Somaiya Vidyavihar’s   bioriidl launches Darwin  - a 3 day event  where bio-experts and enthusiasts will share knowledge & present  their  solutions  to the existing world problems using science, imagination and innovation.

Mumbai, 13^th November 2019:  Somaiya Vidyavihar’s bio-riidl is launching  Darwin a 3 day event  where bio-enthusiasts present their  solutions to the existing problems using science, imagination and innovation.  The event which will be held from 28^th November to 30^th November, will host an international conference, workshops and panel discussions by renowned experts in the field of Bioscience around the theme for this year which is ‘evolution’.

Participants at the event include faculty and students from educational institutes as well as from corporate and institutions from, USA, South America, Europe, China, Nepal, Bangladesh and all across India. Participants will also visit local innovation centres/maker spaces and research institutes such as Godavari Biorefineries, Haffkine Institute for Training, Research & Testing, Imaginarium and Merck Life Science Pvt. Ltd

Darwin will host ‘ BioHackathon’ a competition in which teams from across India will compete  in an innovation competition, showcasing bio based innovations  in the areas of Water Management, Waste Management, Bio Products, Energy, Genetics, Environment and Bio Medical. Biohackathon event allows bio enthusiasts to present their solutions through biosciences, on problems they have been working on for the past three months and prizes will be awarded to the top 2 teams. Teams with expertise as diverse as Computer Science, Genetics, Medicine, and Art/Design will participate in the event.

Interesting workshops with the aim of the enhancing science literacy among non-science majors include creating Bio-materials (Bio-Polymers, Bio-Plastics, Bio-Leather), DNA Extraction, Bio Brick and growing algae. 

Arthackathon is  a competition where participants will create installations using waste resources. These installations will be used as decor at various locations during the event

Speaker sessions at Darwin '19 will include  keynote by  Joe Davis- a Research Affiliate in the Department of Biology at MIT and an Artist Scientist in the George Church Laboratory at Harvard Medical School. Davis created the World’s First “Memory Crystals” of information-bearing DNA. Thomas Landrain, a pioneer of the DIY Labs and Open Science Communities in Europe and now Co-Founder and President at Just One Giant Lab; Sebastian Cocioba, an Independent Plant Biotechnology Researcher and Director at Binomica Labs and the CEO and Founder of New York Botanics, LLC. He is also a Research Affiliate at MIT Media Lab and is working on Floral Genetic Engineering and Design; David S Kong, he is a Synthetic Biologist, community organizer and Director of the MIT Media Lab’s new Community Biotechnology Initiative.

Says Bhavna Pandya, Innovation Catalyst at -riidl and bio-riidl Head, Somaiya Vidyavihar ‘Darwin is a platform that connects bio enthusiasts from across the world Somaiya Vidyavihar’s bio-riidl has been motivating bio enthusiasts since the last 4 years and supporting their  transition from idea to prototype in biology. With this in mind we have create Darwin as a platform to encourage sharing of ideas and innovations in this field. We are humbled by the fabulous response we have received from experts and institutions in India and across the world. The sharing of knowledge and the interdisciplinary meeting of minds is core to the ethos of Somaiya Vidyavihar.”

An initiative of Somaiya bio-riidl and Somaiya Vidyavihar, Darwin 2019 has received  patronage from Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and is supported by BIRAC- Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council

The event will take place at the Somaiya Vidyavihar campus at Vidyavihar East, Mumbai.

Event Detail:

Date: 28, 29, 30 November 2019

Venue: Somaiya Vidyavihar Campus

Time: 9 am to 5 pm

About Bio-Riidl:

Bio-riidl  is India’s first community is a Do-It-Yourself Biology Lab as well as a Bioincubator  set up by Somaiya Vidyavihar’s riidl in 2015,  to nurture technology and knowledge-based enterprises in the areas of biotechnology majorly focusing on Biopharma, Agrobiotech, Industrial biotech, Clean technology and many other domains.

 About riidl (Research Innovation Incubation Design Laboratory):

Research Innovation Incubation Design Laboratory (riidl) was set up in the year 2010 by Somaiya Vidyavihar on its Mumbai campus. It was created to drive innovation & entrepreneurship and currently facilitates 39,000 students and 1500 faculty in the campus. In, 2014 riidl was affiliated to the Centre for Bits and Atoms (MIT USA) as a Fablab (now a Fablab Node in India) and in 2016 with support from Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, riidl became a Technology Business Incubator. The incubator operates through an autonomous not-for-profit entity model. riidl is sector agnostic and comprises of Somaiya Vidyavihar faculty, alumni and partners with like-minded organisations to promote innovations in various areas and supports different startups as per their requirement. riidl also helps in setting up labs & innovation centres at other places. The incubator helps entrepreneurs to convert their ideas into becoming successful and profitable ventures by supporting them in business planning, mentoring, recruiting their top team, commercialising their technologies, developing their products, getting early engagement and customer validations from the market, getting early stage seed funding, help in forging partnership at the national and global level, advice on intellectual property, training and development and many other things.

About Somaiya Vidyavihar: (https://www.somaiya.edu)

Padmabhushan Karamshi Jethabhai Somaiya founded Somaiya Vidyavihar an education trust 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. It’s 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.