 "The IIT Kharagpur campus in West Bengal")
Shell India Markets Pvt on Wednesday announced the shortlisting of IIT Kharagpur among the top five finalists of the Shell Ideas360. Shell Ideas360 is a global competition, which connects students with Shell experts and mentors to develop ideas to tackle the pressures on the world’s food, water and energy resources.
IIT Kharagpur will be competing in the final stage of this competition scheduled to be held in London on June 27, 2016.
The three member team from IIT Kharagpur - Gaurav, Apurva and Ankit, made it to the finals by developing a smart solution called GrowSmart. The idea is directed towards enabling farmers to increase land productivity at reduced cost by leveraging low cost soil diagnostics technology. The technology will provide farmers with detailed analysis of soil and offer recommendations.
The selection process, inviting applications from across the globe, commenced in September 2015, and spanned over nine months. It generated 982 ideas in the first stage of which 74 ideas were shortlisted in the second stage.
The selection was an outcome of a rigorous assessment in which seven master reviewers reviewed each idea over four times.The seven master reviewers were experts in food, energy and water including two experts, who are former Shell employees.
“We are delighted to have reached this far and are further motivated to give our best and emerge as the ultimate winners of the competition,” says Gaurav of GrowSmart team, IIT Kharagpur
According to Vikash Mishra, country head, external relations, Shell India, as a major player in the energy sector, the company strives to develop platforms that foster innovation and creativity to drive sustainability solutions across the globe.
The other finalists are from US, Singapore and the UK. The winning team will be sent on an all expense paid expedition by National Geographic.
