Grant awarded to five startups Bio craft Innovation, Center of Digital Excellence, Mindbrics Edutech, Primary Healthtech and Cultech Wave. Facebook
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur is playing its part in India’s indigenous toy story by promoting the creation of educational toy clusters across the country, with financial help from the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
The institute’s technology business incubator -- Foundation for Innovation and Research in Science and Technology (FIRST, IIT Kanpur) -- has partnered with MSME to facilitate the ministry’s design scheme.
As part of this partnership, five enterprises from FIRST IIT Kanpur have received the Project Monitoring and Advisory Committee’s (PMAC) approval and a grant from the MSME Development Institute to make prototypes of sustainable educational toys.
“The design programme is a step towards revolutionising education in India. We look forward to supporting such initiatives that develop a learner’s critical thinking, decision-making and allied skills and encourage learning,” said Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, professor-in-charge of Incubation and Innovation, IIT Kanpur.
The grant has been awarded to five startups -- Bio craft Innovation, Center of Digital Excellence, Mindbrics Edutech, Primary Healthtech and Cultech Wave.
Bandyopadhyay emphasised that the collaboration between FIRST, IIT Kanpur and MSME, with financial support from the latter, can truly change the modern toy industry of India which is dominated by cheap imported goods that are also highly unsustainable.
The design programme is also a positive step towards nurturing favourable educational outcomes through engaging interventions and supporting innovative ideas for toys and games, he added.
IIT Kanpur’s Team Makersclan was declared one of the winners at Toycathon 2021 for its board game, CheMystery. This board game aims to acquaint children with Chemistry and the use of various elements in real life, while inculcating among them the skills of critical thinking, decision making and planning.
Toycathon 2021 was jointly launched by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women and Child Development, MSME, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Textiles, Information and Broadcasting Ministry, and AICTE on January 5, 2021, as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India vision to support the development of innovative toys and games.