An accident of a distant relative two years back pushed a student from Arunachal Pradesh to develop a vehicle tracking device which would help in preventing accidents.

Ha Tade’s hard work paid off as he won the Dinanath Pandey Smart Idea Innovation Award 2020 for his innovation SOFT.SPY, a device which helps in recording the minute details of a vehicle’s movement – both two-wheelers and four wheelers.

A Bachelor of Technology from North East Regional Institute of Science and Technology Nirjuli of Arunachal Pradesh, Tade is excited to have won the award.

Assam Minister for Excise Parimal Suklabaidya Parimal Suklabaidya on February 9th, 2020 gave away the prizes of winners of the 6th Dinanath Pandey Smart Idea Innovation Award.

An elated Tade said, “I’m really happy for this. I wanted my idea to reach to the people and it’s great to be here and share my idea. I will try to improvise it to make it more user-friendly and also at a cheaper cost.”

He added, “The idea to develop such a devise came to my mind following an accident of a distant relative in a road accident two years back. It was my sister who motivated me to work on such a device.”

Prior to this, innovators from the Northeastern states and West Bengal participated in the two-day exhibition ‘Innovation Festival’ on February 8th and 9th, 2020 at the premises of the Regional Science Centre in Guwahati. There were more than 34 participants. They displayed their various innovative devices.

The award has been instituted by the family of Dinanath Pandey, who was a master innovator and tried to change the way of life by his innovations. The ‘Innovation Festival’ which has been organized by Indian Council for Science Museum in collaboration with National Innovation Foundation provides a common platform to the people of all the states in the Northeast region working in different fields like innovators, artists, performers, crafters and science-demonstrators among others showcasing their creativity.

Photo: Time8