naking www.techpedia.in more vibrant platform for linking students and faculty with small scale industry and innovators

04 December

naking www.techpedia.in more vibrant platform for linking students and faculty with small scale industry and innovators

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On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 1:06 AM, Hiranmay Mahanta <mahanta.hiranmay@gmail.com> wrote:

Respected sir

Could i get some suggestion before i take the IDPs into hand from those Industries/MSMEs/others to be taken into Techpedia IDP section for making real time solution in stipulated time.

So far as industry defined problems that i decided to use as protocols for time are:

1. Each industry will have to make a commitment of providing minimum 30 specific Problem statements per year.( paper work of MOU will be done in December itself)

( Will this number be ok initially,because each industry provides 100s of IDPs of their daily life every year to even short time techfests.So far as initial feedback of my proposal industries are eager to land on permanent platforms like us.In case the numbers may vary from organisations to organisations) Initially the solution will be searched from our database,whether any such attempt related to this exists with us.)

i don’t think we should insist every small or medium industry to make such a commitment, this should be problem and need driven, also in many cases, the small or micro industry entrepreneur may not even know what exactly needs to be optimised. some times even professoprs do nt know which aspect of the problem needs to be optimised first. that is a skill which some industry experts have, but not all. so i think we shoudl encourage students to have industrial shodh yatras on week end , walk from unit to unit and observe, disucss, learn and find out what needs top be done where. We should also encourage students to look at the problems of informal sector ( given under problems in search of solutions at techpedia.in) and innovations in search of augmnetation.

but i am not rejecting your idea of collecting problems from the entrepreneurs as they see it. May be target per year may not work. but no harm in trying. We should also focus on cobblers, blacksmith, foundaries, lathe operators, welders and others who provide services to poor people or meet small needs, to explore how do we make them more energy efficient.

1. I will distribute them via moderators (faculty-students-innovators) having team of max 4 (in specific case we can change) and guides per Idea( 2 to 3) . These people may not belong to specific organisation or region. They will share open documents to discuss on Techpedia web resource( For which i need to improve many features of Website).In hard copy we will be keeping up to date track of progress and hindrances due to limited instruments,human resource etc and will be reporting the concerned person of the industry.

( we will seek open applications on our web nationally to address the issue. The guide have to choose the best people. Live progress of each group making similar solutions will be on techpedia.in updated by that coresponding IDP blog/section to genertae competency among similar groups at various geographical locations.)

this is an important step. tracking progress of mentoring online is very very crucial to trigger a culture of collective and collaborative learning. yesterday a student asked an uncomfortable question in class on benefit sharing in ipr course, i asked him to write it up which he has done. I am seeking his permission to reply on blog so that other students and scholars can also join the discussion if they wish. Similarly, discussion on specific problems of the industry on-line might stimulate global pooling of public spirited advice on this platform. let us hope so.

1. One IDP can be given to more than one group . The best group will be taken as intern to avail further research in the respected organisation using real industrial tools.

( The feasibility of Interns/fellowships by that organisation may depend upon the level of competency of the solution,may be best 10%-20% of IDP taken from one organisation will be converted to next stage)

i am a great believer in parallel processing of the ideas. let 500 students work on the same technical problem, we might discover 50 new ways of solving that problem, each may have some unique advantage. New heuristics might emerge. incidental pay off from this kind of parallel processing of problems might be much higher than targeted pay offs.

1. The faculty guiding them will be putting evaluation in each 7 days and will put on paper.Final output has to be delivered in time.

( External faculties and guides will be added as guest comment in any running IDP as suggestive mesaure may be in open webspace or in some cases it can be avaialble only to user).

ideal, but don’t push faculty too hard in the beginning. let us get them involved first and nudge them to respond. they might get put off if we put too strict deadlines. we professors don’t mind pushing students hard, but when it comes to ourselves, many times we sort of look around, !!!!!!

1. Few best scholars from all 30+ IDP given by company may be absorbed by industry for longer period if it wishes.

( If the solution is exceptional in simulation/testing module it’s marketability via proper channel can be done with utmost intellectual property constraints).

well, idea is not to make techpedia.in a outsourcing hub for large companies. they should attract students through complexity of the problems and offering of awards. But beware, beware. We should rot repeat the model that appears to be visible on tv channels. Only a handful large companies seem to occupy all the advertisement time. They thus determine what will be the priorities of entertainment on tvs. that is dangerous. public spirited content suffers. I know it fiorst hand. A leading channel started a serie son innovations with us. But then they would hesitate in giving credit to NIF/honey bee network in stories though t was evident that all stories were being given by NIF. many people did not know that it was NIF that was giving the content. May be they had pressures from the advertisers or sponsors. Techepdia.in should not get trapped in the priorities of large enterprises. We have to be careful that the best students don’t get attracted only towards solving the problems of large enterprises. I know it is difficult, lure of market is strong. But may be the joy factor will make a difference. May be because small enterprise will share more information, may be because they will offer more learning opportunity, may be they will be more keen to tell whether suggested solution from student worked or not? let us try to motivate the students to get interested in the problems of small actors who make a big contribution to economy, society, culture and employment.

1. If the industry wishes we will provide the best among these 100 Interns for that company a joint fellowship with Techpedia in terms of certification only.

( Initially this fellowship may not be monetarily associated as ,for students and faculties/guides the significance of fellowship certification is more psychologically accepted now a days).

it is possible, AASTIIK can provide a fellowship certificate if they solve real life problems, sure, that is a good idea. we will also consider some of them for the sristi yuva yantriki awards.

1. We will be providing only IDP details, persons involved in it from our side and open discussion forum to support them in public.

( here the kho-kho model can really be active to impart solutions. In case we will preserve original approach of the solution provider to secure his work and only related discussions can be done in that gallery)

i am open, let us see how many want to protect their iprs and how many want to keep the discussion open. we will go by the wishes of the entrepreneur who shares the problem.

1. The duration of problem statement may be 3-6 month or 1 year duration depending upon the gravity of the issue.

( This has to be decided by the IDP provider, and we will strongly monitor the boundary issues so that progress of solution will be scaled time to time)

or even lesser

1. The faculty and students will be assembled via open application in Techpedia platform or in initial cases via personal interactions.

( For initial time we may take from associated technical people with us since few months or similar ways to buy time)

yes, whichever way, if faculty wish to join National Mentor Network being designed under Dr Mashelkar’s guidance, then they can join that also, we will accept them. But if they wish to 4remain casual and only join on case to case basis. that is fine too. Many faculty want to put their papers also be listed under a separate database. i think we should create that option also at techpedia.in

1. The best performing among the above may be rewarded from Techpedia platform also.( At national static event like SRISTI Yuvayantriki award or our Dynamic national Events like ” Envisage” that will be held similar to a Technical Shodh Yatra covering entire nation aiming 10 Technical colleges initially)

sure, more awards the merrier

1.so far as IDP is concerned should we seek any financial help either in terms of academic help or guidance like real Floor training from Industry while signing the issue?

( From data analysis of last 3-4 years i got to know that the Industries are providing IDPs and fellowships to students on an average of 15-45 K after completion of solution successfully in time)Should we talk anything related to this to them even if we may workout this while providing the solution in latter stages. Or we will provide freely for some time by providing a certification to solution provider jointly with Techpedia and that organisation to give some creditability to solution provider.)

i am not sure we can pull through financial incentives to begin with. My worry that is that moment we bring money, the limited capacity of small companies/firms to pay will wean the students away from them. Let us not offer any financial remuneration to begin with. Only learning value is the reason why students and industry should/may join. May be i am being idealist. let us handle this issue later. Let money not be prime mover of this linkage

1.So far as intellectual property preservation is concerned about the solution of The IDP,what should be our role. Whether the student will own some creditability on the solution or the organisation will absorb major stake of it by providing some reward may be monetarily or in any other sense, if the solution among all become a real unique one.

yes, let us see which monetary or non monetary award works best for individual or teams. A portfolio of incentives will work and not the same portfolio will attract all kinds of students.