Times of India
11 January 2009
By TNN,
Pune, India.

While the city witnessed a fuel shortage in the last few days, a city-based innovator was gearing up to unveil a low–cost technique that can save 10,000 litres of petrol at a single outlet annually, resulting in savings of almost Rs 5 lakh.

The technique is among the 15 innovations currently on display at ‘Innovations 2009’. The exhibition has been organised by the Pune chapter of the IIT Bombay Alumni Association. The two-day event, which began on Saturday, is being held at the Dewang Mehta auditorium at the Persistent Systems campus on Senapati Bapat road.

“Every time you pass a petrol pump, you can smell the petrol that has vaporised, polluting the environment and causing loss of fuel,” said city–based innovator Shekhar Kulkarni. During the filling of the pumps and fuel tanks of vehicles, the vapour escapes into the environment. Kulkarni hit upon the idea of using bladder balloons to prevent vaporisation. “And this technology comes at a low price and does not require maintenance or skilled manpower,” he added.

In its third year, Innovations saw entries from fields such as healthcare, sustainable technologies, information and communication technology and biotechnology.

Surgical cures for type 2 diabetes conceived by Shashank Shah, a next–generation search engine that makes internet surfing much smarter; a low-cost platform for managing virtualised infrastructure – Innovations has it all.

{jumi usermod/ads/ads.php}{/jumi} Also on display is a software product that helps bridge the language divide. ScriptMagic, developed by Rajeevlochan Phadke of the city–based Image Point Technologies, quickly converts various software into different languages. “It is already in use in major nationalised banks and is likely to be positioned in the future as the preferred method of language enabling,” Phadke stressed.

Sourabh Phadke, also an individual innovator, has come up with ‘Earthbags’, a concept with the potential to redefine sustainable architecture. “This technique involves the use of bags filled with an appropriate earth mix, stacked and sealed and used as building blocks,” Phadke stated. “The focus is on propagating an economically affordable and environmentally sustainable alternative for construction in rural areas,” he added.

Satish Patki of the Patki Research Foundation and Hospital, meanwhile, has developed a novel concept of using stem cells to treat pre-eclampsia. “Pre–eclampsia is the principal cause of maternal and prenatal mortality and only symptomatic treatment is currently available. Autologous stem cells extracted from the patient’s bone marrow are injected into the placenta or the uterus. This therapy is able to control the blood pressure quickly and also to restore key foetal growth parameters, thus providing a solution to an important medical condition,” Patki said.

A cost–effective solar concentrator also drew throngs of visitors. Jeevecare, unveiled a powder that dries litter, neutralises ammonia and makes poultry farms odourless.

A technique for producing biogas using castor oil cakes and a lowcost technology for computer–aided drug and molecular discovery were also showcased at the expo.

Among the other exhibits was a technology to create wet dispersible granules for the agro–chemical industry, which addresses the problem of transportation and distribution of highly toxic agro-chemicals. Also on display was a motorised mobile cathlab that has the potential to replace expensive stationary cathlabs. The mobile cathlab can be used by cardiologists and interventional radiologists.