Kartik Vipin Savla, created an environmentally friendly solution by replacing aromatic oils with vegetable oils in rubber products is the winner of Darwin, the three-day event by Somaiya Vidyabihar’ Bioriidl.

Mumbai: -Darwin, the three day event organized by Bioriidl saw bio-experts and enthusiasts share their knowledge & present solutions to the existing world problems using science, imagination and innovation. More than 130 biohackers participated in the competition. Kartik Vipin Savla, the winner of the competition for innovation, created a replacement of aromatic oils with vegetable oils in rubber products, thereby reducing the ill-effects that it was contributing to the environment.

Kartik said “Darwin by Somaiya Vidyavihar, helped me bring my ideas to life. It has been a driving force for my research work that gave the platform to present my ideas and showcase my research work at an international level. At Darwin, I got to learn many biological concepts and technological developments that I was not aware of. It was a good competition with a variety of ideas from my co-participants. The bio-conference on such a scale was a great initiative, and it proved to be one of its kinds. Nature has many things to give us; the need is to explore it and preserve it.”

Renowned global speakers conducted workshops aimed at enhancing science literacy among non-science majors. Workshops included creating Bio-materials (Bio-Polymers, Bio-Plastics, Bio-Leather), DNA Extraction, Bio Brick and growing algae.

Joe Davis, a Research Affiliate in the Department of Biology at MIT and an Artist Scientist in the George Church Laboratory at Harvard Medical School, said "There haven’t been any events like this that have taken place before as Darwin and the events like this are significantly important in India. The dedication and devotion of the participants towards their projects has been immense. The placement of the Do-It-Yourself bioresearch lab in Somaiya Vidyavihar’s campus adds on to the achievement in the field of science. Scientific literacy is essential; regardless of any field. Events like Darwin, aid in understanding the reason we practice science. It further helps in refining the prominence of the problems that have been neglected and that which require the need of being addressed.” 

Eric Zepka, co-founder of Vancouver-based community lab The Open Science Network said "During my visit to India, I have learnt a lot of Indian culture. The skillset and eagerness level of the minds here is very high. The projects exhibited during Darwin biologically addressed solutions to critical real-time situations. This highlighted the excitement amongst the participants in order to revivify science. To never stop experimenting is the key to scientific success here. There's no real barrier between you and your scientific goals, but it is the willingness to commit. Somaiya Vidyavihar is a rich campus with a dynamic and innovation-friendly community." 

 About Bio-Riidl:

Bio-riidl is India’s first community a Do-It-Yourself Biology Lab as well as a Bioincubator set up by Somaiya Vidyavihar’s riidl in 2015, to nurture technology and knowledge-based enterprises in the areas of biotechnology majorly focusing on Biopharma, Agrobiotech, Industrial biotech, Clean technology and many other domains.

 About riidl (Research Innovation Incubation Design Laboratory):

Research Innovation Incubation Design Laboratory (riidl) was set up in the year 2010 by Somaiya Vidyavihar on its Mumbai campus. It was created to drive innovation & entrepreneurship and currently facilitates 39,000 students and 1500 faculty in the campus. In, 2014 riidl was affiliated to the Centre for Bits and Atoms (MIT USA) as a Fablab (now a Fablab Node in India) and in 2016 with support from Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, riidl became a Technology Business Incubator. The incubator operates through an autonomous not-for-profit entity model. riidl is sector agnostic and comprises of Somaiya Vidyavihar faculty, alumni and partners with like-minded organisations to promote innovations in various areas and supports different startups as per their requirement. riidl also helps in setting up labs & innovation centres at other places. The incubator helps entrepreneurs to convert their ideas into becoming successful and profitable ventures by supporting them in business planning, mentoring, recruiting their top team, commercialising their technologies, developing their products, getting early engagement and customer validations from the market, getting early stage seed funding, help in forging partnership at the national and global level, advice on intellectual property, training and development and many other things.

About Somaiya Vidyavihar: (https://www.somaiya.edu)

Padmabhushan Karamshi Jethabhai Somaiya founded Somaiya Vidyavihar an education trust in 1959, to provide quality holistic education. It was founded on the belief that, education is an important pillar of nation building with the power to change lives, and education must innovate to encourage holistic development of youth. It is known as much for its Science, Technology, Engineering, Management, Social Sciences and Commerce programs, as for its programs for academic studies in various faiths and cultures of India.

Somaiya Vidyavihar fosters a start-up ecosystem that encourages multi-disciplinary collaboration, accelerates innovation, and cultivates the next generation of start-up leaders. 

Somaiya Vidyavihar encompasses 34 institutions, with more than 39,000 students and 1,500 faculty. It’s main campus is in Mumbai, but Somaiya Vidyavihar also operates six schools in rural India i.e. in Dahanu, Sakarwadi, Laxmiwadi, Kopargaon, Sameerwadi, Kutch, Bagalkot and Bhopal.