Techkriti
GenreTechnical, entrepreneurial
DatesMarch 14, 2024 (2024-03-14) - March 17, 2024 (2024-03-17)
VenueIndian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Location(s)Kanpur, India
Founded1995
Attendance200 colleges[1]
Patron(s)UNESCO, IEEE [citation needed]
Organised byIIT Kanpur students
Filing statusNon-profit student organisation
Websitewww.techkriti.org

Techkriti is an annual four-day inter-collegiate technical and entrepreneurship festival at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. The festival is usually held in March.[2] The 30th Edition of Techkriti is scheduled to be held from 14th to 17th March 2024. The festival began in 1995[2] to develop student technological innovation. The word Techkriti is derived from tech (technology) and the Sanskrit kriti (creation).

History

The first Techkriti was held in March 1995 and has since continued as the institute's annual technological and entrepreneurial festival.[3] Since then the fest has grown and is claimed to be Asia's largest technical and entrepreneurial fest.[4]

Techkriti events (2007–2023)
Event Dates Details
Techkriti '07 22 to 25 February 2007 included an air show[5] by the Indian Air Force's Akash Ganga skydiving team
Techkriti '08[6] 14 to 17 February 2008 hosted over 150 colleges and included keynote presentations by Peter Grünberg, Kevin Warwick and Harsh Manglik.
Techkriti '09[7] 12 to 15 February 2009 included talks by Stephen Wolfram, David Morrison, G. Madhavan Nair and Ron Eglash.
Techkriti '10[8] 11 to 14 February 2010 observed IIT Kanpur's golden jubilee and included Nikolaos Mavridis (developer of the world's first Arabic-speaking humanoid robot
Techkriti '11 17 to 20 February 2011 hosted over 1,500 students who participated in 27 events. Competitions included unmanned aerial vehicles, cruise control, a robot talent show, robogames[9] and a simulation video game on the Great Wall of China. Speakers and guests included Russian mathematician Vladimir Voevodsky, astronaut Bruce E. Melnick, Millau Viaduct designer Michael Gratzel, voting-system designer David Bismark, Hellion Ventures managing director Ashish Gupta and Royal Orchid Hotels founder Chander Baljee.[10]
Techkriti '12[11] 27 to 30 January 2012[12] had a theme of "Technology for the Future". The opening ceremony's guest of honour was GNU founder Richard Stallman. Deborah Berebichez, Vic Hayes, and Deepak Mohanty were other guest speakers.[13] The final day included a performance by playback singer Kailash Kher.[14]
Techkriti '13 14 to 17 March 2013 had a theme of "Fixing the Planet" for the festival's 18th edition.[15]
Techkriti '14[16][failed verification] 6 to 9 March 2014 had a theme of "Virtually Progressive World".
Techkriti '15[17] 19 to 22 March 2015 It had the theme "Blueprint to a smarter world".Under the umbrella of UNESCO, in association with Classmate, Juniper Networks, Vh1, and Myntra amongst others, it included newer initiatives like Start-up Weekend, and Robo-games like Robo Pirates (Aqua-robogames), Multirotor (Quadrocopter), Richie Rich (Portfolio Optimization), Marketing Villa, Bridge Design Challenge and many others.
Techkriti '16 3 to 6 March 2016 had a theme of "Beyond Our Planet"
Techkriti '17 23 to 26 March 2017 It had the theme of "Factualising Fictions". It included talks by Geoffrey Beattie, Sumit Chowdhury,Vijay Prasad Dimri, Devika Sirohi, Arsh Shah Dilbagi,Ian Angell and others.
Techkriti '18 15 to 18 March 2018 It had the theme of "Prism of Possibilities". The guest speakers included Simon Taufel, Karnal Singh, Dr. Mohsin Wali, Jon Bowermaster among others. The final day included the participants grooving to the melodies of Bollywood’s favorite, Sonu Nigam.
Techkriti '19 7 to 10 March 2019 It had a theme of "Forging The Matrix".A colossal affair of technology and science, it hosted academic giants like Kannan Ramamurthy, Meenakshi Lekhi, Satyarup Siddhanta, Archna Sharma, and others. The Chief guest for the fest was Mr. Dinesh Sharma, the Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. It also hosted unprecedented workshops on niche topics like Building Architecture & fun events like Paintball, CS-GO, Bike stunt shows. The cultural extravaganza had shows by Zakir Khan, Benny Dayal and Nucleya.
Techkriti '20 19 to 22 March 2020 It had the theme of “Cybernetic Utopia”. The first online edition of Techkriti. It hosted workshops on stocks, data science, python programming, machine learning & robotics. Pandering to the gamers, it also held PUBG Tournaments, a solution for games amidst Covid restrictions.
Techkriti '21 12 to 14 March 2021 It had a theme of “Realm of Virtuality”. This year Techkriti was conducted in a fully online mode, because of Covid’19 constraints. The talks and sessions were delivered by prodigies like Praveen Thipsay, Dr. John C Mather, Pete Micheals, Dr.Bikash Sinha, Dr. Rajendra Singh amongst others. It also had virtual comedy nights by artists like Nishant Suri, Vipul Goyal & Kanan Goyal.The final day included a grand virtual concert by the playback singer KK.
Techkriti '22 24 to 27 March 2022 It had a theme of “Transcending Origins”. It had been touted to be the “legacy restorer” as it was a hybrid fest, recovering from the repercussions of Covid’19. Rajat Sharma, Bjarne Stroustrup, J N Goswami & Dr. Lyn Evans were a few of the other speakers present at the event. The festival was concluded with a concert by the singing maestro, Shaan.
Techkriti '23 23 to 26 March 2023 It had a theme of “Enigmatic Tessellations”. IIT Kanpur’s Techkriti'23, Asia's one of the largest annual technical and entrepreneurial festivals, kicked off with its 29th edition on March 23, 2023. The inaugural ceremony was graced by the presence of Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Director IIT Kanpur; Prof. Arnab Bhattacharya (Associate Dean, Students Affairs), and Prof. Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, the FAC (Festival Advisory Committee) Chairman.

