Chennai, 6th September 2017: The 6th edition of the prestigious CavinKare - MMA Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards 2017 honoured three innovative entrepreneurs in a grand event that took place at Kamaraj Arangam today. The chief guest of the evening Mr. Kiran Karnik, Former President, NASSCOM & Member, Governing Council, IIM Ahmedabad graced the occasion. A thought provoking special discussion on the theme ‘An insight on innovation’ by Pattimandram Mr. S. Raja, Actor, Debate Speaker and Ms. Bharati Baskar, Vice President, Citibank had been organized during the awards function.
‘Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards’ honours small innovative entrepreneurs and identifies growing small scale enterprises in terms of its uniqueness, benefit to people and its ability to be scalable. This award, established in the year 2011 commemorates the memory of Late Shri. R Chinnikrishnan, father of sachet revolution.
The eminent jury members comprised of Mr Srivats Ram, Managing Director, Wheels India Ltd, Mr G V Anand Bhushan, Partner & Chennai Head, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co., Advocates & Solicitors, Prof Prakash Sai L, Professor & Head – Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Mr L Ramkumar, Managing Director, Tube Investments of India Ltd, Mr Ravichandran P, President Danfoss Industries Pvt Ltd. The call for nominations process received 125 applications from across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, where the nominees were interviewed under various stringent guidelines streamlined by process advisor E&Y.
The following entrepreneurs were awarded for 6th CavinKare-MMA Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards 2017:
Dr. S Kavita, CEO & Director, FIB- SOL Life Technologies Pvt Ltd: 25kg of fertilizer that’s used to fertilise an acre of land could now be done in 25g. Dr. Kavita in partnership with Dr. Anand developed N-FIB 20, low weight biodegradeable safe & stable Bio fertilizer carrying membrane that hosts agriculturally important microbes like bio fertilizers replacing conventional carriers such as lignite, peat etc.These Nano fiber membranes are loaded with soil nutrient fixing microbes in 25g of tissue paper that dissolves easily in water which can then used to fertilize an acre of land. The membrane is less voluminous than the conventional carriers, safe for the environment & bio degradable.
Mr G Venkatasubramaniyan, Inventor & Partner, CMR Bitplast: Building better roads with plastic waste. Use of waste plastic in laying roads is nothing new but the ‘Dry Process’ technology that is currently used is expensive, cumbersome and remains unpopular with the road contractors and unviable for governments. While the patented ‘Wet Process’ technology that Mr Venkata Subramanian has introduced, in laying plastic roads, is cost effective, easy maintenance and helps in maintaining a healthier ecosystem.
Mr Ponram P, Director, Tejas Translational Technologies Pvt Ltd: The Healthcare Industry growing leaps and bounds in India. Adding to the growth, Mr Ponram has come up with an innovative bio medical device - “Vein Probe Vein Finder” that can locate veins in patients within seconds making it easy to insert needles for blood sample collection and injecting medicines, at affordable cost.
This light enabled device helps health care technicians to locate veins easily even in obese, dehydrated, dark complexioned patients for whom it is difficult even for experienced technicians to locate the vein.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. CK Ranganathan – Chairman & Managing Director of CavinKare Pvt. Ltd. said, “Tamil Nadu is the gateway for successful entrepreneurship in South India. In recent years, the state has transformed itself into a hub of innovation with many start-ups emerging not just from Chennai but also from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities like Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy, Puducherry and many more. The objective of Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards is to recognize such exemplary start-ups from these emerging cities and nurture their spirit of innovation.”“The collaborative efforts of many stakeholders, government, industry bodies and investors, to offer right infrastructure has further amplified the growth of new-age entrepreneurship in the state. It is heart-warming to see our Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards contribute to this synergy by recognizing hidden entrepreneurial gems and bring them to limelight. I am confident that this platform will offer these innovative enterprises many more opportunities to scale greater heights.” added Mr. C K Ranganathan.
Ms. Kavitha D Chitturi, President, Madras Management Association & Jt. Managing Director, The KCP Ltd said “MMA is privileged to be associated with the CavinKare Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards to bring about a process of democratized innovation whose ultimate aim is true inclusion, encompassing each and every member of the society. The fundamental objective of this joint initiative is to understand and comprehend the challenges and opportunities in India’s innovation, that of entrepreneurial spirit and fundamental optimism driving India’s economy and people today.Innovators grow a small idea into a fantastic opportunity. They do not go where the path may lead, they go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. They convert problems into opportunities. They have hindsight, foresight and insight. They set quantum goals. They drive continuously and take risk. The key to their success is for them to make a habit throughout their life of doing the things others fear.Innovation, increased patent generation, talent pool and technological prowess are some of the factors driving India’s growth story and defining the new India. Our challenge would be to ensure that while creating this new India – one known for its knowledge resources and talent pool - the rest of India is not left behind”.
