IIT-Bombay has emerged as the hottest centre for innovation in the country with three of its alumni - V.S.K. Murthy Balijepalli, Nitin Joshi and Vanteru Mahendra Reddy - making it to MIT's India TR35 2012 list of young technology innovators, along with Abhijit Majumder of IIT-Kanpur.
The list of 20 young innovators, all under 35 years, in biomedicine, communications, computing, energy, materials, transportation and the web for 2012 was announced by the Indian edition of the MIT Technology Review in Mumbai on Saturday.
Balijepalli, 26, made it to the list for developing a method to forecast electricity price, grid frequency and load that can help make power grids smarter.
Joshi, 28 developed dual nanostructures to deliver a combination of two anti-cancer drugs - paclitaxel and curcumin - found in tumeric, to lung cancer patients, overcoming the limitations of conventional chemotherapy.
Thirty-year-old Mahendra Reddy was chosen for his work on the development of a lab-scale flameless combustion with liquid fuels. The burning of liquid fuels in flameless combustion mode is more difficult as compared to gaseous fuels
Majumder, 33, developed a highly innovative chemical adhesive that mimics some natural principles, according to a press release issued by the Indian edition of MIT Technology Review, now in its fourth year of publication.
The only woman in this year's list is Priyanka Sharma, 28, from CSIR-run Institute of Microbial Technology in Chandigarh. She developed a plastic chip which uses simple techniques to detect toxic materials in the environment quickly and cost effectively.
Abhijeet Joshi, 28, from Ahmedabad's National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, has developed an implantable platform to simultaneously diagnosis diseases and deliver drugs.
"Two decades of economic liberalisation unleashed the innovative energies of Indians with the private sector firms in the technology sector garnering mind space in the innovation arena in recent years, " said Narayanan Suresh, group editor of Technology Review India.
The 20 technologists would present their innovations at the Emerging Technologies conference EmTech India 2012 at Bangalore later this month. The conference will be addressed by a team of eminent scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The India TR 35 programme started in 2010 and in the last two years, has identified 37 young innovators, the majority of them from small and medium-sized private research institutions.
"It is heartening to see IITs solving unique Indian problems. This culture of innovation in public institutions will enthuse thousands of bright students pursuing technical programs," said Pradeep Gupta, publisher of Technology Review India and an alumnus of IIT Delhi.
This year Technology Review India received over 250 nominations from all over the country. Over a period of three months, a panel of 23 expert judges identified 20 individuals who have developed technologies that are likely to benefit the society at large.