Pragyan is the ISO certified student-run techno-managerial organization of National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (NITT), that conducts an annual techno-managerial festival in the month of February or March. Boasting a participation of 10,000 last year, Pragyan attracts participants from a number of colleges across the country, making Pragyan one of the largest techno-managerial fests in India. The 14th edition of Pragyan, will be held from 1st to 4th March 2018, and the theme for this edition is ‘The Next Dimension’, acknowledging our ascent into a smarter and more connected future.
True to its motto – ‘Let’s Celebrate Technology’, this four-day techfest allows the public a glimpse into some fascinating technologies through exhibitions, workshops, events, guest lectures, and much more. Bringing down some of the most famous names from around the world, Pragyan’s Guest Lecture series strives to let these bright minds inspire the student population through brilliant lectures and debates. Dignitaries who have visited Pragyan in the past are Ada Yonath – the Israeli Nobel Prize Winner, Richard A. Muller – American physicist and professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Peter C. Schultz – co-inventor of the fiber optics, among many others.
In Pragyan 2018, Casey Handmer, Levitation Engineer at Hyperloop One, shall be joined by Kevin Grazier, Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Robert Metcalfe, Meher Pudumjee, Steven Gal and Ajay Bhatt to comprise a stunning lineup of the Guest Lecture series. Also in store are performances by Silhouette squad – a Shadow Dance Crew, Shawn Chua – ventriloquist and magician, Shivraj Morzaria – a Cardist, Shao Michael Szalucho – a manipulator and Suhani Shah, a hypnotist, are all in store. Pragyan’s Exhibitions aim to bring together a broad spectrum of mind-boggling exhibits in the world centered around science and technology. The events in Pragyan have been divided into 9 clusters this year – Code It, Creatrix, Concreate, Core Engineering, Grey Cells, Impact, IoT, Manigma and Robovigyan, with prizes worth 1.2 Million INR up for grabs. The events thus cover a wide range of domains and problem statements, proving to have something for everyone. Pragyan also provides a platform for students to showcase their technical talent through its two exhibition contests Sangam (an intra-NITT technical contest) and Ingenium (an intercollegiate technical contest exclusively for students from colleges other than NITT). Every year, Pragyan conducts a series of Workshops to impart hands-on experience and knowledge to its participants. Notably, these workshops have helped participants hone their skills and abilities, and boast of associations that include National Instruments, IBM, CISCO, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, and much more.
The mouthpiece of Pragyan – the official Pragyan Blog, continued to increase its reach by leaps and bounds in the domain of Science and Technology. By 14th August, 2017, it had become the top writer in the categories of Space and Science. The blog also continues to release the SciTech Bulletin, its fortnightly edition of science and technology related news in bite-sized digests on Medium. Pragyan ’18 conducted a plethora of outreach events and social responsibility activities throughout the year. For example, On World Environment Day (6th June, 2017), Uyaram – an eco-awareness initiative by Pragyan was conducted in the city of Tiruchirappalli. The event saw the distribution of 10,000 seed packets, flyers and saplings, in collaboration with The New Indian Express, Ugaoo and Indian Oil Express.
This year, in association with the Department of Education, Tamil Nadu, Dhisai benefited 9th and 10th graders from over 8000 schools around five districts in TN. Students were enlightened about the strategies and tips to prepare for the exam. A tour around the campus of NIT Trichy was scheduled for them, covering various prominent academic places such as the Departments of Physics and Chemistry, the Library etc. Celebrating the phenomenon that the internet is today, Pragyan flagged off the ‘Week of the Web’, its newest initiative, on International Internet Day, 29 October 2017. WoW also served to educate the people on the various aspects of online safety and security through quizzes, games, hackathon and various other online initiatives. The fourth edition of Pragyan Hackathon, presented by SAP Labs and SAP Internship Experience, and co-sponsored by SPI Cinemas and SPI Externship, took place on 16th & 17th December 2017 at SAP Labs India, Whitefield, Bangalore. With cash prizes and goodies worth INR 2,00,000 the event saw massive participation from budding developers and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Conceptualised in 2016, the Pragyan Youth Summit, an annual forum of active discussion and debate, has seen massive footfalls over the years. This year, it was held on 20th January 2018 at The Westin, Chennai. Hosting the brightest minds in the industry, PYS 2018 featured a Panel Discussion, the maiden edition of PYS Youth Talks, a Keynote speech, a smart city development workshop and a unique Pitchfest. Centering around the theme, ‘Mission Smart Cities’, the Summit aimed to discuss the role of emerging technologies such as Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence in the evolution of smart cities. The keynote address was delivered by Mr.Bipin Pradeep Kumar, co-founder and Director at Gaia Smart Cities. Mr Siddharth Hande, Founder and CEO of Kabadiwalla Connect, delivered the youth talk. Pragyan has always helped bring technology closer to the masses. The stage is all set for Pragyan 2018 to scale new heights and achieve its ambition of being bigger and better.
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