BlackBerry felicitates India’s young achievers at STEM 2013

BlackBerry, in association with Junior Achievement India, announced the winners of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) 2013 Camp: ‘The Food Detectives’ - Harmanan Singh from R.N Podar School, Rahul Bhope from Lokhandwala Foundation School, Kshitij Madekar from IES VN Sule School and Anish Chaurasiya from Patuck Technical High School. The STEM Innovation Camps are jointly developed by Blackberry and Junior Achievement India, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness.

As part of the camp, students in the age bracket of 15-18 years spent the day working on a business challenge in the field of mobility. Given the ubiquity of mobile technology and the multitude of ways in which it can be deployed or utilized, students at the STEM innovation camp were encouraged to push its boundaries into newer territories and develop a business plan around it. As students worked on their challenge, BlackBerry volunteers supported these young minds in terms of advice and guidance, thereby enhancing their business skills to solve real world problems.The camp spurred many creative ideas, but the one that stood out was presented by ‘The Food Detectives’ - Harmanan Singh, Rahul Bhope, Kshitij Madekar and Anish Chaurasiya. The teenagers came up with the idea of increasing the Smartness Quotient of phones by having food sensors in them. An analyzer antenna -- an external portable gadget -- can be attached to the phone, which when inserted into the food can reveal the chemical components of it. The sensors will help health conscious smartphones users to keep a tab on their eating habits and know what they’re consuming. The smartphone will then provide a detailed analysis of the food through a mobile application.

A total of 72 students from 10 schools participated in the STEM Innovation Camp. Commenting on the initiative, Varghese Thomas of BlackBerry India, said: “The aim of the event was to encourage and enhance entrepreneurial skills in these young students who find themselves on the cusp of their academic and professional life.” The winning team from each of the national competitions will compete with those from 13 other countries in a global online competition. Other participating countries include Italy, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, South Africa, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and China.