V-Adept Energy comes to rescue of researchers

Hyderabad: Many a researcher’s enthusiasm is crushed even before the idea is put forward and in several cases multi-national companies just steal ideas form naïve students and pass it off as their own. In both these circumstances, research suffers. In a bid to tackle these two issues, Vishal Kandukuri, 27, has turned saviour for hundreds of budding researchers.

• V-Adept Energy, an NGO, helps researchers with funding and in getting patents
• To protect Intellectual Property Rights for researchers
• V-Adept Energy is coming up with a research laboratory at Shadnagar to help research and development
• Till date VAE helped get 29 patents and 16 are in provisional patent stage in 2018. The aim is to touch 120 patents by 2020
• VAE supports research in agriculture, mechanical, aeronautics, civil, chemical, bio-engineering

The problem, says the CEO and founder of V-Adept Energy (NGO), lies in the lack of scientific temper in colleges. When a student goes with an innovative idea, he/she is discouraged by the standard refrain ‘Manaku antha enduku andi.’ Roughly translated: What is the need to take so much pain. A victim of the same apathy, Vishal had to run from pillar to post to sell his ideas and in the process even went to HRD Ministry in the capital when he was a BTech student.

That was in 2009, and by 2011 V Adept Energy was born with an intention to fund researchers. Vishal says, “Till date the organisation has been able to help researchers get 29 patents and 16 are in provisional patent stage in 2018. The aim is to touch 120 patents by 2020.”

V Adept Energy discourages students and researchers to share the idea and insists they only send a mail first and then they meet the person and take it forward. Vishal shares, “We noticed several students share their ideas with big companies, that are simply stolen. We are keen on protecting Intellectual Property Rights for researchers.”

V Adept Energy has supported close to 1,000 innovations and nearly 6,000 researchers execute projects. V Adept funds the research and also helps researchers get patents. When asked about funding, Vishal says, “I spent Rs 50 lakh of my own funds. Initially it was difficult but now companies are convinced with our work and are supporting us as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).”

Even today companies only buy license from outside and the total spend is just 1 per cent by Indian companies for R&D while companies abroad spend 34 per cent. This has to change, says Vishal, who has acquired 8 acres of land at Shadnagar to develop a research laboratory to develop new products and come up with prototypes.

Presently, V Adept Energy is encouraging research on converting sea water into pure drinking water, a device that can test the soil composition and help farmers know how much water is required for that particular patch of land and an electronic helmet that can detect bleeding and extent of head injury that would help save lives.

Institutions should turn research based and India should stop buying licences and become a hub for state-of-the-art technology. For that to happen scientific temper should be encouraged at the colleges and we want to fill this gap says Vishal as he signs off. V Adept Energy and The Hans India would be felicitating institutions and researchers in a one-day event soon.

By T P Venu