INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITIONS AS A MEDIUM TO BOOST STUDENTS’ EXPOSURE

I visited the #HannoverMesse in April 2017. I had heard much about this fair and this was my first time attending it. Hannover Messe, which translates as Hanover Fair, is one of the world’s largest trade fairs. With about 6500 exhibitors, it was bigger than I had ever imagined. It is spread across more than 30 halls and one would require more than 10 days to entirely go round the entire space (only if interested obviously ?? ).

I could see big companies like Siemens, Mitsubishi, Accenture, SAP and many more equipment manufacturers, systems companies and software giants present with exhibits / stalls as big as a departmental store, just like D Mart in India. Out- of-the world hospitality at all the stalls and entire teams of top personnel of these companies were interacting with the visitors and explaining to them the latest in the technology that they had developed.

Industry 4.0: what is this?

This was also my first experience of the concept of “Industry 4.0”. For the first 2 hours, I thought that it was terminology coined by the software companies around another new way of doing things. Only later did I understand, all major system providers had their products, services and platforms around the concept of Industry 4.0. It took my quite some time to understand that it meant having smart factories with connected equipment in the IOT backdrop.

How do Universities and Educational Institutes fit in?

Hall no 1, was dedicated to only Universities. Again I was amazed, that Universities were present at an Industry Exhibition. As I went around the University Stalls, practically all had display tables of inventions/ technologies developed or products developed by the University Students and the Professors. The students confidently displayed and explained their inventions to visitors. At one of my interactions, I asked the reason why students needed to display at an industry fair. His response was, “I am seeking funding and thus have my product displayed here. All industry participants move around our stalls and there is high probability for someone to appreciate my product for a purchase or investment.” Whilst this was true, it was only partially true. I could also see many Industry Visitors appreciating the inventions of the University Students and thus carrying a better image of the University with them.

  Student - Industry Connect

I learnt that for higher order of Industry Connect, our students should present their achievements, their inventions, their projects and their talents. As a first step in this direction, we participated in the #GDC Tech exhibition of Aluminum Foundry and Forging Industry in Mumbai in November 2017. We were the only Academic Organization to have a display stall in such a Industry exhibition and most of the visitors were quite amused to see an academic institution spending money on a stall there.

VIIT @Constro 2018

We again repeat this now at #Constro2018 in January 2018 in Pune wherein we display the strengths and achievements of our Civil Engineering Department of #Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology (#VIIT). When we discussed participation to the organizers of Contsro, they were at first amused but later appreciated this event of our group.

I am sure participation in such Industry Exhibitions would develop confidence amongst our students in front of Industry professionals and vice versa.

Bharat Agarwal

#Constro2018 #funding #innovation #inventions #industryconnect #industryacademiarelations