IIT Roorkee professor, start-up win DRDO’s innovation contest

Dehradun: A professor at IIT Roorkee and a start-up, led by founders from the college, have won an all India innovation-based contest that was organised by DRDO, the institute said in a statement on Wednesday.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted the contest, ‘Dare to Dream 2.0,’ in the memory of former president APJ Abdul Kalam to identify novel ideas and technologies with the potential to help defence forces and to fulfil aerospace needs.

The aim of the contest was also to realise the goal of ”Atma Nirbhar Bharat” as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to DRDO.

Professor Sudipta Sarkar, who won the competition in the domain of ‘Eco-friendly Explosive Waste Management,’ proposed a novel process to remediate waste and wastewater, containing Trinitrotoluene (TNT), using innocuous and inexpensive chemicals and microbes, which requires minimal or no net energy.

“I am delighted with this accomplishment of Prof. Sudipta Sarkar and the Log9 (start-up) team. Their success vividly illustrates the pursuit of excellence by IIT Roorkee,” IIT Roorkee Director Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi said.