• Discusses the transformative power of technology and the role students can play in achieving more for the world
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently met a gathering of students and educators at the Young Innovators Summit organized by Microsoft India at the India Habitat Centre, Delhi.
The Young Innovators Summit brought together over 250 students and educators in Delhi NCR. In conversation with Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, Satya Nadella spoke about the role that technology will play in transforming the education ecosystem over the next decade, outlining the opportunity students have today to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems with technology.
Speaking at the summit, Satya, said, “We need to reformulate the relationship between technology and learning. It is very interesting to witness the way young innovators think today. What excited and inspired me from my meetings with students was the quality of their ideas, the scope of their ambition, deep passion and deep empathy turning into action. This is truly transformative, and is how societies and economies move forward.”
The Young Innovators Summit also showcased examples of technology-powered innovation from the student community in India. Three young innovators talked about how they are using technology to connect the world and solve some of the biggest social, environmental and health challenges of our times.
Using AI to save lives: Pratik Mohapatra
OrganSecure, built by Pratik Mohapatra, uses a sophisticated set of machine learning algorithms to quickly match organ donors with recipients, providing real-time updates to people in need of a transplant. His idea of an AI-powered app that aims to match organ donors with people in need of an organ transplant in real-time, was one of the three winning ideas at the 2019 Microsoft AI for Good Idea Challenge.
A coding enthusiast, Mohapatra has been developing apps since he was 14 years old and has a keen interest in applying technology to life sciences. In his words, “While watching a web series that revolves around organ donation, I realized the pain and emotional trauma people go through when waiting for a transplant. I started digging deeper about the problem and spoke to doctors at leading hospitals in Bengaluru to comprehend the magnitude of the issue,” he shares.
Fighting air pollution with AI: Ishlok Vashistha
Taking from their experience of living in the vicinity of New Delhi, which has one of the world’s worst air quality, Ishlok and four of his friends decided to use technology to tackle the problem. The team, comprising Ishlok Vashistha, Aakash Bhadana, Vasu Kaushik, Dipesh Narwat, and Bharat Sundal from Manav Rachna Institute of Research & Studies in Faridabad came up with Caeli, a smart anti-pollution face mask and portable nebulizer to help those with breathing ailments like asthma and other chronic respiratory diseases.
The mask and nebulizer are connected to a smartphone application via Bluetooth. The Caeli mask features an air filtration system and an Air Quality Index (AQI) sensor that constantly monitors the quality of air, while the Caeli app controls the schedule of the drug dispensed from the nebulizer depending on the user’s prescription and pollution levels. Their idea won the team the runners-up position at the Microsoft 2019 Imagine Cup World Championship.
Transforming learning through Minecraft: Namya Joshi
Namya Joshi, a seventh-grade student at Sat Paul Mittal School, Ludhiana, Punjab, has become an icon and inspiration for many. Namya, a 13-year-old, loves training teachers and has been a crusader for making learning fun through technology. She has been helping teachers at her school convert their class lessons into interactive Minecraft sessions. Namya has conducted multiple Skype sessions across countries like Vietnam, India, Hungary, Finland, for both teachers and students to initiate them into the use of Minecraft in classes.
“Minecraft is a great platform”, she says. “If a child does not like reading books, for example, you can make them in Minecraft and get the child interested.”
Namya has been conferred with the REX Karamveer Global Fellowship and Karamveer Chakra Award, and is a winner of the ‘UNESCO Clubs 2018-2019 Worldwide Youth Multimedia Competition’ for creating a virtual library of books on Minecraft.
Image Caption : Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella and Microsoft India President, Anant Maheshwari with student innovators at the Young Innovators Summit in Delhi. Right to left – Anant Maheshwari, Namya Joshi, Ishlok Vashistha, Satya Nadella, Pratik Mohapatra, and Bhaskar Basu, Director, Strategic Growth, Microsoft India
