Lil Mathew
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A unique watershed protection project created by the Indian Space Research Organization and its commercial subsidiary Antrix Corp. took the prestigious Intel Environment Award and a $75,000 cash prize at the 13th annual Tech Awards gala Nov. 14.
The Tech Awards celebrate life-changing inventions benefiting humanity; each year, innovations that improve the lives of underserved populations across the globe are presented in five categories and the winners are presented with a cash prize of $75,000 or $25,000. As in years past, several Indian innovators made the cut.
The elegant black tie ceremony at the Santa Clara Convention Center drew a sellout crowd of 1,500 and included a recital by U.S. Presidential Inauguration 2013 poet Richard Blanco; a talk by noted physicist and author Fritjof Capra (“The Tao of Physics,” “The Science of Leonardo”); and a heartfelt, humor-laced talk by physician and inventor Dean Kamen, recipient of this year’s James C. Morgan Humanitarian Award.
“It’s not an overstatement to say that the future of humankind will rise or fall depending on our ability to find innovative answers to the problems we face,” said The Tech Museum president Tim Ritchie. “Each of these extraordinarily talented laureates is an inspiration for all of us to follow as we continually search for ways to build brighter futures for ourselves and our communities.”
The Sujala Watershed Project, developed by ISRO and Antrix Corp., helps to alleviate poverty over 400,000 hectares of rain-fed agricultural areas of Karnataka by utilizing satellite technology and real-time online monitoring to strengthen watersheds and empower citizens on crucial water management issues in their communities. It also focuses on soil and water conservation and sustainable use, as well as improvement of livelihoods, equity, gender, and community participation.
Accepting the award, Ranganath Bangalore Krishnaiah thanked his colleagues in India and said it was “great to get this recognition in Silicon Valley.”
Another honoree, D-Rev of San Francisco, took a $25,000 prize for Brilliance, an LED phototherapy light that treats neonatal jaundice. Brilliance is manufactured and distributed at low cost by Phoenix Medical Systems of Chennai.
The device, which employs an energy-efficient bank of lights on a space-saving, movable rack, is designed to replace compact fluorescent lights at a fraction of the cost and with a much longer bulb life. A Brilliance LED device sells for $400, as opposed to $3,000 for CFL units, which will make the device much easier to bring to remote areas in India with limited medical resources.
In a videoconference at the start of the evening, last year’s Microsoft Education laureate winner Piya Sorcar, founder of TeachAIDS, spoke from Bangalore about the effect her $25,000 prize has had on her work and the nonprofit’s reach.
TeachAIDS offers free, culturally sensitive training about the often-taboo topic of HIV and AIDS, and has roped in celebrities such as Shabana Azmi, Shruti Haasan and South Indian film stars Siddharth, Anushka Shetty and Nagarjuna to spread the word.
“When I met Piya, children were being expelled from schools for having HIV,” said Shetty from Bangalore. “Piya’s localized, animated videos broke through that mindset, and led a transformation of thought in a short period of time.” Added Sorcar, “We now have distribution agreements that will reach 100 million children this year.”
Debra Stein of the Darfur Stoves Project, winner of the $75,000 Flextronics Economic Development Award, made a special mention of the contributions of inventor Ashok Gadgil, Indian American director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
Gadgil, who won an earlier Tech Award in for his ultraviolet water purification system as well as the 2012 Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation, is the founder of the nonprofit Potential Energy.
He is credited with leading a research team that developed a fuel efficient stove now used in Darfur to help reduce the firewood demand of Darfur displaced persons, most of whom are women at risk of violence as they forage for firewood outside of camp boundaries. More than 20,000 of these Berkeley-Darfur Stoves have been distributed, helping 125,000 displaced women and their dependents.
Read more at India’s Space Research Org. Wins $75K Tech Award
