Three-day Maker Faire begins at Hitex
Hyderabad got its first taste of Maker Faire on Friday as dozens of innovators trooped into a hangar at Hitex to showcase their effort. The three-day event aims at helping create an environment of innovation, tinkering, hacking and creating.
“Curiosity and innovation are innate part of childhood when children take apart toys and dolls. But somehow, it gets lost in the chase for marks, exams and competition. Only now we are realising the importance of innovation,” said Jayesh Ranjan, IT Secretary, Government of Telangana, in his keynote address.
“The last decade and a half has seen transformative ideas. We need to create an ecosystem of innovation. We have lot of problems and we need a pool of brilliant solutions,” said Mr. Ranjan.
On the first day, one section of the event resembled a science fair put up by students. “This is a device that can be used by visually-impaired. The frequency of vibration changes when the object gets closer,” said Soumyadeep Sahu, who promised adding more features to his device once his 12th class exams get over.
There were a number of such innovative ideas using proximity sensors, light sensor, movement detectors and even weather monitors. Unfortunately, most of the sensors, IOT devices and chips were off-the-shelf imported stuff. “Our education system with its focus on marks stamps out any leaning towards innovation. We need problem-solving mindset. We now have 5,400 tinkering labs and hopefully, they will bring about a change in the mindset of people,” said Ramanan Ramanathan, the mission director of Atal Innovation Mission.
The event is a brainchild of Sujai Karampuri of T-Works. “In 2014 at San Mateo in the U.S., I attended a Maker Faire and thought why not in Hyderabad. Here it is. We want to create a one-stop prototyping facility at T-Works,” said Mr. Karampuri. The event would go on till Sunday, 8 p.m. and entry is free.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – November 09th, 2018