Season 8 of ‘Mind Over Matter’ pushes the frontiers of research and innovation

Chandigarh: Tata Steel announced the season 8 winners of its much-awaited annual innovation challenge for engineering students, ‘Mind Over Matter’. Like last year, the grand finale and the award ceremony was organised using virtual platforms on August 6, 2021 owing to the prevailing Covid restrictions. The finale saw a total of top 5 teams present their innovative solutions to the esteemed jury. A total of 350+ teams participated in this season.

Aritra Patra and Nihit Raj from NIT Jamshedpur emerged as the winner of ‘Mind Over Matter’ 2021. Aditi Singh and Varun Kumar Jha from NIT Jamshedpur secured the 1st Runner-up position. The winning team received a prize money worth Rs. 1 lakh and the 1st Runner-up team was presented with cash prize worth Rs. 75000. While pre-placement offers were awarded to the top two teams, pre-placement interviews were offered to all the other finalists.

Atrayee Sarkar, Vice President, Human Resource Management, Tata Steel, said: “At Tata Steel, we believe innovation is the fundamental pre-requisite to creating futuristic solutions for our planet and people. Mind Over Matter is a one-of-a-kind platform where the brightest young minds are tested with their theoretical knowledge and practical applications under the mentorship of Tata Steel R&D team. The programme aims to boost creativity, foster a culture of cutting-edge research, and inspire them to join the manufacturing industry. We applaud the enthusiasm and the commitment of each team and are glad to welcome the winning teams aboard.”

Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President, Technology & New Materials Business, Tata Steel, said: “Ever since its inception in 2014, Mind Over Matter programme has attracted increased participation of young and aspiring students from across India. It has provided students with a platform to showcase their talent and learn from their peers. This year some of the presentations were truly Innovation at its best. We are excited to welcome the young minds and look forward to their contributions for a better tomorrow.”

This season, the winning team worked on the challenge titled ‘Novel photoreactor substrate for wastewater treatment’ under the mentorship of Pinakpani Biswas. The 1st runner-up team researched on the challenge ‘Development of novel composite compound from coal-based waste to produce electricity’ with mentor Sovan K Patra.

Over the years, the innovation challenge has garnered much attention and popularity amongst the students and has created a benchmark for cutting-edge research and collaboration amongst Corporates, Academia and Students. Mind Over Matter challenges the sharpest and smartest engineering students in the country's top institutes, with real-life problems related to steelmaking and steel applications. The winning teams are then invited to Tata Steel to create prototypes of their ideas under the mentorship of Tata Steel R&D team./August 12, 2021