IncubES 2025 in New Town Calcutta
IncubES 2025 has brought together great innovations at TINT, from drones that tackle high-rise blazes to sanitary disposal units, proving that New Town isn’t just a tech hub – it’s a hotbed of human ingenuity.
If you thought college students only brewed instant noodles and last-minute presentations, think again. This week, a band of bright-eyed innovators proved they’ve got more up their sleeves than just exam anxiety and existential dread. Welcome to IncubES 2025, Techno International New Town’s (TINT) three-day festival of ingenuity, grit, and just a smidgen of tech wizardry.
From drones that play firefighter to machines that give sanitary waste the final send-off it deserves, the event is bursting at the seams with clever kit aimed at making everyday life just that little bit less of a faff.
Take Bebeto Ally, for instance – a chap named after the Brazilian football legend but clearly more inclined towards circuit boards than scoreboards. The 29-year-old computer science engineer has designed a firefighting drone that can haul up a hose pipe from a fire engine and take the high road – quite literally – to tackle towering infernos. The idea sparked (pun intended) after he witnessed the infamous 2007 fire at Jeevan Sudha in central Calcutta, where traditional hydraulic ladders proved about as useful as a battery less remote.
“I was just passing by, minding my own business, when I saw the building ablaze,” said Bebeto, with the air of someone who’s been to the brink and back – or at least stood on Chowringhee in stunned silence for a couple of hours. His tech, now patented and polished at IIT Kharagpur, promises to slash response times and provide firefighters with a far more nimble bit of kit. Frankly, it might be time to swap the ladders for lift-off.
Then there’s Sharmi Das Mishra, who looked at the bureaucratic rigmarole of applying for a patent and said, “Oh, do behave.” A mum of one and techie of many, she’s developed Patent Lab, a web app that offers a soup-to-nuts solution for intellectual property seekers. AI-driven and as helpful as your gran on baking day, the app guides users through patentability tests, paperwork, and the minefield that is legal compliance.
“Having a brilliant idea is all well and good,” said Sharmi, “but trying to get it patented feels like playing hopscotch on a minefield.” Hear, hear.
And let’s not forget Swastika Akuli, who’s taken on the often-taboo subject of menstrual waste. Her invention – a discreet disposal unit that incinerates used sanitary napkins into ash – is already making waves. A lid, a bin, a heater, and voilà – waste to dust in a jiffy. “We’d love to roll this out in schools and colleges,” she said. One can only imagine the sighs of relief in staff rooms across the country.
Now, no decent startup fair would be complete without a bootcamp, a few networking nibbles, and someone from the corporate big leagues nodding sagely in the background. Enter Sukla Mistry of Haldia Petrochemicals, doing just that. IIT Kharagpur’s Siddhartha Das reminded everyone that start-ups need to think beyond the prototype – “compliance,” he said, wagging a metaphorical finger, “isn’t optional.”
Thirty-two start-ups strutted their stuff across the three-day affair, hoping to win the favour of a panel of judges who’ll soon be dishing out awards like they’re hotcakes at a village fête. But win or not, every participant walked away with experience, exposure, and possibly a few business cards that’ll be gathering dust in their wallets until the next round of funding.
As Principal Ayan Chakraborty put it, “It’s about giving wings to ideas.” Well said, sir. With drones flying and napkins combusting, those wings might just be catching a thermal.
News and Picture Sources: The Telegraph
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