SRISTI Summer Schools have been organized for the last several years to develop devices for economically poor people through inclusive and open innovation. A palm leaf broom maker has to beat the leaf on a wooden plank with nails to tear the leaf into a fiber. The drudgery involved in this act drains the energy of women who generally do this task. Similarly, hundreds of thousands of tribal have to crack mahua nut to get the seed out for oil extraction. The construction workers carry brick on their heads straining their necks and spines. Women in Saurashtra and many other regions get hurt while harvesting the fruits from cactus like opuntia growing on the field bunds. Amla harvesting in the forest often involves cutting branches rather than just harvesting the fruits.
These and many other problems have been mobilized by the Honey Bee Network to challenge young people to design solution to get over the indifference of formal design and technology institutions. Eventually, every institution in the country will have to take the responsibility of mapping the unmet social needs in their hinterland and address them through student projects and summer and winter schools. Like every initiative that Honey Bee Network has taken, it may take years before policy and institutional reforms follow. The structure of governance in any society cannot remain indifferent to the persistent problems of the disadvantaged people for too long.
Announcement
SRISTI Summer School 2021
SRISTI’s 9th Summer School on Inclusive Innovation to be held virtually from
May 18, 2021 to June 7, 2021.
SRISTI, part of the Honey Bee Network, invites budding technologists, innovators, and/or social entrepreneurs to work on designing solutions in the following broad domains:
1. Developing electronic sensors and AI based products for women, children, elderly people, farmers, and other social segments. To have AI based data retrieval applications from the Honey Bee Network databases like techpedia.in, gian.org/patent.php, http://honeybee.org/honeybee_database.php, https://www.gian.org/giannidhi.php, etc.
2. Developing mechanical engineering based devices for urban/rural poor, workers, small farmers in farm/non-farm sectors, processing, construction, handloom, crafts, water supply, sanitation, assistive solutions, and any other related sector.
3. Designing apps/smartphone based platforms for seeking and spreading innovative ideas, on-farm trials, social diffusion of innovations, natural products, peer learning among children, educational support for disadvantaged children, home-based biotech experiments by children and their parents, improving web presence of HBN, SRISTI, and GIAN databases, social media analysis for diffusing innovation, etc.
Outcomes:
Five to seven proof of concepts, processes, apps, and/or service/system designs will be selected to move from mind to market (social or commercial), and preferably openly accessible to users.
It is misunderstood that several ideas/products will need considerably more design and fabrication effort to make them useful for the target users/communities. SRISTI is committed to follow up each solution and keep the original group informed and engaged if they so wish. All the solutions will be shared with the user community in open source. Though in some cases the defensive patent may refilled to prevent any third party monopolizing the design. SRISTI will have full right to share the solutions developed during summer school to modify, change or improve for the larger social good. The students can come back to follow up their summer assignment.
Eligibility:
UG, PG, and PhD students, young faculties, professionals (if very passionate) engaged in design, engineering, architecture, social sciences, and other fields (including CSIR labs or any other institution of higher learning) who are determined to address social challenges.
Selection process:
One needs to submit the online application, link for which is given below. While submitting an application, candidates should look around and list 10 unmet social needs (5 rural + 5 urban). Illustrate one need (amongst the 10) which one would like to take ahead and design a solution for it.
SRISTI will also share a few unmet social needs with the selected participants. One is free to work on a problem of his/her choice also at the Summer School which can be different from the one submitted in the application as long as it addresses a clearly defined unmet need of disadvantaged sections of the society. However, the group work will be pursued on already-identified social challenges unless a team can convince the group that its chosen problem is far more important and urgent.
Experts from CSIR, DBT, DST, and other reputed institutions in India and abroad will interact with the participants and guide them in making prototypes from their ideas, for which interdisciplinary groups will be formed virtually.
Fees:
SRISTI, which means “creation”, is a developmental voluntary organization set up to strengthen the creativity of grassroots inventors, innovators, school and technology students, and entrepreneurs, biotech start-ups etc., engaged in conserving biodiversity, developmental-friendly educational, technological, cultural or institutional solutions to local problems.
We want to ensure that every student/faculty who is sincere, insightful, and deeply interested can join us for the summer school. The contribution towards online lectures is INR 2500/- for the 21-day event. (Though in case the Summer School is organized offline at-campus, the revised fee would be INR 7000/- which will cover candidate’s boarding/lodging and meals.) No one will be denied participation due to lack of funds. Please write to us if you feel you deserve the merit-cum-means scholarship to waive your contribution.
Application deadline: April 30, 2021
Sponsors who may wish to join the efforts are also welcome. One may contact us at mentioned email address or phone number (over WhatsApp or call) for sponsorship or further queries.