The Avery Dennison Foundation today announced its fourth ‘Spirit of Invention’ (InvEnt) scholarship award in Gurgaon, India, 
honoring 10 Indian students from five reputed institutes for their outstanding innovation capabilities in engineering, science and technology. The InvEnt Scholarship Program was established in order to develop young talent in innovation and technology.
“We are pleased that the InvEnt Scholarship Program has entered its fourth year in India,” said Alicia Procello Maddox, president of the Avery Dennison Foundation. “The Avery Dennison Foundation is committed to improving the communities in which we operate, and supporting education is part of this commitment. We recognise the need for talent development to nurture effective leaders of the future. We hope that by encouraging the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship among students we can help them pursue their dream careers. We are excited to play a part in the journey of these 10 students from India as they get ready to take on new opportunities in their future.”
The participating Indian institutes this year included Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani; M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore; MIT, Manipal; Pune Vidhyarthi Griha’s College of Engineering and Technology, Pune and St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. Winning students were chosen through a merit-based, rigorous two-stage selection process, first at the college level and then the second at an independent selection committee level. The program recognized a number of forward-looking innovations such as
● Rescue Band: Designed to aid human beings affected by natural or unnatural calamities by developing a prototype wristband (Arnav Kundra, BITS Pilani)
● Plaster Spray: A spray available in a deodorant-kind bottle that would harden on application to form a thick wafer like layer when exposed to air (Sohum Waikar, Pune Vidhyarthi Griha’s College of Engineering and Technology, Pune)
● Safe Route Detection Application: Aimed at preventing crime against women, this project has been conceptualized to suggest the safest route between two locations, based on the geographical model of crime intensities (Harsh Sharma, BITS, Pilani)
● Helio Tracker: Poised to become the next leap in optimizing solar power installations, the project is aimed at building a device that imitates the Sunflower’s ability to continually turn its face toward the sun, enhancing the amount of energy absorbed by the solar panels (Chirag Manchanda, MIT, Manipal)
The ten students who received 2015 “Spirit of Invention” (InvEnt) Scholarship Award amounting to approximately INR 9 lakhs are:
|
Student |
Institute |
| Arnav Kundra | Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani |
| Ayush Nema | M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore |
| Chirag Manchanda | MIT, Manipal |
| Harsh Sharma | Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani |
| Nidhi Sharma | St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi |
| R. Vandana Reddy | M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore |
| Rishabh Gupta | Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani |
| Shantanu Methikar | Pune Vidhyarthi Griha’s College of Engineering and Technology, Pune |
| Sohum Waikar | Pune Vidhyarthi Griha’s College of Engineering and Technology, Pune |
| Vasu Sharma | Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani |
