Mumbai, December 2017: Somaiya riidl presents Maker Mela 2018, the third year of its annual three-day showcase of innovation, creativity and technology. The one of its kind initiative Maker Mela invited applications from innovators across India out of which 100 have been selected to present their ideas.
For three days, beginning January 11, 2018, Make Mela will provide a platform for innovators, entrepreneurs and makers to showcase their ideas, share knowledge and demonstrate their capabilities to visitors from India and abroad.
Maker Mela the celebration of arts, crafts, engineering, science, the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset, and the Maker Movement has had a phenomenal response in the previous years.  With 100 Makers, from across all fields coming together, sharing a diverse range of raw, unique and unconventional ideas, Maker Mela 2018 is the place to be from January 11 to January 13, 2018.
Added to the rich menu of exhibitions from makers, talks from eminent personalities, demonstrations and performances are among the most sought-after favourites at the Maker Mela each year. Renowned speakers this year include, Devendra Fadnavis, Honourable Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Prakash Javadekar, Honourable Union Minister of Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ms. Ada Yonath, Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry, Ms. Paula Mariwala, Founder & Co-President at Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs India, Master. Tanmay Bakshi, Child prodigy and the youngest IBM Watson Developer, Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant, India’s most eminent classical dancer and choreographer, Mr, Ravi Grover, Vice-Chancellor of the Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mr.Sanket Modi, Scholar CEO & Cofounder of  LucideusInc, a cyber-security platform and service company, and Mr.Akash Manoj, Inventor of a silent heart attack prediction device.
At Maker Mela, selected start- ups will have an opportunity to pitch their ideas to investors and corporate which include Mr. Manish Advani, TEDx Speaker, Award Winning Story Teller and Song Writer, and Head of Marketing & Public Relations at Mahindra SSG, Mr.Vikash Mittersen, CMD of Nazara Technologies / President of India Business Group / Author of YOU CEO / TEDx Speaker, Dr. Apoorv Sharma, Angel Investor, Cofounder & President at Venture Catalysts and Charter Member at TiE, Mr.Prakash Patel, CMD, Bhumi World Industrial Park, Mr. Sanjay Mehta,  Angel & PE Investor Director Core Media, Investor in Cryptocurrencies and many more. 
An initiative of Somaiya riidl and Somaiya Vidyavihar, Maker Mela is supported by Department of Science and Technology and Start-Up India.  It has received patronage from UNESCO, Startupindia, Skill India and NYCS. 
Says Gaurang Shetty, CEO & Chief Innovation Catalyst, “We are amazed away by both the volume and calibre of entries we received this year. India’s robust entrepreneurial and creative spirit is reflected in the ingenious, innovative “Makers” of all ages who will be part of this year’s showcase.”
Somaiya riidl’s mission is to inform, connect and inspire Makers and aspiring Makers to share their accomplishments with audiences from across the country. 
This year’s makers participating are from the age of ten years to seventy years; backgrounds are ranging from tech enthusiasts to crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, artists, science clubs, students, authors, homesteaders, garage tinkerers and even commercial exhibitors. 
The event will take place at the Somaiya Vidyavihar campus at Vidyavihar, Mumbai 
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About Somaiya riidl ( https://www.riidl.org/ )
Somaiya Vidyavihar fosters a start-up ecosystem that encourages multi-disciplinary collaboration, accelerates innovation, and cultivates the next generation of start-up leaders. 
Somaiya riidl (Research Innovation Incubation Design Laboratory) is an initiative by Somaiya Vidyavihar to nurture entrepreneurship and innovation amongst its’ Students, Faculty, Staff & Alumni. Somaiya riidl supports the creation and incubation of early-stage companies by offering educational programming, space and infrastructure, events, industry-specific resources, intellectual property protection, access to business support services, go-to-market strategies, early-seed capital and mentorship.
With its interdisciplinary approach, Somaiya riidl engages the vast pool of Somaiya Vidyavihar’s faculty, students, alumni and external networks to provide the education, experiences, and resources that students need to become innovators and empowering them to change the world around them.

