Points of Interest | Green Energy News

January 11, 2004 – Vol.8 No.42

POINTS OF INTEREST.

(A weekly collection of websites worth visiting.)

Does a personal, hand-held wind generator seem like a good idea? How about a water cooler that has no obvious energy source? A portable machine that can squeeze oil out of oil seeds? Or bicycle that goes faster each time it hits a bump?

The most noteworthy inventions almost always seem to come from somebody’s garage, basement shop or dorm room. As much money as is spent by corporations, universities and governments to develop world changing technologies, the ones that seem have the biggest impact begin in the most humble of surroundings.

The Government of India understands that often the best ideas seem to come out of nowhere and is working to nurture those ideas through its National Innovation Foundation

The mandate from the organization states it best ...

...the time has come to unleash the creative potential of our scientists and innovators at grassroots level. Only then we can make India truly self-reliant and a leader in sustainable technologies...This fund will build a national register of innovations, mobilize intellectual property protection, set up incubators for converting into viable business opportunities and help in dissemination across the country...

One segment of the Foundation, the Honey Bee Network claims it has 10,000 innovations in its database.

The National Innovation Foundation home page, as well as other linked sites, to say it politely, need some work. The best links are through SCAI at Grassroots, and Presentation on Green Grassroots Innovation. Despite the website related problems it’s an interesting and ongoing program and worth the visit at http://www.nifindia.org/ .