PALS2019-20 innoWAH

Innovation Challenge
Competition

Rules and Guidelines

06-August-2019
 PALS 2019-20 innoWAH – RULES AND GUIDELINES
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Published by:

PALS
#61 (old #30) Third Street,
East Abhiramapuram,
Mylapore, Chennai 600004

Phone: 98405 50470

www.palspgm.com

CONTACT PMO TEAM FOR ANY QUERIES

Name Mobile Email

Lavana 9600762104 lavanaeg@gmail.com

Robin 9500254011 palsreach@gmail.com

Sujata 9841639338 sujatas@palspgm.com;

palspgm@gmail.com

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. What is innoWAH! .............................................................................................................. 4

2. Objective ............................................................................................................................. 4
3. Theme/ Focus Area ............................................................................................................. 4
4. Problem Definition and Realization .................................................................................... 5
5. Event Format ...................................................................................................................... 6
6. A General Note on Mentoring and Sponsorship: ............................................................. 10
7. Expectations and Evaluation Criteria................................................................................ 11
8. Eligibility - Who Can Enter the Competition..................................................................... 12
9. Project Teams ................................................................................................................... 13
10. Faculty Mentor.............................................................................................................. 13
11. innoWAH! Coordinator ................................................................................................ 14
12. Project Processes ......................................................................................................... 14
13. General Compliance Standards for Project Entries ...................................................... 16
14. Important note about Copyright to the Teams ............................................................ 17
15. Other Conditions of Participation ................................................................................ 17
16. Administrative Requirements to be met by Partner Institutes .................................... 18
17. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 19
APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................. 20

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1. What is innoWAH!

innoWAH! is an “Innovation Challenge Competition” conducted by PALS every year for its
member colleges (Partner Institutions). The Competition is launched at the start of the
academic year (around end July) and concluded by end of February. The prizes will be
awarded during the PALS Valediction Function held during March or early April.

2. Objective

The objectives of PALS innoWAH! Innovation Challenge competition are:

• To recognize promising young innovators in the Participating Institutes.

• To showcase their products to the outside world and give them an opportunity to
get recognized.
• To enable development of business and communication skills among the
participants. To give the students an understanding of engineering industry
practices, including rigours of documentation and compliance.
• To enable students, through practical experience, to pick up the threads of
entrepreneurship.
• To enable the students build teamwork and leadership capabilities.
• To guide and enable interested and committed students to get a foothold in the
entrepreneurial world
• To enable the college benefit from the learning and experience of participating
students and faculty.

3. Theme/ Focus Area

This year, our competition will focus on promoting good health, through the application of
engineering and technology.

The theme for the PALS Innovation Challenge Competition will be:

ENGINEERING A HEALTHY WORLD

Special Inclusion - WATER

Focus will be on promotion of good health through various means by application of science
and technology – such as pollution management, waste management, prevention of
diseases, climate change, healthy food, Swachch Bharat, water purification, management of
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natural resources essential to health etc. The focus areas are not limited to those
mentioned here; the teams are free to add others which fall under the theme.

Clean water is an important ingredient for good health. With increasing demand for water
worldwide, we also include Water Management under the overall theme.

The overall focus of the projects participating in the competition should fall under the above
mentioned theme.

Projects can be in any engineering discipline, or multidisciplinary (example IOT – Internet of

Things), but their primary focus and theme should be as mentioned above.

4. Problem Definition and Realization

The key to a successful project is the “proper” selection of a problem, to which an

engineering solution is to be found and realized. The problem could be an issue affecting
society and unsolved so far; or it could be a significant improvement to some existing
method or process - there is no limitation on what constitutes a problem and it is left to the
teams to pick what they want to do. The deciding factor is the benefit that would be
available to society at the end of the exercise, in terms of business and societal value.

The problem definition and the project should fall under the theme mentioned above. The
project team is free to choose any focus area under the theme (not necessarily limited to
the ones mentioned there). The problem and its solution will have to be mentioned clearly
by the team. It is required to be demonstrated that the problem and the solution fall within
the theme and selected focus area. The solution should be an engineering solution, and it
need not be restricted to any specific branch of engineering. Solutions spanning across
multiple branches of engineering are allowed.

In order to enable the team to define the problem to a higher degree of accuracy and
practicality, we have introduced “evidence based validation of problem definition by
interacting with potential customers”. The project team should visit the locations where
their project is likely to be implemented, interact with their potential customers, make their
observations, analyze them, and use these outcomes to suitably modify their problem
definition. Each project is required to have a minimum of 5 data points for this competition,
while 10-20 data points will be desirable. (A data point is a location where the project is
going to be implemented or a potential customer who would be using the product). The
observations of the team, as well as the analysis done by the team should be recorded in

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the Concept & Design Document – these should enable the revision of the original problem
definition and its scope into something that is more reasonable and practical. The
experience of going through the validation of the problem will also enable the team to find
more practical solutions to the problems.

