TECHFEST'98 (24 - 25 January) ...a look back

Techfest'98, the first all-India technology festival of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, proved to be a giant step towards the discovery of the essence of technology. It brought the industry and academia, the two components that make technology the vibrant field that it is, on a common platform. This was a rebirth of a similar idea, TECHNOFAIR which was held in '85-'86.

The organising committee of Techfest'98 had been working on the conceptualisation and logistics of the event for over eight months before the festival, to ensure the achievement of their objectives. With productive resources such as the enthusiasm of the country's leading students, a tremendous international reputation, state-of-the-art infrastructure, 600 acres of area and a history of organisational accomplishments, Techfest'98 promised to be a success in all aspects.

The festival was attended by over 3000 students (excluding IITians) from all over the country, over 30 leading companies and organisations, and around 500 faculty members of India's foremost institution, on each of the two days of the festival. Over 300 students from colleges outside Mumbai were accommodated in-campus for the duration of the festival.

AMD, one of the leading chip manufacturers of the world (K-6 fame) and our Chief Sponsor entered into the Indian market with Techfest'98. The Indian Express Group, Press Sponsors of the festival, helped the event reach a wide range of participants from all parts of India, with their vast coverage in newspapers, magazines and other periodicals. Radiostar, the Radio Sponsor, popularised the festival with regular broadcasts on the air. Besides, Techfest'98 attracted several companies as sponsors for numerous events and as exhibitors in 'The Infotech Show' (Industrial Exhibition). 

THE EVENTS:

THE LECTURE SERIES:

This event included lectures by eminent personalities, either in person, or via a videoconference. The speakers in this popular event were 

* Prof. U R Rao, Chairman of the Pay Commission and ex-Chairman of ISRO, he currently holds an international post in the United Nations (UN).
* Prof. Jayant Narlikar, the popular astrophysicist and scientist of
world renown, captivated the audience with the simplicity with which he presented the enigmatic topic of astronomy.
* Prof. D B Phatak, the Infotech consultant to top I-T companies in the Silicon Valley and emerging Indian software firms and Dean of Resource Development & Planning. 

The above three lectures were held in the Convocation Hall with an attendance of over 2000. The other two lectures were in the form of a videoconference held in the Lecture Theatre, and were simultaneously telecast to the Convocation Hall, to accommodate a larger audience. 

The speakers were :
* Mr. Mark Lunsford, a marketing executive of AMD.
* Mr. Sam Pitroda, the father of Telecommunication in India, currently the chairman of World-Tel and former advisor to the PM, Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi. His inspirational lecture was covered widely in the press and is remembered by all its attendees.

All the lectures were followed by a lengthy and enthusiastic Question-Answer session. Mr. Nani Palkhivala and Prof. Yash Pal, although having consented to speak, could not make it to the show due to unavoidable health restrictions.


THE INFOTECH SHOW: The theme for the exhibition was the fast growing field of Infotech. Leading companies from India, as well as some companies from Silicon Valley participated. The list of participants is as follows:

* Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
* AT&T Corp.
* Datapro Infoworld Limited
* Express Computer and IT People
* Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB)
* KLA-Tencor Corp., California.
* NCR Corp.
* Onspec India Computer Automation
* Persistent Systems Private Limited (PSPL)
* Silicon Automation Systems (SAS)
* Sybase India Limited
* Syntel Software Private Limited
* Tata Infotech Limited (TIL)
* Tata Liebert Limited (TLL)
* Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL)

The companies exhibited many revolutionary products in global information technology and made full use of this unique opportunity for human resource development.

COMPETITIONS: "Technology is fun" was the message of the competitions.

* Pre-defined problems, which were posted to the colleges all over the nation two months in advance, allowed the participants to prepare their entries in the best possible way. Problems were framed and judged by the faculty members of IIT Bombay. The open design contest received phenomenal entries and 10 groups of two went home with cash prizes totalling twenty thousand rupees. The winning entry of the open software contest impressed the judges to such an extent that it has been put to use by the Computer Science & Engg. Dept. of IIT Bombay. The Siemens gripper design, Siemens 'Spectacles for the blind' and MBT windmill design contests were flooded with entries from numerous enthusiastic participants. These entries were of very high quality and were much appreciated by the judges and the sponsors.

