IIT Kanpur bags STEM Impact Awards’22 for ground breaking ‘Portable Soil Testing Device’

Adding to it’s fleet of many accomplishments, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur was recently awarded the STEM Impact Awards’22 for engaging in impactful technology transfer activities at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi during the annual summit of STEM (Society for Technology Management). This award celebrates the impact of technology transfer activities of Indian research institutions.

IIT Kanpur has been awarded the STEM Impact Award this year for the socio-economic impact of their Portable Soil Testing Device, named ‘Bhu-Parikshak’. 

On behalf of IIT Kanpur, Ravi Pandey, Research Establishment Officer (Innovation and Incubation), IPR Cell, IIT Kanpur, received the award. This is the second time the institute has been awarded this prestigious award. This award bears testimony to the growing Research and Development ecosystem at IIT Kanpur.

IIT Kanpur has been actively reaching out to potential industry partners to make a significant impact on the society by disseminating innovative technical solutions and promote economic growth of the nation.

The soil testing device - Bhu-Parikshak is a revolutionary hand-held device that can detect soil-health in just 90 seconds. Finding out 6 significant soil parameters, namely, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Organic Carbon and Clay, this device request just uses just 5 grams of any dry soil sample.

Apart from the device data, the soil health report is also accessed on the Bhu Parikshak mobile application with unique ID. This not only cuts down time and hassle for the farmers but also offers them more accurate information at the tip of their hand. This counts as a major accomplishment for the IP and Technology Transfer Team to launch a product for such a large scale market.