New Delhi: Mock eggs that can be eaten by vegans, water-less technology for a bath without water and drones that can be used for both security and other commercial purposes — these are some of the innovations that have come out of the labs at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi.
They will now be showcased at the Industry Day, set to be celebrated at the institute on 21 September, to harness and promote industry-academia collaboration.
The key themes for this year’s Industry Day are Clean Energy for Sustainable Economy and Environment, Sustainable Medical Technologies, Emerging Nano and Advanced Materials, Sustainable Environment, and Make in India. Under these themes, students have developed products that are industry-ready.
Among the products that will be showcased at the event are mock meat and mock eggs, which are made out of non-dairy products using plant derivatives.
“We have developed this product with the idea of giving high protein substitutes to vegetarians, especially vegans. We have used plant-based derivates to make the mock meat,” Anshu, one of the students at the institute who is part of the team that developed the product, told ThePrint.
The team has already found an industry partner and the product will be commercialised soon.
Another set of products, water-less body baths and shampoos, developed by the team have already been commercialised by a company, Clensta International. The products are meant to make personal hygiene accessible in locations that have a scarcity of water. The team also plans to come up with water-less toothpaste and other products.
“In areas where there is a scarcity of water, these products will be extremely useful. One would simply need to apply these products on their body and wipe it off with a towel to take a bath. They would not need water for bathing,” said one of the team members from Clensta.
“The toothpaste that we plan to develop would be swallowed for oral hygiene. For the toothpaste, we also plan to use raw materials that are good for the digestive system.”
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Bullet-proof vests to make an entry
The Center of Excellence – Personal Body Armor at IIT Delhi has developed a material through which it can make lightweight bullet-proof jackets. The weight of bullet-proof jackets used with an AK-47 rifle is 10.5 kg. The IIT Delhi team aims to reduce the weight by 22 per cent for better utilisation by security forces.
The Center of Excellence at the IIT campus is the only such facility at an education institute in India that manufactures bullet-proof jackets, helmets, shields and other personal protection equipment right from the scratch at one single unit.
Research at the centre has been funded by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
IIT Delhi, which has also been selected as one of the Institutes of Eminence by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, is paying a lot of attention to innovation and start-ups at the campus. The institute is also developing a Research Park on its campus that will provide a common platform for industry, academic collaboration. Industries will be invited to set up their research centres at the park and collaborate with students and faculty.
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