My experience at the Avery Dennison InvEnt Program, 2018-19
Table of Contents
About
The Avery Dennison Foundation Spirit of Invention Scholarship Award is an initiative by the Avery Dennison Foundation and IIE (Institute of International Education).
My Idea
While I was contemplating how to contribute to the competition, I traveled to the state of Karnataka in March. In the middle of summer, it was a terrible time period to be out and about (yes, I got sunburnt). On this journey, my family and I continually exhausted our drinking water resources and were left looking for more supply on long stretches of barren highways.
Personally experiencing the unavailability of drinking water inspired me to take up this problem for the InvEnt competition. I came up with the idea of a ‘Portable Solar-powered Water Purification Unit’: a lightweight piece of equipment that can be carried like a backpack by travelers. The unit can be used by people on the move to purify contaminated water.
I developed the idea in a more refined manner under the guidance of Dr. Malini Bapat, one of my Chemistry professors at college. After one round of essay-based selections, I traveled to New Delhi to attend an interview. Shortly after the interview, I received the winner notification.
AD InvEnt Main Event
InvEnt 2018
The Avery Dennison Foundation Spirit of Invention Scholarship provides a unique opportunity to the recipients of the award to gather together and attend several in-person workshops and events in New Delhi.
The event kicked off with a very exciting visit to the Avery Dennison plant in Gurgaon.
As part of Day 1 of the 2018-19 event, we, the 2018 scholars and alumni from the 2017 batch, also attended workshops on Strategies for Influencing Others by Ms. Akanksha Takyar and Networking by Ms. Talar Shahinian.
As part of the Day 2 events, we were hosted for the Recognition Event.
I was humbled to receive the opportunity to represent AD InvEnt 2018-19 scholars on the Trailblazers of Spirit of Invention panel discussion. This was hosted during the Recognition event. I was accompanied by scholars from the past 4 years. We talked about our ideas, our current progress with the idea and how we plan on taking it forward.
The AD InvEnt event was my first experience in collaboration with students from colleges across India, industry leaders and other distinguished personalities. Being a part of this one-of-a-kind opportunity in my Sophomore year really helped open mental doors and windows for me–I learnt that there is no limit to innovation. Sharing this platform with such bright young minds was inspiring and it taught me the worth of making the most out of every opportunity that comes my way.
InvEnt 2019
A year later, I received the opportunity to participate in the AD InvEnt events as an alumna of the program. This time the spotlight was on InvEnt 2019 scholars. Four of my juniors from college were selected as winners and it was great to hear about their innovative ideas spanning a wide range of societal applications–from making education accessible for blind people to promoting healthy diets for all.
Here’s the entire Avery Dennison and IIE family, a group of people I owe so much of my learning to.
InvEnt 2021
Post graduation, I also attended the Recognition Event for the 2021 scholars, in the presence of scholars from the past 10 years. I was excited to receive the opportunity to be one of two Alumni Keynote Speakers for the virtual event that was held in August 2021.
Here is a glimpse of the event.