* On-the-spot contests included, among others, the AT&T Science and Technology Olympiad and Cadburys' "Googly: design a dispenser' contest". The Olympiad saw an astonishing figure of 300 participants in the elimination rounds. Six teams made it to the finals, which made use of stunning Java software, developed by the organisers themselves It also used high-resolution, audio-visual multimedia clips and a totally computerised scoring system. The Googly dispenser contest was conducted with the idea that the entries received could be practically implemented. The contest was indeed a success in this respect, since Cadburys' has taken up the ideas put forth in the event. AT&T and Cadburys' were extremely pleased with the event and were highly appreciative of the festival in their correspondence.

WORKSHOPS:
* The Onward Novell Internet workshop was conducted by the students association of the Computer Science and Engineering Department of IITB. Although there were 250 participants, the huge computer labs of IIT allowed a computer for every 2 participants, where a practical session was held in the form of a treasure hunt. The live Java demonstrations mesmerised the participants.
* The Informix Astronomy workshop was jointly organised by renowned organisations such as AAA, JVP Poona, Nehru Planetarium and the Nehru Science Centre who actually transported a miniature planetarium to the campus for demonstrations. The stargazing session at night, the astro-photography exhibition and all-day movie shows were amazingly crowded and organisers were loaded with tons of interesting queries.

* The Aeromodelling workshop was conducted by the Indian Academy of Model Aeronautics (IAMA), an organisation, which has had two international shows of aircraft models. 150 high-fliers built their own miniature aeroplanes using professional kits supplied to them by IAMA.  The workshops were heavily overbooked with registrations flooding in from all corners through email, snail mail, on-line registrations, letters and faxes.

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) atomic energy exhibition: The atomic and nuclear energy department of the government of India exhibited their latest breakthroughs. They revealed a lot of interesting information regarding the Indian nuclear research programme and India's nuclear capabilities. The functioning of nuclear reactors, usage of nuclear energy and computer simulations of atomic chain reactions were demonstrated by the BARC officials. 

Techfest'98 was a spectacular success in achieving its objectives. For future Techfests to carry the same impact, they must be as dynamic as the technology that they idolise, the thought process must continue. Through successive editions of Techfest, we hope to achieve the broader aim of making a better India.

TECHFEST'99....IT'S COMING

Building on the foundation laid by Techfest'98, in '99 we plan to broaden the scope of the festival and present technology in the form we will actually encounter it when we enter industry. Keeping this in mind, we plan to include concepts such as entrepreneurship and finance. Also to demonstrate hi-tech entertainment at its best, we plan to introduce TECHNOHOLIX'99 at the spacious SAC enclosure after dark.

Exhibitions this year will be based on electronics and aviation. The luminaries who have already agreed to be a part of TF'99 include  Dr. Narayan Murthy of Infosys Tech. Ltd. , Mr. Chandrakant Sampat, rated by Business India as the top investor in the  nation. Mr. Vallabh Bhanshali, a partner in Enam Financial Consultants, and one of the nations top brokers.  Invites have also been sent to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Mr. Bill Gates of Microsoft, Dr. Amar Bose of Bose Sound Systems, and Prof. Roger Penrose of Oxford.  We students plan to make TF'99 really big...with an estimated budget of 45 lakhs...and a man-power of 500 students and staff. So, as you see, we believe that this idea of Techfest has great potential.

We believe that you, the alumni of this great Institute who are now at the forefront of research and industry will be able to grasp the significance and need of such a festival even better than us. We would like your guidance and support to drive this endeavour to new heights. We would be only too glad to have any kind of input from you about the idea and its implementation. We would love to have your participation in popularising Techfest, as we are hoping for international participation, especially for the on-line competitions. With your co-operation, we would like to leave a lasting legacy for future batches of IITians to build on.

Please feel free to contact us at :

email : techfest[!]cc.iitb.ac.in

Address : Techfest'99, Students' Gymkhana, IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 76.

Telephone : (91-22) 576 8947/8

Visit us at : http://www.iitb.ac.in/techfest