Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards, a national competition of original technological ideas and innovations by children up to class 12 or those out of school up to the age of 17 years to promote creativity and originality among children.
As many as 21 creative and innovative children from across India have been conferred with Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards 2019 by the hands of former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee for their 18 distinct ideas and innovations.
The competition is organised every year by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) - India, an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. An exhibition to showcase all award-winning ideas by young, creative minds of the nation was also organised on this occasion.
The innovations being recognised this year encompass a great diversity of science and technology, be it Vishwa Goswami a student of UKG from Gandhinagar, Gujarat who gave the idea of “Plate with inbuilt detachable glass” or Innovator trio AJ Surya, S. Venkateswaran and Venuram RR from Chennai who gave the idea of “Semi-automatic flower garland maker and packer”.
Over 60,000 submissions of students from 544 districts of all the states and union territories of India were received during the IGNITE 2019 competition, which ran from September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2019. The award winners hail from nine states and union territories, representing the diversity of India.
Speaking on the occasion, the former President recollected the initiatives like Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (FINE) during this presidency which proved to be an excellent platform for innovators of the country. He remembered India’s glorious history characterised by emphasis on education through universities and evolution of social innovations since time immemorial. He acknowledged the potential of innovators in the country who always keep needs of the society at the forefront. He congratulated innovators who proved to be a game changer for society by being the reason for a quantum jump from bringing incremental changes historically to radical changes in present times.
Mukherjee appreciated the efforts of NIF in promotion of innovation in the country and shared few areas where he would anticipate more innovations will emerge in coming days such as poverty alleviation, rural communications, agriculture, animal husbandry, wind energy and those which would help address the climate change problems.
He gave a mantra of 3 I’s for India - The first “I” being Impatient, second “I” being Innovations and the third “I” being Inclusive. He urged the innovative minds of the country to keep trying, trying again until the time when efforts result in success of an endeavour.
Dr PS Goel, Chairperson, NIF in his welcome address reiterated the commitment of NIF towards recognising children’s creativity in the country. He expressed his gratitude towards former President of India for constantly motivating the country’s young innovative minds. He also touched upon the great journey of IGNITE awards ever since the year 2008, then a humble beginning until today, wherein children from nearly 90 percent districts of the country have been participating in the competition year on year.
Speaking on the occasion, Acharya Devvrat, Governor of Gujarat appreciated the high potential that innovators of India possess and an ever increasing need to connect this potential with opportunities. He cited various examples of people who contributed to transformation of the world at large through science and technology and expressed his happiness that youth of India is keeping pace with rest of the world in terms of innovations. He expressed his confidence in next generation innovators in the country.
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards, a national competition of original technological ideas and innovations by children up to class 12 or those out of school up to the age of 17 years to promote creativity and originality among children. The winners of the 2019 competition were announced on the October 15, 2019, the birth anniversary of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, which is celebrated as the Children’s Creativity and Innovation Day by NIF.
List of awardees of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Competition 2019
Idea/ Innovation |
Student Name |
Class |
School Name |
District |
State/ UT |
Solar ironing cart |
Vinisha Umashankar |
8 |
The Path Global Public School, Malappambadi |
Thiruvannamalai |
Tamil Nadu |
Visually challenged friendly toilets |
Baibhav Parida |
8 |
Dev Public School, Chandresekharpur |
Khordha |
Odisha |
Expandable food plate |
Padmashri G. |
6 |
GKHPS Doddabompalli |
Kolar |
Karnataka |
Insect killing dustbin |
Tanmay Kumar Sethi |
7 |
Delhi Public School |
Rourkela |
Odisha |
Modified broom with dust collector for cleaning ceiling |
Swadha Krishn |
7 |
Delhi Public School, North Bangalore |
Bengaluru |
Karnataka |
Modified broom with dust collector for cleaning ceiling |
Swastik Subham |
6 |
Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1 |
Sambalpur |
Odisha |
Plate with inbuilt detachable glass |
Vishwa Goswami |
UKG |
Bhaskar Play School, Pethapur |
Gandhinagar |
Gujarat |
Quick finger duster for whiteboards |
Archit Aryaman |
9 |
Army Public School, Narangi |
Kamrup Metropolitan |
Assam |
Fast drying shoes |
Devjit Prasad Majhi |
9 |
Buxi Jagabandhu English Medium School, Bhubaneswar |
Khordha |
Odisha |
Intelligent stair case |
Anuj Mishra |
9 |
Vindhyavasini Public School, Bharuhana |
Mirzapur |
Uttar Pradesh |
Innovative shading tool for drawing |
Raktim Das |
10 |
Shankar Dev Sishu Vidya Niketan, Dadara |
Kamrup |
Assam |
Easy cleaning water tank |
Siddhant Kumar |
9 |
Govt High School, Rana Bigha |
Nalanda |
Bihar |
Manual Cole crop harvester |
Yash Pramod Jadhav |
10 |
Shardabai Pawar Vidyalaya, Shivnagar |
Pune |
Maharashtra |
Stapler for leaf plate making |
Suyash Patel |
10 |
Sri Chaitanya Techno School, Kaggadasapura |
Bengaluru |
Karnataka |
Spill-proof Kaangri |
Asim Sikandar Mir |
8 |
Shemford Futuristic School, Wanpoh |
Anantnag |
Jammu & Kashmir (UT) |
Perspiration absorbing shoe |
Sayeeda Banoo |
9 |
Govt High School, Poyen |
Kargil |
Ladakh (UT) |
Sickle housing first aid kit |
Kishan H. Thakor |
12 |
Gramshala, Grambharti, Amrapur |
Gandhinagar |
Gujarat |
Sleep-walking detector and preventer |
Shivam Amritesh |
11 |
Sanskar Bharti Global School, Phulparas |
Madhubani |
Bihar |
Semi-automatic flower garland maker and packer |
A.J. Surya, S. Venkateswaran and Venuram R.R. |
12 |
Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Mylapore |
Chennai |
Tamil Nadu |