Three years. Three milestones. It's amazing how Techfest, which was but a seed just three years back has blossomed and carved a niche for itself as being one of its kind in the subcontinent. Techfest, finally, has arrived. Techfest has never been without a vision. Techfest 2000 was all about how the world is changing with the millenium and how technology can help it change for the better, opening up hitherto unknown and newer vistas and thus giving the technocrat of tomorrow a plethora of opportunities. Techfest 2000 was not limited to technology but also encompassed areas like entrepreneurship. It also attempted to bring to focus the social aspects of technology.
Prof. M G K Menon, Chairman IIT Bombay, inaugarating the festival The festival was attended by 5,000 students from all over the nation, over 50 leading companies and organisations with their top executives as well as renowned faculty and researchers from India's premier institute of technology.
As our main sponsor, Selectica Configurators made an entry into the Indian market through the medium of Techfest. Techfest was the ideal platform for them to showcase their technology.
Competitions in techfest aim to bring out the creative best in students and give them an opportunity to solve real-life industry problems. Both predefined problems as well as on the spot competitions were included. The industry defined problems were from i2 Technologies and Cypress Semiconductors.
To give more room to innovation, we had the open software and hardware competitions. And then there was 'Big Bang' which was as whacky as a competition can get. The noble objective behind the whole exercise was to make the most complicated contraption to burst a balloon. Our main sponsor, Selectica Configurators sponsored a competition called "Figure Out" which created quite a stir with its stupendous prize money. For the quiz enthusiasts, we had the Sci-tech olympiad.
The Series endeavoured to bring all participants of Techfest vis--vis with their role models, with the hope that the lecturer's vision would serve to motivate and encourage students and help give direction to their budding aspirations. It had representation from various sectors of the society like the scienctific and technological community, the industry and the governement which play important roles in the development and implementation of all scientific and technological breakthroughs and advances. The speakers this time were:
Dr. Jaswinder Pal Singh (CS Department, Princeton University) who spoke on "Interdisciplinary Research in High Performance Computing".
Mr. S.Ramdadorai, CEO, Tata Consultancy Services, who lectured on Borderless World-The New Challenges.
Dr. H. Paul Shuch , Executive Director, The SETI League, US, who spoke on "Search Among the Stars".
IndigenEx was conceived as an exhibition to showcase indigenous research and technology. The idea was not just to depict the Indian technical prowess, but was an endeavour to show how this potential is being tapped and developed by the industry. Inaugrated by Prof. M. G. K. Menon, this three day exhibition had exhibits from myriad scientific and technological fields such as embedded systems, biotechnology and genetics, communication systems, space research and a lot more.
It acted as a window for the latest technological advances taking place in our country and displayed newest products presently in the market and also those being developed in the R&D departments of the industry and various educational institutes. Some of the institutes which participated in IndigenEx were:
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre(BARC)
Indian space Research Organisation (ISRO)
Centre for Artificial Intelligence and robotics(CAIR)
Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics(IUCAA)
Tata Institute of fundamental research(TIFR)
The following workshops were held as a part of Techfest 2000:
quEsT: The SETI Workshop
ARE WE AlONE? - quEsT the SETI workshop was structured so as to provide the participants an insight into the principles and practices involved in the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence. The aim was to broaden horizons and help the participants better understand and appreciate the philosophy, rationale and techniques of SETI.
Eminent personalities present included Dr. H. Paul Shuch, Executive Director of the SETI League, better known as Dr. SETI, Dr. Govind Swarup and Dr. Anantakrishnan from the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Dr. S. M. Chitre, from the Department of Astronomy and Astrphysics, TIFR and Dr. S. Durani, Head, Biotech Department, IIT Bombay.
Mesmerize
The aim of the workshop was to provide a glimpse of the world of animation and special effects. It included a demonstration (courtesy Discrete Logic) of the various software and hardware commonly used for animation and special effect techniques like morphing, editing, sound mixing etc. The total cost of the setup was in excess of 1.7 crore rupees. There was also a hands on session (courtesy 3-D Studio Max) where the participants got to use the various softwares.
Hardcore Hardware
This workshop was meant to give a working knowledge of computer hardware. Starting from the very basics of computer systems, this workshop intended to provide solutions to most of the problems one faces as a user, and culminated with an introduction to computer networks.
This event was aimed primarily at stressing the important role of ENERGY in the socio-economic set up of our country. Notwithstanding the controversies surrounding it, it turned out to be an interesting event with around 30 students writing papers on topics related to energy issues and deliberating on them during Techfest.
A panel debate on Energy, Environment & Development chaired by Prof. S. P. Sukhatme (Chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board) put forth some very interesting ideas before the students. The other panelists included Dr. Amulya Reddy and Mr. Bitoo Sahgal. Lectures by Dr. Kirit Parikh (Director IGIDR) and Mr. Wade Cline (COO Enron) proved to be an eye opener with regard to the developmental and environmental issues at stake.
This event was aimed at bringing out the technological, regulatory, social and economic aspects of convergence. The participants were first given a feel of all the latest technologies which are making convergence possible. Lectures were conducted on topics like circuit switched and packet switched networks, PSTNs, TCP/IP, B-ISDN, Internet through cable, xDSL, VoIP and satellite communication. The speakers included:
Professor R. Bali, Central Research Laboratories
Mr. Ebezener Vidyasagar, Texas Instruments
Mr. Shashi Ullal, President and MD, Hughes Escorts Communications Ltd.
Mr. Andre Leong, Technical Consultant, Juniper Networks
Mr. D. Venugopal, Vice President, WorldSpace
A symposium focussing on the indian context of convergence saw the culmination of this successful workshop. The panelists included:
Professor MGK Menon, Chairman Board of Directors, IIT Bombay
Mr. Amitabh Kumar, Director VSNL
Mr. S. Rajgopalan, CMD MTNL
Mr. D. Venugopal, Vice President, WorldSpace
Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala, IIT Madras
The keynote address was delivered by Mr. Sudhir Ahuja, Director Multimedia Communications, Bell Labs via a videoconference.
Eureka, the entrepreneurship competition was one of the most successful events at Techfest 2000. It was a competition where the teams were expected to develop well researched, feasible and of course profitable business plans. The aim of holding this competition was to increase interest in entrepreneurship in the student community.
We had a series of pre-Techfest lectures as well as a few rounds of judging by IIT faculty to give us the five finalists. These teams made a presentation to a panel of judges comprising Mr. B.V. Jagdeesh of Exodus fame, Mr. Harish Mehta, CMD Onward Novell and head of the Bombay chapter of TIE, Mr. Rajesh Jain of Indiaworld fame, Mr. Raj Kondur of Chrysallis, Mr. Vikrant Bhalerao of GW Capital, Mr. Rajat Gupta of McKinsey and Professor Patwardhan from our own School of Management. The judges found the entries well above their expectations. In fact the winner from IIT Bombay, Myzus.com is now valued at six million dollars. They have also been selected by the KRESIT incubator
So you thought Techfest 2000 was all about heavy competitions and incomprehensible lectures that made one feel like a nerd? Surely not, like all other things, technology has a lighter side too and Wipro Technoholix was here to prove. This year it wasn't confined to night time or a particular area of the campus.
It brought a whole series of demos and contests geared to let the techno-savvy have a field day. We also had a Techno Treasure Hunt, an Inventor's Competition, Animation & Special Effects Demos, Holographic and Stereographic displays, movies...the list is endless.