Ahmedabad: Anant National University, today inaugurated the Tinkering Lab, a workspace for students to learn, experiment and develop their ideas into prototypes. The Tinkering Lab is a part of Aarambh, the recently established incubation centre of the university. The lab was inaugurated by M. Nagarajan, IAS, Commissioner Higher Education, the Government of Gujarat. The event was also attended by special guest Hiranmay Mahanta, CEO, i-Hub.
Along with the Makerspace – a multidisciplinary workshop and specialised studios, the Tinkering Lab aims to nurture innovation and build a problem-solving mindset among the students. The Lab comprises equipment like Laser cutting machines, 3D Printers, Zigsaw, Arduino kits, soldering station and much more. Tinkering Lab is intended to be a fully functional student-run Lab set-up in the Student Housing facility, thus allowing access to work around the clock at their convenience.
Along with the inauguration, 27 student teams were felicitated who have received Proof of Concept or Prototype support for their innovative projects from Aarambh. These ideas were the selected entries from ‘The IDEA CONTEST’, launched by Aarambh in collaboration with Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP), Government of Gujarat. These ideas are offering innovative and sustainable solutions in diverse sectors such as health, education, waste management, sustainable fabric, urban farming, educational toys and games, among others.
Speaking on the launch of the Lab, Dr Anunaya Chaubhey, Provost, Anant National University said, “Experiential learning is an integral part of the governing pedagogy at Anant National University. Tinkering Lab will be a space for students, fellows and incubatees to give shape to their ideas. Along with entrepreneurial thinking, this lab will also help students learn collaboration, thereby they adopt a holistic approach to build sustainable solutions”.
M Nagarajan said, “The changing times and landscape has seen a change in kind of opportunities. Today, everything starts with an idea. It is first conceived in the tinker’s mind, conceptualised on the ground level, experimented in a confined setup and then rolled out in the real world. Ideas have become a building unit of society, and the tinkering lab will be instrumental in giving such ideas a concrete shape and contribute meaningfully”.
Aarambh incubation centre aims to become the preferred destination for the students and budding entrepreneurs to use Design Thinking in creating sustainable solutions. Aarambh promotes entrepreneurship culture by offering various platforms to budding entrepreneurs, facilitating mentorship from recognised entrepreneurs, interactions with investors, government and non-government agencies. In future, the incubation centre plans to develop co-working spaces, conduct capacity building programmes, industrial visits, ideation workshops and organise a national-level Idea Contest.