For selection into the final round, the teams have to submit a “Concept and Design
Document”, which includes documentation on practical and financial viability, in addition to
what is mentioned above.

Significant weightage will be given to the “evidence based validation of problem definition”
during the evaluation of Concept & Design Document in Stage 1. Participants may note that
literature survey or secondary data collection will not be considered as “evidence based
validation of problem definition”.

The solutions have to be implementable and the teams have to demonstrate a working
model or a working prototype in the final round, so that they qualify for the “finalists” prize
as well as the winners’ prizes.

5. Event Format

The event format has been revised in this edition of innoWAH, on the basis of our previous
years’ experience, as well as feedback received by us. (Overall, it is not much different from
last year’s format). The entire competition will be carried out in two stages, and each stage
will have its events and milestones. The important milestones and their indicative dates are
given below. The actual dates will be announced closer to the occurrences of the event after
taking into consideration any last minute holiday announcements etc- please keep a lookout
for them. The indicative dates may be used now, for planning purposes.

STAGE 1 – PRE-FINALS

1. Launch of innoWAH! 2019-20 to the Partner Institutes (PIs) – on 31st July 2019
through a webcast.
2. The process of team formation and deciding the projects in the PIs, can start any
time after the launch, in case it has not already started.
3. The Format of documents to be submitted, Rules and Guidelines, as well as the other
relevant details, will be shared with the PIs soon after the launch.
4. Q&A Workshops – at 3-4 different locations, to address doubts and questions, will
be held during August and early September 2019
 This will be 3-4 hour workshop for students who will be participating in the
competition. Each member college (Participating Institute or PI) can send 25
students and faculty members; these numbers are tentative and will be finalized
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based on the logistics aspects. The concerned PI may contact PALS in advance in
case they want to send more people.
5. Registration of Teams for the Competition & Submission of “Concept and Design
Document.
 Each PI can register 1 to 5 teams for the competition. The teams will be selected
by the PI, and will have a maximum of 4 students in a team.
 For this edition of innoWAH, the registration of the teams and submission of
“Concept and Design Document” will happen simultaneously, to reduce the
paper work and give the project teams more time to develop their idea. After
selection of the projects/teams by the PI is completed, the projects are to be
registered formally for the Competition, in the forms provided. A copy of the
forms and instructions, as well as the format of “Concept and Design Document”,
are provided in the appendix, and editable versions of the forms are also
provided separately.

 PIs have to submit Project Registration details along with “Concept and Design
Document to PALS from 21-25 October, 2019. A 5 day window (ending on the
closing date) is provided to enable the online electronic submission of the
documents. Teams are advised not to defer the submission until the last
moment. Detailed procedure for the submission will be provided separately.

Selection of Project Teams for the Final Competition:

 PALS will select one team from each PI to participate in the final competition,
provided the teams meet the minimum qualifying criteria (see below) for the
same. Based on performance, PALS may decide to select a few additional teams
for the finals.

 The Concept and Design Document submitted by each team will be evaluated by
a panel of experts appointed by PALS, using the evaluation criteria provided in
this document.

 The teams qualifying for the finals will be announced around early December
2019. Only these teams will continue their further participation in the
competition.

 The ”minimum qualifying criteria” for the teams to move to Stage 2 include:
 “Concept & Design Document” meeting minimum quality standards –
extent of plagiarism, completeness and quality of the document,
practical implement-ability of the solution etc
 Submission of all documents in time, and in complete form
 Compliance with the rules and requirements of the competition

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STAGE 2 - FINALS

6. Mentoring the Finalist Teams

 Mentoring has been made optional for all the finalist teams in this competition.
Soon after the Stage 1 results are announced, the finalist teams will have to
decide and inform PALS whether they need mentoring or not.
 The Finalist teams (who have opted for mentoring) will be mentored on the
technical and financial aspects of their project, by mentors appointed by PALS.
The mentoring period will be for approximately one month (month of January)
with the mentor and the team interacting based on mutual convenience. The
first meeting should be a face to face meeting for effectiveness, and the
subsequent ones can be in person or through teleconference/skype based on
mutual convenience. The role of the mentor is to advise the team on various
aspects of the project, especially real life implementation aspects, and viability of
the same. It is left to the team to build a good relationship with the mentor, and
ask the appropriate questions so that they get useful and relevant advice for
their project. The PALS mentor is not expected to have any further role in the
project, as far as this competition is concerned.
 PALS will form a panel of mentors; based on requests made by the teams, the
teams will be allocated to various mentors. It is then left to the teams to
coordinate with the mentors and get their time, share documents with them etc.
 The teams are required to keep in mind the fact that mentors are
industry people with tight work schedules, hence they may not be
able to provide discussion time at short notice.
 Most of the mentors are based in Chennai. Hence the teams must be
prepared to travel to Chennai if needed, for any face-to-face meeting
with mentors. (If suitable local mentors are available, then PALS will
assign them to the finalist teams).
 At the end of the mentoring period, the mentors and the teams will submit a
brief report to PALS on their experience, and provide their feedback on the
process.

7. PALS is planning to hold a special workshop for the finalist teams on the
requirements and processes for submission of entries for the Finals. For those teams
interested in getting mentors from PALS, PALS will make them aware of the
mentoring facility offered. PALS will finalize this workshop based on its assessment
of the necessity and feasibility of such a workshop. This workshop is planned to be
held during December, and its duration will be around half day.

8. Creation of the Project Model/Prototype for the Finals

 The finalist teams will have to create a working model or prototype of their
project, for the final competition. The model will have to be built as per the
design submitted in the “Concept and Design Stage”. PALS understands that the
project teams are likely to improve their design based on the feedback received,
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as well as the mentoring sessions. Considering this aspect, the teams have to
ensure that the project is essentially the same, and the final project model
should be compliant, to the extent of 70% or more, with the Concept and Design
Document submitted at the end of Stage 1 of this competition.
 The revised Concept and Design Document and Project Summary, and the other
documents, will have to be submitted online, around 7 working days before the
final competition and exhibition.

9. Final Round of the Competition and Exhibition

 Only the project teams that have been selected in STAGE 2 through the
evaluation of Concept and Design Document are permitted to participate in the
final competition.
 This will take place in a central location, most likely in or around the IIT Madras
Campus in Chennai since it has got adequate infrastructure to host the event.
Each finalist team will present and demonstrate its idea, solution, and model
(implementation) to a panel of judges appointed by PALS, who would include
people with relevant experience and expertise. The projects will also have to
participate in a day long exhibition whose invitees will include students and staff
of the PIs and other invitees of PALS from the industry and IIT Alumni fraternity.
The projects will be evaluated and ranked based on the criteria which is
mentioned in this document.
 The indicative date for the final competition and exhibition is end February-2020.
The date will be finalized in January. Each participating team will be allotted a
table to place their model, prototype and other relevant artefacts for
demonstration to the judges. The table locations for each participating team in
the exhibition hall will be decided by PALS, based on any “special infrastructure
requirements” desired by the teams and informed in advance.
 In addition to the judges evaluating the projects, PALS will invite people from
industry and startups, IIT alumni, incubators, educational institutions etc. to the
exhibition, so that projects and students having a potential to grow are identified
by the concerned persons.
 The teams may note that they have to demonstrate their models and prototypes
in a common closed hall in a public location, hence they will have to take care of
the following aspects while designing and building their models:
 The models should be accommodated in a space of approximately
150cm x 75 cm (5ft x 2.5 ft) and should preferably not weigh over
60kgs
 They should work with standard power supply (230V x 5A)
 Liquids, inflammable materials and other hazardous materials (for
fuels and consumables) will be allowed to be brought in very limited
quantities, with prior permission
 The models when operated, should not create any fumes, smoke,
noise or any kind of physical hazard or inconvenience to visitors and
other teams in the hall.
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 More detailed guidelines on these aspects will be shared with finalist
teams at the beginning of STAGE 2 of this competition. It is possible to
accommodate a few exceptions with advance planning. This is to
create awareness at an early stage.

10. Awards Ceremony

 The results of the Finals will be announced by PALS in a few days’ time after the
Finals are held.
 The winning teams in the Final Round will be given prizes by PALS, during the
Valediction function of PALS2019-20, most likely during first half of April 2020.
All team members and faculty mentors of the projects which successfully
participated in the final competition and the exhibition will be given a cash prize
and certificate from PALS.

11. Further Openings for Winners and Finalists

 PALS will provide openings for the innoWAH! 2019-20 winners and finalists to
take their projects further into entrepreneurship, or into adoption by industry or
academics. This can take place during the finals, or soon after the finals. More
details will be provided closer to the dates.
 PALS does not make any commitments to any of the teams about this. PALS will
identify various opportunities available for the winners and finalist teams to take
their projects forward; and introduce them to the teams. It is then left to the
concerned teams to make use of such opportunities for their benefit.

6. A General Note on Mentoring and Sponsorship:

 PALS will not be providing any financing assistance to any PI or Team for the
innoWAH! projects. As mentioned in this document, teams selected for the
finals will get the “Finalists prize” and the top teams will get the first, second
and third prizes. Each prize consists of a cash award and a certificate, and
these will be given to the winning teams after the finals of the competition is
over.
 PALS will provide mentoring support (by allocation of Mentors) to the teams
that get selected into the finals and specifically asking for the mentoring
support. This will be provided during the months of January and February
only.
 PALS has no objections to any of the teams arranging for finance or other
sponsorships for their projects, from sources outside their respective
colleges. However, the teams have to mention the details of such
sponsorships in their Declaration Document which is submitted during
registration for Stage 1 as well as for Stage 2.
 PALS has no objections to any of the teams having their own mentors, within
or outside their respective colleges, for their projects for this competition.
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However, the teams have to mention the details of their mentors in their
Declaration Document which is submitted during registration for Stage 1 as
well as for Stage 2.

7. Expectations and Evaluation Criteria

The participants are required to identify a problem in the focus area, with evidence based
validation, and find a solution. The solution needs to be implementable, and the technical
and financial viability of the solution, is required to be demonstrated.

“Concept and Design Document” Stage (STAGE 1)

1. Identification of the problem. The problem and the solution must necessarily be
under the theme and the stated focus area. The relevance of the problem and
solution to the focus area will be evaluated.
2. The quality of the data collection and analysis during the “validation of problem
definition with the potential customers” and the correlation between the data, its
analysis and the problem definition. Also how the problem definition was revised
based on the analysis of the data collected. [This will be given high weightage in
evaluation. Teams should visit potential customers, collect their own data and
analyse them. Literature survey, data from internet or secondary sources etc will not
be considered as valid data].
3. A description of the problem, concept of the solution, and its implementation – in
how the theme and focus area are addressed. Impact and innovativeness of the
solution will be assessed. The details should be described in the Concept and Design
document, and later demonstrated by the model/prototype.
4. Practical implementability of the solution (including Potential for large scale
implementation) will be taken into consideration.
5. Any statistical data or other evidence to demonstrate the existence of the problem
and that the solution proposed will be beneficial, that is provided by the team with
relevant pointers, will be given due weightage.
6. Quality of report submission (inclusive of all technical data, pics etc.) and
presentation of its contents. Coverage of the mandatory items as mentioned in these
guidelines will also be given due credit.
7. Timely and complete submission of all documents for this stage including timely
completion of registration in STAGE 1.
8. Plagiarism Test – The project should be the team’s original work, particularly the
problem definition and solution. This will be verified using computer based tools,
and in case substantial evidence of plagiarism is observed, the project and team will
be disqualified.
9. The “minimum qualifying criteria” for a team to move to STAGE 2 has been defined in
“Event Format” Section 5 (earlier in this document). A team will move to STAGE 2 only if it
meets these criteria. Teams may make a note of this important point.

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Final Competition and Exhibition Stage (STAGE 2)

1. Quality of projects, reports and models submitted for final.
2. A demonstration of a working prototype or a model of the solution. The results should
be consistent with the defined objectives.
3. Quality of the working model (Adherence to Concept and Design Document
submitted in stage 1, the revised Concept and Design Document, overall appearance,
stability, consistency of working etc). Look and feel of the model, its robustness, ease
of operation, smooth and noiseless working, etc will also be given weightage during
evaluation.
4. Financial details indicating commercial viability, will need to be presented, explained
to the judges. Financial/Commercial viability of the solution will also be considered.
(We have observed that these aspects are not normally covered in the students’
course curricula. Though they may be covered to some extent in the mentorship
programs, students are encouraged to proactively do some self-study in this area).
5. Improvements made to the project, based on the feedback given at various stages,
will be given due credit. Feedback obtained from the mentors will be taken into
account.
6. Depth of knowledge of the team, quality of presentation, demonstration and ability
of the team to answer questions raised by judges and defend the project, will also
form part of the evaluation.
7. Timely and complete submission of all documents for Final Competition.
8. Compliance to the rules of the competition, and overall conduct of the teams during
the final competition, will also be taken into consideration.
9. Performance in the Exhibition:
- On time arrival and setup.
- Adherence to rules related to liquids, hazardous materials, noise, fumes etc.
- Exhibition of models : quality; additional props presented during the Exhibition.
- Interest triggered in visitors to the Finals Exhibition.
- Comments from industry/research and academia persons visiting the exhibition.

Given above are the broad submission, presentation and evaluation criteria. These may be
supplemented with other criteria by the evaluating panels, at their discretion.

8. Eligibility - Who Can Enter the Competition

All students of the Partner Institutions are eligible as long as they meet the following
requirements:
 He/she is 18 years of age or older;
 He/she is, and continues to be, a bona fide student for the entire academic year
ending on 30th June, 2020; in a PALS 2019-20 Partner Institution.

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 He/she is not involved in any part of the execution or administration of this
Competition.

