Students Open Innovation Challenge 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, students Parul University have once again raised the city’s essence of innovation. The recently announced results of SOIC’s 7th phase brought to the spotlight 9 students of Parul University, who received grants totaling Rs 5,37,000.
In a total of 22 teams from Universities across Gujarat, 40% of the winners were students from Parul University. As a way of developing innovative solutions to some of the significant challenges faced throughout this pandemic, the SSIP 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 in line 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 lacunae and various problems which had arisen within the society and industry.
Some of the projects which received this grant included a project on indigenous 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 such project includes the 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 centered on developing herbal eyeliner-boon in the effective management of computer vision syndrome. All 9 projects which the students presented were found to be having utility and through this grant, they will be going for further development.
“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.
