Boeing, Airbus to now sponsor IIT tech festivals

Chennai/Kolkata: From fun and carnival spirit, the turf of geeks has graduated to a level that has drawn even global engineering giants, commodity exchanges and defence organisations to the annual tech festival circuit of IITs.
Slowdown may have caused organisers and sponsors to tread cautiously, but the patron list just got longer. Airbus, Adobe, Bosch, Boeing, Durr, DRDO, NCDEX, Murugappa, Kavin Engineering and Qualcomm are marque sponsors, registering their presence in the event hosted by the country's premier institution.
For instance, Boeing and Airbus are debuting as sponsors in IIT-M Shaastra. Confirming their participation, Shaastra 2009 event co-ordinator Saranya Kapur said, "This is the first time they are sponsoring any IIT fest. However, they do want to be seen as a company that looks at the grassroots — go down to the student level where the future innovators and visionaries are born."
She attributes the interest to Shaastra 2009 (world's first ISO-certified student event) primarily to its showcase event — Aerofest. Also, Chennai is and has always been a hub for aero-modelling enthusiasts, with IIT-M being one of the focal points.
The 11th edition will have over 35 events, seven workshops, including a Rubik's cube workshop under the aegis of the World Cubing Association, an Aerofest, the IIT Madras Symposium on Sustainable Development, with eminent speakers, including Abha Joshi-Ghani of the World Bank and Michael Hogedal of Vestas; a start-up summit, Shaastra car, where a car will be assembled from scratch and lectures and video conferences with eminent personalities.
03/10/09 Hemamalini Venkatraman, Nandini Sivakumar & Sreeradha D Basu/Economic Times

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Categories: Foreign Oct 2009, Indian Aviation- In General Oct 2009