9. Project Teams

 Students are required to work as a team in the Competition.

 The size of a project team must not exceed four (4) members.
 At least three students in each team are recommended to be non-final year
students (BE 2nd year or 3rd year, maybe 1st years also). This is not mandatory,
only for the benefit of the institute.
 The students in a team can come from different disciplines (Multidisciplinary
teams are allowed).
 A Project Team should consist of students from the same Institution and the
institution should be registered as a PALS 2019-20 Partner Institute. The Project
Team will be considered to be a representative of the Institute in the
competition.
 Each Team is responsible for its own teamwork and cooperation. Under no
circumstances will PALS officiate in any dispute amongst the members of a team.
 After the Registration date (STAGE 1), no substitutions of teams or team
members will be permitted in case of any withdrawals of any of the teams or
team members, for any reasons.

10. Faculty Mentor

 Partner Institution will assign a Faculty Mentor to each project team. The Faculty
Mentor, (or Mentor for short), will guide and advise the team in the technical,
financial and other aspects of the project. The Mentor is not expected to carry
out the actual work in the project as part of the team, which includes report
creation and model/prototype building.
 The same Faculty Mentor is expected to remain with the project team
throughout the duration of the competition, especially after the team is selected
for the finals.
 Other suggested roles for the Faculty Mentor are:
o Will be a Friend, philosopher and guide – Main go-to person for team
o Will provide and evaluate different ideas, help in final idea selection
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o Will help evaluate technical feasibility of the idea
o Will help evaluate business/societal value of the idea
o Will guide in the technical aspects of documentation, model building process.
 The Faculty Mentor can participate only as audience in the demos, presentations
and exhibitions when the project is being evaluated by judges. They cannot
answer questions raised by the judges. They also cannot prompt the project
team to answer questions etc and they cannot make any presentations or
demos, either on their own or with the team. (Whenever the project is not being
evaluated, the Faculty Mentor is free to interact with the audience and explain
the project).
 The Faculty Mentor, if present, can participate in the mentoring sessions with the
PALS appointed mentors.

11.innoWAH! Coordinator

 innoWAH! Coordinator will be the Single Point of Contact in the College with
PALS for all matters related to the innoWAH! competition.
 All important communications related to innoWAH! competition will be marked
to the innoWAH! Coordinator.
 innoWAH! Coordinator will be responsible for the selection of teams, submission
of entries by teams and overall conduct of the teams during the competition.
 Other suggested roles for innoWAH! Coordinator are:
o He/She will communicate to Project Teams and other students Via Notice
Boards, Circulars, emails, intranet, Student Leaders, etc
o Will provide guidance to students on competition related aspects (questions
and doubts)
o Will write to PALS to clarify any doubts and suitably communicate to students
o Will spread word about innoWAH! in the college and encourage participation
o Will encourage the students and guide them to the proper departments and
resources for creating their projects
o Will discourage poor and unethical practices.
 PALS EC Members of each PI will serve as backup to innoWAH! Coordinator.

12. Project Processes

Registration of Project Teams and Submission of Concept and Design Document (STAGE 1)

Documents to be submitted:
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1) Registration documents, for the team to participate in the competition
2) Concept & Design document, for Stage 1.
See below for more details.

Each participating Partner Institute (PI) will select 1 to 5 teams to participate in this
competition. Each Team will submit the Registration documents, Declaration document,
Project Summary and Project Concept & Design Report to PALS during the submission
window announced (indicative dates are given in this document). The format of the
Registration documents is given in the appendix, which should be filled up appropriately. All
documents should be submitted in pdf format.

The Declaration document should be filled in electronically, printed and signed by team,
faculty mentor and innoWAH! Coordinator, and institution seal should be affixed. The
document should then be legibly scanned and submitted. Hard copy of the Declaration
document to be preserved by the institution for any future reference.

Each team will also create and submit the CONCEPT AND DESIGN DOCUMENT and the
PROJECT SUMMARY, as per the format and instructions given in the Appendix.

Submission of all the documents will be done electronically, through internet, to a Google
drive (or equivalent) into designated folders created by PALS. For obtaining access to the
Google drive, please refer to “Administrative Requirements to be met by Partner
Institutions” later in this document. Teams may please note that submissions via email or
hard copy are not allowed.

The PIs are required to exercise sufficient care at the time of Registration, as no
subsequent substitutions of teams or team members will be permitted in case of any
withdrawals of any of the teams or team members, for any reasons.

Selection of Teams for the Finals

All the submitted entries will be evaluated by PALS, using a panel of experts and as per the
criteria mentioned in this document. The entry adjudged best from each PI will be selected
for the Final Competition, provided it meets the minimum criteria for the same. PALS will
announce the entries/teams selected for the Final Competition, around the indicative date
mentioned.

