model competition was inaugurated by Prof. Amit Patra, Chief Guest and Dr.Subhrakamal Dutta & Adm A.K.Verma attended as Guest of Honour. The ceremony also featured Prof. Goutam Sutradhar, Director of NIT Jamshedpur, alongside esteemed faculty members including Sanjay, Satish Kumar, Dinesh Kumar, Suravi Pal, Subhadeep Metya, Jayendra Kumar, Ratnesh Mishra, Mayank Srivastava and Kunal Singh.

One another panel discussion on topic “Innovation-Driven IPR In India: Recent Development And Challenges” was held among many eminent panellist as Prof. Amit Patra (Director-IIT BHU), Prof. Amit Kumar (NIT-Patna), Dr. Sohini Banarjee (IISWBM-Kolkata), and Dr. Manoj Kumar (JC Group). The panel discussed the role of IP and innovation in achieving the goal of “Viksit Bharat” through “Viksit Jharkhand”. The Panel also discussed innovation and IP Creation in Technologies related to AI, Blockchain and Metaverse and also discusses the need of guiding innovators to protect their IP.

Cultural night saw Prof. Goutam Sutradhar performance on one of his favourite musical instruments followed by dance, song acting and band perfomances by students of NIT Jamshedpur to wrap the night up with a Fashion Show.