The season received a record 512 entries from premier engineering institutes across the country. Teams from BIT Mesra, NIT Jamshedpur and Jadavpur University clinched the top three spots.
Tata Steel announced the winners for its much-awaited annual innovation challenge for students ‘Mind Over Matter’ Season 5 yesterday. The 6-month long programme culminated with the Grand Finale held in Jamshedpur, where a total of five teams presented their innovative solutions to the esteemed jury. Mr. Suresh Dutt Tripathi, Vice President, Human Resource Management, Tata Steel graced the occasion as the Guest of Honour and Dr. Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President, New Materials Business, Tata Steel, was the Chief Guest for the finale.
Shreya Sinha and Anamika Sinha from BIT Mesra emerged as the winners of Mind Over Matter – season 5; Nisha Sinha and Shubham Sinha from NIT Jamshedpur bagged the 1st runners-up position and Shivani Agarwal and Vishal Diwedi from Jadavpur University, secured the third slot.
The winning team received a prize money worth Rs. 1,00,000 along with a trophy. The 1st and the 2nd runners-up were presented with cash prizes worth Rs. 75,000 and Rs. 50,000 respectively. While certificates of recognition and pre-placement offers were bestowed upon the top three teams, the teams at the 4th and 5th position were given pre-placement interview offers. Certificates of participation were given to all the other teams.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Suresh Dutt Tripathi, Vice President, Human Resource Management, Tata Steel said, “Mind Over Matter is a promising platform for bright young minds who bring a fresh perspective to the table with unparalleled creativity. The initiative gives them a chance to work with the experts at Tata Steel’s R&D facility to channel their ideas and creativity in the right direction. The platform has helped students put their insights into applications and enable solutions to engineering problems using state-of-the-art equipment and facilities and has seen their proposals materialise. This, in fact, is a huge motivation for the students.
The 5th edition of Mind Over Matter has seen considerable increase in participation and is a testimony to the ever-growing popularity of the platform. The teams selected in the finals were from the 1000 plus students who participated in this season. We at Tata Steel are proud of this collaboration with bright young minds and look forward to a future driven by innovation.”
This season, ‘Mind Over Matter’ received an overwhelming participation from more than 40 premier engineering institutes of India including the IITs, NITs and the likes. The competition witnessed a record submission of 512 ideas against a total of 10 challenges (topics) put forth by the Company’s R&D team.
Tata Steel is committed to a culture of innovation through Research & Development and is constantly pushing the envelope to enable solutions for a better tomorrow. In line with its commitment and drive for innovation, the steel major initiated the annual innovation challenge ‘Mind Over Matter’ in 2014. The initiative is essentially a collaboration between industry, academia and students to push the frontiers of research and innovation. The platform enables bright young minds to give shape to their ideas, innovate, work on real manufacturing and product challenges and explore the implementation of the idea on an industrial scale. Over the years, the initiative has grown manifold and promises to be one of the most credible and popular innovation platforms for young minds.