PALS will announce the list of teams selected for Finals, around end November or early
December.

Final Competition (STAGE 2)

Only the teams that have been selected by PALS in STAGE 1, can participate in the final
competition.

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The teams chosen for the Final competition will be given an option to be mentored. For
teams that choose to be mentored, it will be for around 6 weeks during January-February on
a part time basis, by experts from a panel chosen by PALS. This mentoring is over and above
whatever mentoring is provided by the college.

The teams can make improvements to their documentation and create their working
models during the mentoring period and until the final competition date, but no change in
concept or idea is permitted during the mentoring period. The submission made in Stage 2
should not be fundamentally different from that made in Stage 1; there should be at least
70% match.

The changed documents will have to be submitted again for Finals (STAGE 2), 7 working
days before the date of the Finals Competition. The submission will be accompanied by a
fresh declaration form, signed, stamped and scanned as mentioned for STAGE 1.

The Panel for judging the final competition will be chosen by PALS from amongst experts in
the industry. The teams will submit their documentation, demonstrate their models, and
present the financial aspects of their projects to the judges. The decision of PALS on the
winners of the Final competition will be final and binding. The prize winning teams will be
announced soon after the completion of the finals.

PALS will provide a more detailed document on the processes to be followed in Stage 2, for
the teams selected for the finals.

13. General Compliance Standards for Project Entries

The intent and spirit of the Competition is to test and help improve the engineering and
innovation skills of the student entrants. Anyone acting as a team Mentor, or in any
mentorship role where allowed (for example, local, regional, or global sponsors), must limit
the level of support provided to student entrants to general guidance and must not
contribute in any way that may be considered original authorship, or in a way that may
enable claims of rights or ownership to the submitted entries. In no event will anyone else
not part of a team work on behalf of the team. By submitting a project entry in this
Competition, each team confirms that, to the best of their knowledge:
 Their entry meets the requirements set forth above and the applicable
Competition Rules;
 The entry is the team’s original work; as defined in the section below;
 The teams have obtained any and all consents, approvals, or licenses required for
them to submit their entry; and the details if any should be mentioned in the
report.

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14. Important note about Copyright to the Teams

PALS endeavours to carry out the competition in an ethical manner. The teams are expected
to submit their original work for the competition. PALS discourages plagiarism at all levels in
this competition, as well as in its other activities. PALS will be using appropriate technology
to check for plagiarism in the submitted entries.

PALS understands that teams may have a need to genuinely use others’ copyrighted work
for their project to some extent. Keeping this in consideration, it has been decided that the
problem definition and solution, in every entry submitted should have original content.
Any copyrighted item legitimately used for routine work, or to improve efficiency, or for any
such purpose that is peripheral in nature and does not affect the “originality of the problem
definition and solution”, must have the owners’ permission and should be clearly
acknowledged in the documents. If the product is sold with a licence, it should be a legally
licensed product. Violation of any of these conditions means the entry has a copyright
violation.

A project team’s entry will be disqualified if any plagiarism or copyright violations arise or
are detected with the entry during the course of the competition. Contributions by non-
members of the team may also be considered as copyright violations. Disqualified teams will
not get any prizes or certificates from PALS.

15. Other Conditions of Participation

By entering this Competition, every participant of each team agrees:

 To abide by the Competition Rules, in spirit as well as by the letter;
 To release and hold harmless PALS, and its respective parents, subsidiaries,
affiliates, employees and agents from any and all liability or any injury, loss or
damage of any kind arising from or in connection with this Competition;
including, but not limited to, any claims by third parties on violations of
copyrights and intellectual property rights;
 Any Team is free to use its own advisors/mentors from the industry or from
among persons working or not working in their institute; in such a situation, the
details of the advisors or mentors should be shared with PALS in the Declaration
Document.
 All decisions by PALS will be final and binding on all matters related to this
Competition;
 All documents, photos and videos submitted by the teams to PALS (either
directly or through their Partner Institutions) as part of Innovation Challenge
competition, will be retained by PALS, and PALS will use them as part of their

