During Covid-19, a student from Surat's Institute of Design and Technology (IDT) won the national innovation challenge for the first time by designing user-friendly personal protection equipment (PPE) for female sanitation workers.
At the national Design Innovation Challenge organised by the Bangaluru-based Collective Good Foundation, Meenu Agarwal, an IDT student, earned Rs. 25000 for her unique design of a PPE kit for female sanitation workers (CGF).
Creating personal protective equipment that meets the needs and preferences of female sanitation workers while also increasing their productivity and comfort was the central idea of the design innovation challenge.
In the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC), IDT students surveyed the female sanitation workers employed. She met scores of sanitation workers to gauge the problems faced by them while working with the personal protective equipment provided to them and their drawbacks. After many rounds of interviews and field visits, the work started on designing the PPE and choosing the right fabric.
Special consideration was given to the medical and general issues that females face for designing PPE. The actual fabric was used to create prototypes that focused on the comfort and protection of female sanitation workers.
Out of many innovators from across the country, two teams from the Surat-based IDT qualified as one of the top six finalists in the national innovation challenge, guided and mentored by Aarushi Upreti, an IDT faculty member.
Ankita Goyal, Director of IDT India and Fashionova Designs, said, "It a very proud moment for us at IDT that our student has won the national challenge of designing user-friendly personal protective equipment for female sanitation workers in the country. Meenu Agarwal has done a fantastic job by winning the challenge and doing a great social service to the nation." "At IDT, we are constantly striving to foster creativity and design challenges like this, paving the way for their notable success." This recognition has instilled a sense of pride in us and has greatly motivated us to provide new avenues for our students to learn and excel."
