To help students develop the thinking skills, the Initiative for Research and Innovation in Science (IRIS) organises the largest science fair in India every year. IRIS is a partnership between the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Confederation of Indian industry CII and Intel.

 

Rahul Bedi, director, corporate affairs, Intel SA said, “IRIS has encouraged middle and high school level students to conduct research projects to conduct research projects for the past four years.” This year IRIS judges from TIFR, IISc and Cancer Research Institute have chosen eight students to represent India. These winners will participate at the largest pre-college science fair in the world-the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) on May 10 in Reno, US, alongwith 1,500 young scientists from more than 50 countries. They will compete for more than USD 4 million in scholarships and prizes. “We studied the effect of the extracts of common household ingredients like ginger, guava and nirvorum to prepare an insecticide for cockroaches. Our experiments helped us develop an eco-friendly alternative over chemicals,” said Rithika Sangameshwara, student Modern English School, Chembur. “In the future we plan on gathering funding to take our product up as a small scale industry,” said team-matte, Divya Kothari.

 

Bedi informed that Intel would provide support through mentoring and internships of the students and through the partners and also asses the possibility of IPR and patenting for their ideas.