Media Release
Mangaluru, Oct 1: Manipal school nominated 20 students of Grade X to participate in a Masterclass on Social Innovation and Crowdfunding organised by NextGenInnov8. The 2-day workshop was conducted by the Harvard Alumni and Industry experts, followed by a one-month live project. It included understanding social innovation responsibility and crowd funding activities, how it works and what are the important criteria to succeed in a crowd funding campaign, as well as platforms that they can use.
The school also partnered with NextGenInnov8 for a world record attempt and a social cause which aimed at assembling the maximum number of UVC Suraksha kit in a single day.
Nominated students also got the opportunity to work on live social responsibility crowd funding project for a Suraksha Box, a UVC light sterilization box that provides protection against viruses, bacteria, fungi including Covid-19, by sterilizing food and items of daily use. Inspired by a nature’s natural disinfectant: UV rays, it can be used to decontaminate and disinfect items like vegetables, groceries, wallets, currency, mobile phones, newspapers, parcels, letters, pens, watches, and so on, and can be used in households, offices, educational institutions, restaurants and other such areas.
The Suraksha Box has a Government of India (MC&I) patent published and is tested, approved and certified by CSIR-CMERI (ICMR Approved lab) of Govt of India. The Suraksha Box has been tested and certified to protect against coronavirus.
Individual live campaign was created for each student. He/She had to run the campaign for 30 days to raise the fund by applying the crowd funding skills learned during the course.
Keya Ashutosh Boloor and Tanvika Shivakumar both students of Grade 10 participated in the crowdfunding project which aimed at raising funds for the Suraksha Box.
This is what Keya Ashutosh Boloor says, “The pandemic has changed our lives in a myriad of ways. As we settle into the new normal, the most notable difference is how we keep ourselves and our personal effects safe by sanitizing and disinfecting. The Suraksha Box will ensure that the underprivileged in Maharashtra can disinfect their items and stay safe. This will reduce their risk of falling sick and thereby help reduce the spread of Covid-19. I loved the participating in the crowdfunding campaign. With this campaign I was able to do my bit for the underprivileged. While the campaign was interesting, it also feels great in contributing to the betterment of the society. I hope there are more such workshops ahead.”
“The short session added value into my thoughts on crowdfunding and social innovation. We were elaborated on how we can create Covid-19 awareness among people using the Suraksha box. We also learnt on a few advertising skills, need for crowdfunding and how to master the skill. Overall I enjoyed the session and learnt a lot of new things.” said Tanvika Shivakumar.