Techkriti, Asia’s largest technical and entrepreneurial festival organized by IIT Kanpur, marks a symbol of creation or innovation in technology. Many interesting workshops, fascinating shows, enthralling talks, informal events, intriguing exhibitions and exciting competitions together construct the face of technical innovation. The four days of the festival attract footfall of over 40,000 from around 1500 prestigious colleges all over the world. The fest, after completing its 24th anniversary in March 2018, celebrates its silver jubilee from March 7, 2019 to March 10, 2019.
In addition to inspiring talks from eminent scientists and entrepreneurs, Techkriti also hosts workshops that enhance the core skills required in the technology industry. Among the workshops, Techkriti has hosted in the past are app integration by Microsoft, cloud computing by Amazon Web Services, ethical hacking, Internet of Things (IoT), Android app development, robotics, machine learning, data analytics and Python programming. These workshops are conducted by reputed companies with a track record of excellence in these domains.
Techkriti is known for hosting a variety of competitions with total prize money of more than 70 Lacs. The competitions serve the backbone for fulfilling the basic motto of Techkriti – developing interest and encouraging innovation in technology among students. Competitions are classified in a few broad categories such as Robogames, ECDC, Take Off, Software Corner, Mixed Bowl, Design, Technovation, Entrepreneurial and Buizkriti.
Techkriti, in its past 24 years, witnessed various prominent personalities who showed proper direction to many scientific minds by offering mind stimulating talks and motivational speeches. Some of the speakers include Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (Ex-President of India and Founder of India’s missile program), Richard Muller (famous American physicist and professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley), Richard Stallman (Founder of FSF and GNU Project), Vladimir Voevodsky (Fields Medalist from Russia), Douglas Osheroff (Physics Nobel Laureate), Dr. Lyn Evans (Director of LCC CERN), Michael Foreman (NASA Astronaut), Marshall Strabala (Architect of Burj Khalifa), Jeff Liebermann (Host of Time Wrap), Victor Hayes (Fahher of Wi-Fi), Dr. Hamid Karzai (Ex-President of Afghanistan), Prof. Henry Schaefer (one of the most highly cited scientists in the world), Rajat Sharma (a renowned name in the field of Indian Journalism), Prof. K.C. Nikolaou (2016 Wolf Prize recipient for Chemistry), MK Amit Peretz (member of the Knesset and former Deputy Prime Minister of Israel), Jitendra Nath Goswami (Padma Shri 2017 and popularly known as Moon Man of India), Dr. Mohsin Wali (Honorary Physician to the President of India and Padma Shri), etc. The words of such experienced people help to nurture the future technology endeavors.
The exhibitions organized by Techkriti focus to present the fascinating things before the fest audiences. Their prime objective is to shape the future innovation ideas and thinking. Some of the past exhibitions at Techkriti include Eth Zurich (an autonomous Soccer playing robot), Nino (first Indian humanoid robot), Remidi (world’s first wearable device to record, play and perform), Hyperloop (a cool transportation system), OTO (a controller come musical instrument of Germany), Indro (the tallest humanoid robot), Holus (world’s first interactive tabletop holographic display), LIGO (gravitational waves in action) Puzzlebox Orbit (a brain-controlled helicopter of USA), vintage car exhibitions including Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, Singer, Morris Cowley and Austin Saloon, Facebots (robots which use Facebook account information to conversate with friends), etc. The exhibitions provide visual instincts and insights to the audience, helping in development of the rigorous and innovative thinking.
Besides workshops, talks and exhibitions, the fest conducts blasting shows and performances as well. They mark the biggest centres of attraction for the audience. The festival, in some past years, witnessed concert by Piyush Mishra, DJ night by Willy William, stand up comedy Biswa Kalyan Rath, Drone Show, DJ night by Zephyrtone and DJ Morgan, concert by Sonu Nigam, Edge Ryderz (motorbike stunt show), informal session by TVF Pitchers team, breathtaking performance by Farhan Akhtar, Beltek and NDS & Blues, Finnish rock band, 3D projection mapping show, fireworks and laser shows, Sukhwinder Singh’s performance, concert by Kailash Kher, magic show by magician Nigel Mead, The Laser Man, Feeding the Fish, air show by Akash Ganga team of Indian Air Force and much more. The shows and performances truly exponentiate the fascination among the fest attendees.