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publicity and marketing material, or for helping the team to obtain various
benefits for their project. PALS will exercise utmost discretion in sharing the
documents with others, and will do its best to protect the ideas and Intellectual
Property (IP) contained therein. (Note that teams are also advised not to submit
any material that they consider sensitive from IP angle).
 That, when a team accepts a prize, PALS may use the team members’ name and
other details provided in the competition documents in online, in print, or in any
other media, in connection with this Competition, without making any payment
or compensation for the same. Personal contact details (email Id and telephone
numbers) will be shared only if absolutely necessary, and after obtaining
necessary consent from the teams. The same holds good for the Faculty Mentors
also.
 The documents and models created for this competition will not be submitted in
other competitions by the teams, until the completion of the Finals Competition
and Exhibition. Any exceptions must be approved by PALS, either at the time of
Registration of the Project or as and when the situation occurs. The team can
continue in the project in such situations, only after obtaining PALS approval.
 After completion of the Finals Competition, the project teams are free to use the
project and documentation for other competitions or for their course projects,
without any restrictions from PALS. PALS will continue to retain the copies of
documentation submitted to PALS, for its internal use, as mentioned above.
 PALS may arrange for photographs and videos to be taken of the participants,
during the various events of the competition, especially the Finals Exhibition.
PALS will be the owner of these items. PALS will share them with the
participating colleges. PALS will also share them with other colleges and
institutions, for the purpose of publicity and information sharing about the
events.

16. Administrative Requirements to be met by Partner Institutes

 Each PI to appoint an INNOWAH COORDINATOR, from among its senior faculty.
The innoWAH Coordinators will be in charge of all innoWAH related activities in
the Partner Institute. He/She will be the first point of contact in the PI and PALS
will send all innoWAH related communication to him/her. The two PALS EC
members will be second point of contact with the PI for innoWAH at the senior
level. All key innoWAH related communications will be sent/copied to the
innoWAH Coordinator and the EC Members. Any issues arising with the project
or team members of the PI will be addressed to them.
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 The innoWAH Coordinator of each PI will have to share two gmail ids with PALS
(they can create special gmail ids for this purpose if needed) to facilitate
electronic submission of the Registration and Concept & Design Documents of
the teams from their college. Their details and gmail ids should be shared with
PALS by the date which PALS will communicate, and this will be before 30-
September-2019.
 All innoWAH related materials including videos will be sent to innoWAH!
Coordinators, and they will be custodians of the master copies until innoWAH
concludes. The videos will normally be sent online through Google docs or other
means, and the PIs will have to download them on to their own computers for
their viewing.
 PALS will distribute innoWAH related material, including videos, to the PIs as
mentioned above. These are for viewing/reading by all the students and faculty
to enable them to understand innoWAH. They are not to be given or sent to
persons who are not students or faculty of the PI, through any means. They
should not be uploaded into you-tube, social media or into any internet site by
anyone belonging to the PI. On completion of the competition, these documents
should be destroyed or deleted from the drives.

17. Conclusion

The PALS Innovation Challenge Competition ends with the Award Function where the
winning finalist teams are given prizes. During the Competition Finals and Award Function,
the teams will have opportunity to meet and interact with eminent industry experts, and
with people who could potentially help them in their entrepreneurship journey, especially
with pre-incubation or incubation of their projects.

PALS will share the details of the competition winners and finalists with relevant incubators,
established companies, startups, educational institutes (for R&D purposes) and other
agencies; all interested parties will be asked to directly contact the teams, so that the teams
get an opportunity to work with them and take their projects forward.

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APPENDICES

INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILLING THESE DOCUMENTS

Teams need to ensure these instructions are followed as applicable, and the documents are
prepared properly and in a presentable manner. This will also count for evaluation.

EDITABLE VERSIONS OF THE DOCUMENT FORMATS ARE AVAILABLE SEPARATELY,

WHICH SHOULD BE USED FOR CREATION OF THE DOCUMENTS.

1. Please fill in your institute and project relevant information within the “< >” and
remove the “<” and “>”.

2. Please take relevant action for the text within “<< >>” and then remove the entire
string from the document.

3. Other required details to be filled in.

4. The page “Declaration by the Project Team” should be printed, signed by all the project
team members and the faculty mentor, signed and stamped by head of the institution,
and then scanned as pdf and emailed with the other documents. The other documents
will also be send in soft copy form, as pdf.

5. All documents have to be submitted in pdf format as far as possible, photographs in jpg,
videos in mp4. In case it is required to submit documents in other formats, the team
should consult PALS before submission. This should be planned well in advance so that
the submission does not get delayed.

6. All documents have to be submitted electronically via Google Drive or any other
equivalent method. Instructions for the same will be provided separately.

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DECLARATION DOCUMENT

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PROJECT TEAM DETAILS

(REGISTRATION DOCUMENT)

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PROJECT SUMMARY

FOR innoWAH! STAGE 1

Note: Project Summary is a 1-2 page document, containing key details of the project in
short form, for quick reference. It should be created from Concept & Design Document,
and not vice versa.

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CONTENTS OF THE
PROJECT CONCEPT AND DESIGN
DOCUMENT
FOR innoWAH! STAGE 1

[Here we have specified only the main headings the document

must have, and a gist of their contents. The team can do the
formatting of the first page, and other pages of the document in
such a way that the presentation is impressive. Most colleges have
their own formats for publishing project reports and those can
also be used here as appropriate. Please ensure that the college
names, name of team members, faculty coordinator, are included
in the document. The page header and footer should contain the
project name, “PALS innoWAH! 2019-20” and the page number.
Also refer to the “General Instructions” at the end of this
appendix.]

