2003, Barcelona, Spain!
2004, Sao Paulo, Brazil!!
2005, Yokokama, Japan!!!
2006, Delhi, India!!!!
2007, Seoul, South Korea!!!!!
2008, Paris, France!!!!!!
Background :
Last year (2006-07) the team consisting of Bhavik Vora, Krunal Dedhia (me), Veenit Mavani and Saili Dharia along with our mentor Vaibhav Sathe had participated in same (Software Design) competition. We ended up being in top 11 in the country and along with it an experience that created the ground for winning finals of year 2007-08. It was in last year finals that we had made up my mind to participate in this year’s competition too. This year there was slight change in team. Team consisted of Krunal, Veenit & Saili. Bhavik moved up to mentor’s position while Paras Doshi joined us in the team.
About Imagine Cup:
Microsoft is deeply committed to the cause of technology innovation for a better world, and to engaging with the youth. The Imagine Cup (www.imaginecup.com), an annual worldwide student-technology competition, showcases our commitment to both these causes. Each year, students compete in multiple categories bound by a unifying theme and this year’s theme is “Imagine a world where technology can enable a sustainable environment.”
In the software design invitational (SDI) category of the competition, teams of students design software-based solutions and applications to address issues related to theme. The top eight teams showcase their solutions at the national final, with the top three teams presenting at the main event.
India Finals Bangalore :
This year the panel of judges included Mr. Kiran Karnik (Past President of NASSCOM), Prof. Samir Barua (Director of IIM-Ahmedabad), and Dr. Gopichand Katragadda (GM - Operations, GE Global Research Bangalore). The highlights of the event included a welcome address by Tarun Gulati (GM - DPE India, Microsoft) and a video message from Dr. R. K. Pachauri (Chair of the Nobel-Prize-winning IPCC), as well as key-note addresses by Mr. Kiran Karnik, and by Mr. R. K. Misra (Winner of the Lead India Campaign). There was also a panel-discussion on the role of the ecosystem in spurring innovation among India’s youth. The discussion was hosted by Rajdeep Sahrawat (Vice-President, NASSCOM) and also featured Prof. Samir Barua, Dr. Gopichand Katragadda, Prof. S. Sadagopan (Director, IIIT-Bangalore), and Paul Murphy (Director of Innovation, Microsoft India). Mr. Ravi Venkatesan (Chairman, Microsoft India) awarded the winners.
Team:
Starting with The Team, Saili Dharia (PR Guru), Krunal Dedhia (Krugle), Veenit Mavani (Shark) & Paras Doshi (Hardware Genius) along with our mentor Bhavik Vora (Whihathac) set off to attain the glory and save Mother Nature and payoff their debt back to environment. All of us coming together for IC was just a equation that fit perfectly
Background for solution:
Agriculture in India is one of the most prominent sectors in its economy. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry, logging and fishing accounted for 18.6% of the GDP in 2005 and employed 60% of the country’s population. It accounts for 8.56% of India’s exports. About 43% of India’s geographical area is used for agricultural activity. Despite a steady decline of its share in the GDP, agriculture is still the largest economic sector and plays a significant role in the overall socio-economic development of India. The monsoons play a critical role in the Indian sub-continent’s agriculture in determining whether the harvest will be bountiful, average, or poor in any given year. The entire rainfall in the sub-continent is concentrated in the few monsoon months.
Agriculture in India is constitutionally the responsibility of the states rather than the central government. The central government’s role is in formulating policy and providing financial resources for agriculture. The government administers prices of essential commodities to protect farmer’s interests. It also administers other commodities which are produced by government-controlled companies, like petroleum, coal, nitrogenous fertilizers, etc. Other than these, most agricultural commodity markets operate under the normal forces of demand and supply.
Solution:
Kalpvriksha is an attempt to break the conventional approach, which invariably dictates that ‘all fields are homogenous’. This leads to wastage of agro-resources and is also harmful to the fertility of land. Kalpvriksha enables site specific crop management using wireless sensor networks (WSN). Site specific crop management takes into account the in-field variability of the soil characteristics in each site. The collected data from WSN is used to create a site specific decision support system. Such a DSS can assist the farmer in utilizing the agro-inputs like water and fertilizers optimally. By creating a feedback system, we make it possible to continuously monitor the growth of the plant. This is how Kalpvriksha helps in maintaining quality and quantity of the crops produced.
Our technology is specifically aimed at bettering the standards of living of grass-root workers. It should be implemented rightly so that they can obtain maximum benefit. It addresses the problem of low productivity and salination of land due to excessive use of fertilizers. These problems are all a culmination of lack of awareness amongst people. Our application aims at “sustainable agriculture”- ….a method of agriculture that attempts to ensure the profitability of farms while preserving the environment. It takes a look at the current scenario while at the same time providing a viable solution. It could be a low maintenance long-term solution which could have only a basic implementation cost and negligible maintenance cost.
Our technology Kalpvriksha not only addresses the problem of food shortage and the depletion of arable land but also rural development by making the farmer aware of recent technologies and practices to better his farming methods and also make optimum use of his meager resources minimizing wastage. Hence we feel our technology can make a big difference given a chance…
The implementation of this project requires support from all levels and we aim at NGOs and government organizations that can provide this application at subsidized rate to the rural farmers. We are also working on an alternate model to make this accessible to Indian farmer i.e. the user at the grass root level.
Outcome: THE WINNERS
TEAM NOVICES@WORK
(KRUNAL, PARAS, SAILI, VEENIT, BHAVIK (MENTOR) )
followed by Team Skan with “empower”.