IIT Delhi Class of 89 Innovation Award

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The IIT Delhi Class of 89 Innovation Award seeks to encourage innovation in the student body at IIT Delhi. It exists to recognize students who rise above rote learning to create new products and services that hold in them the seeds of genuine breakthroughs in their areas of application. If you feel that you are engaged in a project that is accomplishing this, you are strongly encouraged to submit it for consideration.

The Class of 1989 recognizes that it owes a great deal of its professional success to its experiences and education at IIT Delhi and wishes to give something back. This award was established to recognize excellence in innovation emerging from the student body of the institution that it cherishes so much. The class has raised a large and growing corpus which funds the award. Since the alumni of this class are globally spread across India, the Middle East, Europe, North America, the Far East and Australia, members from across the globe have come together and contributed to the establishment of the award.

The first Class of 89 Innovation Award is specifically given in the memory of our dear classmates, Samir Anand and Prof. Partha Niyogi, who exemplified the strengths this award seeks to recognize: the ability to take intellectual risk, rise above bookish learning and apply learned knowledge in innovative new ways.

Award Details

The award is designed to be meaningful financially and professionally. Award winners will receive publicity, certification, exposure for an extended period of time, as well as seed money as applicable

Rs 2,00,000 will be given to the winning teams and projects.
Additionally seed money will be provided for promising projects/ideas.
Award certificates and direct employer recommendation/verification service.
Brief video documentary of the project will be released on YouTube based on the project.
News release.
Publicity on web channels.

Judging Criteria

All submissions to the award are examined and judged with great care. Please expect to make in-person presentations about your project. The tone of these presentations is relatively informal, and the use of demos and prototypes are encouraged. Typically, the following criteria are used in making award decisions -

Genuine innovation and scientific/engineering/social advance made in the project, especially indications that the members took intellectual risks in pursuing their work. Replication of results obtained in research elsewhere will not qualify for this award.

Creation of actual product of some form, whether physical, social, organizational or software. Prototypes and sub-production quality software are acceptable. Creation of a document or of presentations does not qualify a project for an award, except by unanimous agreement of the Judging Committee and the Steering Committee Chair under very special circumstances.

Applicability to the Indian environment. Benefits to Indian society, especially economically weaker segments.

Scalability. The ability of the innovation to export to the real world and change it. Pragmatism is highly encouraged.