Updated on: Wednesday, March 14, 2012
The Indian final of the fifth annual Henkel Innovation Challenge was announced. The event saw 72 teams participating across the nation to cultivate innovative ideas. Of the eight teams that were shortlisted, IIT Delhi won the India final and will now compete in the grand international finale on April 25 in Poland, the home country of the last year’s winners.
Students from every field were invited to participate in the Henkel Innovation Challenge to come up with a technological product under the Henkel brand which will cater to the needs of the people in 2030. This year the product ideas and technologies will contribute to sustainable development, such as reducing energy or water consumption.
The winning team, Innovatus Maximus led by Karan Kamath and Jaireet Johal of IIT Delhi, chose the adhesives portfolio of Henkel. The team put forward the possibility of adopting particular specie of bacterium as an adhesive. Owing to its ability to withstand a force equivalent to five tons per square inch, this adhesive will be strong enough to be employed for industrial usage and even for reinforcing links in humidity-rich areas.
The team is now preparing for the big final in Poland where the winners will receive an all round the world ticket and price money of 1000 Euros. Karan Kamath said “The intensive journey full of evaluations and our constant efforts at fine-tuning our presentations to the best of our abilities has paid off. We were able to solely concentrate on our work as the travel and logistics were efficiently taken care of without a glitch.”
The teams were under the purview of the experts at Henkel who doubled up as mentors and polished their presentations during the competition. “The mentorship program enabled us to get valuable suggestions and opinions on our work which ultimately helped us to submit a competent entry,” added Kamath.
Jeremy Hunter, president, Henkel India said that, “Henkel has always been on the forefront of innovation and we are appeased at the optimism and zeal towards innovativeness among Indian students.”