Innovative battery hogs all attention at IIT-B

<p style="text-align: justify;">It was Oorja all the way at Eureka. IIT Kharagpur student Sourav Das&rsquo;s innovation, Oorja, grabbed the first position at a business plan competition called Eureka, organised by IIT Bombay&rsquo;s Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell). Even as the budding entrepreneur plans to start a venture, several investors have already shown interest in it.<br /><br /><br /><img style="border: 3px solid black; margin: 3px 4px; float: left;" src="https://images.shiksha.com/mediadata/images/1265605232phpAcMTFy.jpeg" alt="" width="150" height="110">The finals of the competition was held during entrepreneurship summit at IIT Bombay on Sunday.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />The third-year student&rsquo;s team has developed a lithium-ion battery which is based on a novel cathode synthesis technique. It is cheaper, more efficient and non-toxic as compared to existing batteries. Even a newspaper can be used for synthesis.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />&ldquo;We had a mentoring session for Eureka in December where we met the best among venture capitalists and angel investors. It was a turning point for us. We now plan to deliver our innovation to a niche market. Some companies have contacted us. Based on their feedback, we will get into production,&rdquo; said Das.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />&ldquo;Two investors are keen to invest, and we are in touch with several others. This has been a great opportunity for us,&rdquo; he added. Das&rsquo;s team got Rs5 lakh as prize money.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />The top three technological business plans will get an opportunity to represent India at the Intel-UC Berkeley Innovation Challenge in California.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />&ldquo;Incubation chance will be given to top three technology-based entries. E-Cell is in the process of setting up a panel of incubators to allow our participating teams access to significantly higher incubation opportunities,&rdquo; said Digvijay Naik, E-Cell&rsquo;s media manager.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />The second position at Eureka was shared by two teams &mdash; UniCom and Bookmark Library. They will get Rs2.5 lakh each. &ldquo;We have designed the world&rsquo;s only single chip tunable frequency power amplifier module for cell phones. It will integrate all technologies (GSM, CDMA) and all range of frequencies in a single chip. Also, 3G and 4G can be accommodated and it can be used globally at no additional cost,&rdquo; said Shashank Singh Rathore, a second-year student of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />Rathore&rsquo;s team has filed for a patent. &ldquo;We want to start a venture. Eureka has been helpful and one of the angel funds has asked us to make a presentation for funding,&rdquo; he said.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />Bookmark Library plans to offer services in three modes &mdash; physical, online, and tele medium. They plan to have a unique unmanned book-vending machine at busy places like airports, coffee shops and a specialised system of doorstep delivery.</p> <p><strong>Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/</strong></p> <p><strong>Date: 8th Feb., 2010</strong></p> <hr /> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>For further details about related courses and colleges please click below:</strong></span></p> <p><a href="https://science.shiksha.com/">Related courses and colleges</a></p>