Emphasis grows on aligning innovation with social needs as GYTI convenes scientists policymakers and young innovators.
India’s innovation ecosystem must move faster from laboratories to real world impact, and that transition must be rooted in values rather than valuations. This was the central message at the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Awards 2025, organised by SRISTI and the Honey Bee Network, where scientists, policymakers and innovators converged to underline the role of socially grounded science in national transformation.
Instituted by the Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions along with the Honey Bee Network, the awards recognise young student innovators across technology, engineering, agriculture, design, pharmacy, science and applied technologies. Alongside the main awards, fifteen appreciation awards were also presented to honour exceptional work. The awards are structured around three categories, the More from Less for Many frugal innovation category, the Socially Relevant Technological Innovation category, and the Technological Edge category, reflecting a Gandhian philosophy of inclusive, sustainable and high impact innovation.
Addressing the gathering, Professor Anil K Gupta, founder of the Honey Bee Network, highlighted what he described as a major opportunity to reimagine how research reaches the ground. He called for India’s network of Krishi Vigyan Kendras to be used as on farm testing sites for technologies emerging from IITs, CSIR, ICMR and other leading laboratories.
“If KVKs can become on farm sites for testing of these technologies that IITs and CSIR and ICMR and other labs are developing, it is a huge opportunity,” Professor Gupta said. “They cannot have systems in all the districts, but you have KVKs in every district. Why should every lab develop its own on-farm trial system?”
Calling the moment fortuitous, he pointed to growing interest from CSIR leadership and ICAR’s extension wing, saying the linkage between institutions and grassroots networks could form organically. Emphasising interdisciplinary collaboration, he added, “The next breakthroughs in science will come when people from different disciplines and domains work together. Link your solutions with unmet social needs so that societal transformation can take place.”
That emphasis on values-driven innovation was echoed by Dr Raghunath Mashelkar, who described the awards as a celebration of science that is both rigorous and humane. “These are not inventions searching for markets,” he said. “They are not created by young people chasing valuations. They are chasing values. They want to bring smiles on the faces of billions.”
Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Mashelkar reminded the audience that innovation matters only when it improves the lives of the weakest. He highlighted award winning solutions ranging from electricity free sterilisation systems and early neurological diagnostics to privacy preserving women’s health screening and technologies restoring dignity to people with paralysis. “Inclusive innovation is not charity,” he said. “It is high science, high engineering and high ambition. Constraints are not obstacles.”
Professor P V M Rao underlined the uniqueness of the awards in recognising innovation across the full spectrum, from applied solutions to deep science driven breakthroughs. “This may be the only award that recognises all three quadrants of innovation,” he said, referring to problem driven innovation, research led translation and grand challenge driven science.
Sharing examples from past awardees, Professor Rao spoke of a panipuri vending machine developed by a student that is now widely used across the North East, a medical simulation platform exported to the US, UK and Israel, and an orthopedic cast now sold in more than fifty countries. “For all of them, this award was their first recognition,” he said. “That first confidence matters. You get a ten times thrill when you see your product in the hands of real users.”
He also highlighted the often unseen role of CSIR NPL as India’s National Metrology Institute. “We are the providers of Indian Standard Time,” he said, noting that India’s atomic clocks contribute more than five percent to international atomic time. From calibrating biomedical devices and environmental monitoring equipment to developing quantum sensors, reference materials and recycling technologies, NPL supports thousands of industries every year. “Quality is non-negotiable,” he said. “Someone has to test, calibrate and certify.”
Principal Scientific Adviser Ajay Kumar Sood urged innovators to measure their work against Dr Mashelkar’s Assured framework, which evaluates affordability, scalability, sustainability, universality, rapidity, excellence and distinctiveness. “If your innovation scores there, it will make a real difference,” he said.
Dr Sood also spoke about national efforts to take technology to villages through initiatives such as RuTag and the Rural Smart Village Centres, which have expanded rapidly across states. “Innovation is the oxygen of progress,” he said. “It is the bridge between aspiration and achievement.”
As the ceremony concluded, the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Awards 2025 reaffirmed a clear message. India’s future will be shaped not only by cutting edge science, but by how effectively and compassionately that science reaches the last mile.