Somaiya riidl serves over 39,000 students and 1,500 plus faculty across Somaiya Vidyavihar’s 34 institutions in Mumbai and rural areas of Karnataka and Maharashtra. External start-ups must have faculty, alumni, students, or staff from Somaiya Vidyavihar on the founding team. Somaiya riidl encourages cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Registered as a not-for-profit Section 8 Company, Somaiya riidl has over 10,000 square-foot facility in the heart of the Somaiya Vidyavihar’s Mumbai campus where aspiring entrepreneurs from across all of Somaiya Vidyavihar’s schools and colleges—be they students, faculty, or researchers—can meet to connect, collaborate, and tap into a vast array resources to help develop their ideas and inventions into start-up companies.

Further, to enable access to knowledge, experience, and funding for the start-ups, Somaiya riidl has forged academic collaborations, industry-driven alliances, and participated in government entrepreneurship programs. 

Somaiya riidl has set up:

•    A Technology Business Incubator,
o    Nurtures technology and knowledge-based ventures in the areas of  (Social, Mobility, Analytics & Cloud) and Electronic Embedded Systems, Healthcare, Agritech and IoT. Through their incubation phase to a stage where they can scale-up their ventures further.
o    Is supported by National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science & Technology, GOI. 

•    A Digital Fabrication Laboratory 
o    An open and collaborative workshop space for computer-driven innovation, design and fabrication
o  Has partnered with FabLab, an initiative of Centre for Bits and Atoms, MIT USA. 
o    Is part of a global network of FabLabs and is recognised as a Fablab Node, India 
•    India’s First Do It Yourself Biolab

Somaiya Vidyavihar an education trust was founded on the belief that, education is an important pillar of nation building with the power to change lives, and education must innovate to encourage holistic development of youth. It is known as much for its Science, Technology, Engineering, Management, Social Sciences and Commerce programs, as for its programs for academic studies in various faiths and cultures of India.

Awards won:

•    International Design Innovation Award 2014, Barcelona (Commendation Award) -FABLAB, MIT Centre for Bits and Atoms, USA
•     Entrepreneurship Week Debut Award, 2014
•    Small Ideas for Brighter Mumbai Award - Godrej Industries
•    CAMTECHJugaadathon - Runner-Up, National Level - (Free incubation for three years + cash prize)
•    Innovation Jockey, powered by Accenture and Yahoo - Jury Award
•    Somaiya riidl’s projects won the Best Research project & Process Innovation Award by Somaiya Trust (Presented by Reserve Bank of India Governor, Dr.Raghuram Rajan)
•    Mr Gaurang Shetty was awarded Young Achiever Award for creating an ecosystem of Innovation in Mumbai, 2014 - World Education Magazine.
•   Change Maker Recognition at IIT B tech fest 2015, by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
•    Global Innovation Entrepreneurship Award –ISKCON
•    CES - Consumer Electronics Show Award, Las Vegas for our start-up product “Square off” 2017

Patents filed in 2015-17 & commercializing products:

•    2 Copyrights
•    20+ Patents filed
•    10 Patents Published
•    World’s most advanced chess board
•    Sterifast - Dental kit
•    Pollution mapping on Google maps
•    Bio Degumming of silk
•    Musical Staircase
•    Hybrid Bike
•    Radiator grill
•    Holographic projector
•    Non-invasive vitamin detection
•    Augmented Reality Mobile App 

About Somaiya Vidyavihar: (www.somaiya.edu)
Somaiya Vidyavihar an education trust was founded by Padma Bhushan Karamshi Jethabhai Somaiya in 1959, to provide quality holistic education. It was founded on the belief that, education is an important pillar of nation building with the power to change lives, and education must innovate to encourage holistic development of youth. It is known as much for its Science, Technology, Engineering, Management, Social Sciences and Commerce programs, as for its programs for academic studies in various faiths and cultures of India.
Somaiya Vidyavihar fosters a start-up ecosystem that encourages multi-disciplinary collaboration, accelerates innovation, and cultivates the next generation of start-up leaders. 
Somaiya Vidyavihar encompasses 34 institutions, with more than 39,000 students and 1,500 faculty. Its main campus is in Mumbai, but Somaiya Vidyavihar also operates six schools in rural India i.e. in Dahanu, Sakarwadi, Laxmiwadi, Kopargaon, Sameerwadi, Kutch, Bagalkot and Bhopal.