IN STEP (INDIAN NAVAL STUDENTS TECHNICAL ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME) OPEN CHALLENGE 2022

The Indian Naval Students’ Technical Engagement Programme (IN STEP) aims to engage students in premier educational institutes to foster a culture of innovation. Such institutes are designated IN STEP Knowledge Partners.

Indian Navy in association with Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and BharatShakti.in has launched the “IN STEP Open Challenge 2022” to inculcate a culture of innovation to meet the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

IN Problem Statements: The IN STEP Open Challenge 2022 aims to resolve the following three /N problem statements: –

1. High speed data communication in Underwater domain.
2. Innovative methodology for increasing endurance of small multicopter/ drone through use of miniature fuel cell/ novel design.
3. Hardware/ software solution for data transfer between open domain (internet) and secure domain (air gapped).

Eligibility: All the students pursing Engineering/ Technology (undergraduate, Masters, Research & PhD) from the colleges / institutions/ universities designated as IN STEP Knowledge Partners are eligible to participate as individuals or as teams along with faculty members (not more than two) as Guides. Not more than three ideas/ solution per problem statement from any institute can be submitted.

Duration: The students are to submit their preliminary idea/ solution by 30^th May 2022. The final solution is required to be submitted after 30^th May 2022 and before 31th Aug 2022. The participants are allowed to submit their consolidated queries only once within 30 days of submission of preliminary idea/ solution.

Result Announcement: The top three solutions would be rewarded suitably, and the details of the winners would be available here on 30^th Sep 2022 and the prize winners will also be informed through email.

Judging Criteria: Following broad criteria shall be adopted to award prizes: –

1. Solution Approach: The solution is driven by out-of-box-thinking/ disruptive model/ easy to implement using software/ technology driven methodology for the specific domain.
2. Technology/ Innovation: Solution has been innovatively designed using cutting edge technology.
3. Plan/ Execution/ Demo: Completely working prototype of demo which can be repetitively executed. Most of Non-Functional Requirements (Robust, Security, Reliability, Performance) considered while implementation.
4. User Experience: Extremely useful, easy to implement, improves naval operations and fits in the concept of operations of the User.

Prizes: All participants (selected as the top three by their respective institute) will be awarded participation certificates. In addition, the prizes for the winners in each category are as follows: –

1. Certificate from Chief of Naval Staff.
2. Visit to Ship/Submarine/ Aircraft Carrier.
3. Experience a ’Day at sea’ onboard an Indian Naval ship.
4. Two days accommodation at a naval station for the ship visit / day at sea. The travelling expense of team is to be borne by respective team/ University.
5. SIDM shall facilitate development of product for trials through Indian Industry subject to the suitability of the response received. The IPR (if any) will remain with the student / team.