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CONTENTS OF THE PROJECT CONCEPT AND DESIGN DOCUMENT

FOR INNOWAH 2017-18 FIRST STAGE

1. * PROBLEM DEFINITION
 Theme – ENGINEERING A HEALTHY WORLD
i. Elaborate the Specific Topic or Focus Areas addressed by your project
 Problem Definition
 Elaboration/Explanation of Problem
 Background Information, if relevant

2. * VALIDATION OF THE PROBLEM THROUGH DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

 Identification of relevant Customer Segment
 Identification of sample size, locations of surveys etc
 Survey execution – experience and key points to note
 Data collected and cleaned – if too voluminous, give summary and details in
appendix
 Data Analysis - leading to problem definition and description

3. * IDEA/CONCEPT/SOLUTION TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM

 Describe the main idea conceptualized by you to address the problem
 Elaborate the main idea, covering the sub-ideas, components etc
 Mention the engineering principles which support your idea(s) – note that these
could overlap across various engineering disciplines
 Mention your Unique Selling Proposition – how your idea/concept/solution is
really effective in solving the problem, how it is different from others available in
the market, and how it is better.

4. * PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND HIGH LEVEL DESIGN

 How will you realize your idea – that is, make it work in real life? This is your
project description. Keep it brief, and include the important aspects. The
“important aspects” are the pillars on which the project stands – if any pillar is
weak, the project will come crashing down.
 Provide a high level “block diagram” to explain the overall working of the
product

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 Provide a high level description (maximum 10 bullets/sentences) to explain the
diagram
 Provide a sketch or a photo of the skeleton/framework model to give a visual
understanding of how it looks; position it against some known objects to give an
idea of its size etc (this is not mandatory but will help in the understanding of
your product and design).
 Note that financial viability and social acceptance are a MUST for any project to
be successful in real life. These will automatically become additional objectives
for your project.

5. * PROJECT BENEFITS
 What are the benefits the project is expected to provide to society as it addresses
the problems and meets its objectives?
 Document the expected benefits
 Try to quantify the expected benefits (Return on Investment). At the end of the
project, you can measure them and assess if the project provided the benefits
expected. This will largely determine if the project will be commercially viable
and successful.

6. OTHER ASPECTS
 Will the operation of project create any fumes or any products whose existence
is considered inconvenient to people and otherwise a nuisance (in other words
it will need special environment for operation) – describe such requirements if
they exist
 Provide details of any third party licenses used and permissions obtained for use
of any third party intellectual property in your project.
 Give an estimate of how much it will cost to create the model
 What would be the expected life of the model?
 Can the model be mass produced? Explain how.

7. ANY OTHER INFORMATION

 Provide any other information that has not been asked earlier, and which you
would like to provide for better understanding of your project.

8. APPENDICES
 If you wish to provide any large volume reference information to support any
aspect of your project, you may provide the same here.
 See General Instructions for how to present “Data Collection and Analysis”.
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General Instructions

1. Keep the document short and crisp. Overall size of the document should not exceed 25
pages (not a “must”, only a recommendation). Typically it should be 10-15 pages,
without considering “Data Collection and analysis for validation of the problem”.
2. The details of “Data Collection and Analysis” may be provided in an Appendix, since its
size can be large. It can also be submitted as a separate document in case its size
becomes disproportionately large compared to the rest of the document. The summary
of the findings and analysis may be presented in Section 2 of the Concept & Design
Document.
3. Avoid repeating content in the document, or putting in content that does not make sense
or add value.
4. Chapters having a “*” are expected to be required. Rest are optional – these are given
here to help you with your thinking further on your idea and its implementation.
5. Submit this document as pdf (no embedded documents). Page size should be A4 for the
main document. If you wish to submit pages of different size, then submit them
separately as appendices, as ‘.JPG’ or as ‘.PDF’. Avoid documents needing special
software to read.
6. If you are submitting more than 3 documents (excluding the “Declaration” and “Project
Team Details”), you are advised to provide a list of the documents being submitted, with
a one line description of each, plus highlighting the important ones.
7. After uploading your documents in the folder, close the folder and log out. After some
time, log in again (do a fresh login) into your folder, and open each document in the
folder, and check if you are able to read all the pages in the folder. In case you observe
any problems, please delete, check and upload the documents again in the folder.
8. You can make changes and corrections to your already-submitted-documents before the
submission deadline. In case you make any such changes, please ensure you have only
one version of each document in your folder.

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