Techfest 2010 is the 13th edition of IIT Bombay's annual international science and technology festival. Since its inception in 1998, Techfest has been providing budding engineers across the country a platform to showcase their talent. Within 12 years of its existence, Techfest attracted over 60,000 footfalls in 2009 and expanded to conduct international competitions in countries like Denmark, Dubai and Sri Lanka.
Theme
This year, Techfest is envisioned to be the biggest confluence of the academia, the industry and the students. Revolving around the theme of futuristic technology, Techfest 2010 aims at fostering student-academia-industry interaction and promoting the utilization of technology for the betterment of the society.
The event will be complete with a host of competitions ranging from hard-core robotics to logic and from design to applying simple mechanical skills, lecture series by the biggies in technology from all over the globe, exhibits of cutting edge technology for the first time in India, workshops opening new vistas for the participants and magnificent night shows. The events are all planned to highlight the tagline of Techfest 2010 -- Unleash the Future!
List of speakers include Dr Lyn Evans, project head of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Vic Hayes, Gerhard Knies, founder of the Desertec Project for utilization of solar energy from deserts, Lars Rasmussen, developer of the Google Wave and the Google Maps, R Chidambaram, principal scientific advisor to the government of India, Jonathan Gardner, chief of the Observational Cosmology Laboratory and the deputy senior project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope, Ajay Bhatt, inventor of the USB and AGP, Dr Danielle Kraft, professor at Stanford School of Medicine and founder and a past CEO of StemCor Systems, John Seed, Australian environmentalist and director, Rainforest Information Center, Evan Grant, creative technologist from UK, Peter Stevens, British car designer, Dr Alessandra Carbone, head of the Analytical-Genomics Team and Laboratory Genomics of Microorganisms, CNRS-UPMC, Dr Tom Terwilliger, structural genomics team leader, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Dr Daniel Thalmann, director of the virtual reality lab at EPFL.
Details of TechConnect
TechConnect is the effort of Techfest 2009-10, in collaboration with Industrial Research and Consultancy Centre (IRCC), IIT Bombay to connect the researchers at IIT Bombay with the industries of the country to facilitate technology transfer and thus influence large scale implementation of research. TechConnect will be held during Techfest, and will play host to corporates from a multitude of industries invited to know about and absorb the research work of the faculty of IIT Bombay. The programme will comprise of an exhibition of the research projects of the IIT Bombay faculty and of talks and mini-conferences by the Professors and industrialists about the development of R & D in India and the role of educational institutes like IIT Bombay in it.
The exhibitions will be held on all 3 days, and will be open to students and visitors on January 22 and 23. The talks will take place on January 24, when the exhibition will be open to invited guests only.
Details of night shows
Some of the attractions in the shows section are:
Activ8-3D holographic display: For the first time in India, a mesmerizing display of the 3D holograms, whose shape and orientation can be controlled by movements of one' hands. This will be the first show on the 1st Night (January 22) of Techfest 2010.
M.A.D. Mountain bike stunt performance: Performing for the first time in India, is Europe's most requested team of stunt bikers on the first night of Techfest-at-Dark. There will be loads of crowd interaction in the 20 min show by the daredevil bikers.
Nexus Europe: A show of artistic magnificence by acrobats and extreme martial artists coming from Europe.
Tony Chapek: Show by one of the renowned magicians and entertainers of the US, for the first time in India.
Sand animation: A rare art, to be showcased at Techfest 2010, with stunning artists coming all the way from Russia.
Pali-tchi: A pyrotechnic and fire show by the dynamic fire troupe from Czech Republic.
For more details, visit www.techfest.org/about-us.php or www.techfest.org.
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