Organisation

Techkriti is an entirely student organized festival.[citation needed] The structure of the organising team is four-tiered. Leading the team were the Festival Coordinators along with a team of Heads, each with an allotted portfolio. Administrative portfolios include marketing, media and publicity, finance, security, hospitality and show management. Event-related portfolios include public relations, web and design. Each Head has his own team of coordinators and executives.[citation needed]

Techkriti-19 came under extensive scrutiny due to financial mismanagement by the student team and the then finance head.[18] The festival had to be bailed out using funds from the students gymkhana, collected as a part of the fee from current students. These financial malpractices led to an overhaul of the festival team, which was then overseen by a festival advisory committee chaired by a faculty counsellor.

Workshops and talks

A group of men
The 2017 Techkriti

Students and academia at the festival can attend talks by professionals in various fields from India and abroad. Speakers at Techkriti have included aerospace scientist and former Indian president A. P. J. Abdul Kalam,[19] Free Software Foundation founder Richard Stallman and Rakesh Sharma, the only Indian to date to travel in space. Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai was the guest of honour at the 2016 festival, which was scheduled to end with a musical evening.[20]

References

  1. ^ "Techkriti | IIT Kanpur". Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Techkriti 99: Celebrating Technology". Archived from the original on 28 June 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  3. ^ "Times of India - Techkriti". The Times of India. 15 February 2011. Archived from the original on 24 February 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  4. ^ Hindustan Times (29 March 2022). "Techkriti'22: IIT Kanpur's annual fest explores new horizons in tech".
  5. ^ "IPCS | Institute Of Peace & Conflict Studies" (PDF). www.ipcs.org.
  6. ^ ""Techkriti 2008" at IIT Kanpur". Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  7. ^ "The Opera Blog - News | Opera". Opera News.
  8. ^ "Techkriti 2010, IIT Kanpur, Technical Festival, February 11-14 2010 : Campus Fests , College Fest , February 2010 , Fests in IITs , IIT Kanpur , IITs , Paper Presentations in India , Techkriti 2010 , Technical Fests , Uttar Pradesh : Know a Fest - Campus Festivals in India". Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  9. ^ "Robogames - Techkriti". Techkriti. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  10. ^ "Techkriti 2011 begins". The Times of India. 15 February 2011. Archived from the original on 24 February 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  11. ^ "Techkriti - Technical and Entrepreneurial Festival of IIT Kanpur - CoolAge". Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  12. ^ "IIT-K 'Techkriti' to begin from Jan 27". The Times of India. 17 January 2012. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013.
  13. ^ "Techkriti Talks". Archived from the original on 26 November 2004.
  14. ^ "'Techkriti' ends on mesmerizing note". The Times Of India. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  15. ^ "IIT Kanpur hosts Techkriti 2013". Dainik Bhaskar. 16 March 2013. Archived from the original on 27 December 2016.
  16. ^ "Techkriti '20". Techkriti'20 | IIT Kanpur.
  17. ^ "IIT-K ready to welcome budding techies at Techkriti' 15 | Kanpur News - Times of India". The Times of India.
  18. ^ "6th (Special) Meeting of the Students' Senate (2019-20): Minutes". Google Docs. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  19. ^ "Techkriti, IIT KANPUR". Twenty19.
  20. ^ "Ex-president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai to grace Techkriti at IIT Kanpur - Times of India". The Times of India. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2020.

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