Techfest'98, the first all India Technology festival of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, proved to be a giant step towards the discovery of the essence of technology. It brought the industry and academia, the two components that make technology the vibrant field that it is, on a common platform. AMD, one of the leading chip manufacturers of the world (K-6 fame) and our Chief Sponsor entered into the Indian market with Techfest'98.
The festival was attended by over 3000 students from all over the country, over 30 leading companies and organisations, and around 500 faculty members of India's foremost institution, on each of the two days of the festival. Over 300 students from colleges outside Mumbai were accomodated in-campus for the festival.
"Technology is fun" was the message of the competitions.
Pre-defined problems, which were posted to the colleges all over the nation two months in advance, allowed the participants to prepare their entries in the best possible way. Problems were framed and judged by the faculty members of IIT Bombay.
The Open Design Contest received phenomenal entries and ten groups of two went home with cash prizes totalling twenty thousand rupees.
The winning entry of the Open Software Contest impressed the judges to such an extent that it has been put to use by the Computer Science and Engg. Department of IIT Bombay.
The Siemens Gripper Design Contest, Siemens 'Spectacles for the blind' and MBT Windmill Design Contests were flooded with entries from numerous enthusiastic participants. These entries were of very high quality and were much appreciated by the judges and the sponsors.
On-the-spot contests included, among others, the AT&T Science and Technology Olympiad and Cadburys' "Googly: design a dispenser contest". The Olympiad saw an astonishing figure of 300 participants in the elimination round. The final was held between the six shortlisted teams with audio-visual rounds and multimedia clips and a totally computerized scoring system. The Googly dispenser contest was conducted with the idea that the entries received could be practically implemented. The contest was indeed a success in this respect, since Cadbury has taken up the ideas put forth in the event.
This event included lectures by prominent personalities, either in person or via video conferencing. The speakers in this popular event were:
Prof. U R Rao,
Chairman of the Pay Commission and ex-Chairman of ISRO,
currently holds an international post in the United Nations (UN).
Prof. Jayant Naralikar,
the popular astrophysicist and scientist of world fame,
captivated the audience with the simplicity with which he presented the enigmatic topic of astronomy.
Prof. D B Phatak
IIT Bombay
The other two lectures were in the form of a video conference. The speakers were:
Mr. Mark Lunsford
AMD
Mr. Sam Pitroda
Dr. Sam Pitroda, the father of telecommunications in India, currently the Chairman of World-Tel and former advisor to the PM, Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi. All the lectures were followed by a lengthy and enthusiastic Question-Answer session.
TechFest 1998 featured a number of workshops, offering the participants a hands-on experience with technology.
The Onward Novell Internet Workshop was conducted by the students association of the Computer Science and Engg. Department of IIT Bombay. Although, there were 250 participants, the huge computer labs of IIT allowed a computer for every 2 participants, where a practical session was held in the form of a treasure hunt. The live Java demonstrations mesmerized the participants.
The Informix Astronomy Workshop was jointly organized by renowned organizations such as AAA, JVP Pune, Nehru Planetarium and the Nehru Science Centre who actually transported a miniature planetarium to the campus for demonstrations. The stargazing session at night, the astro-photography exhibition and all-day movie shows were amazingly crowded and organisers were loaded with tons of interesting queries.
The Aeromodelling Workshop was conducted by the Indian Academy of Model Aeronautics (IAMA), an organization which has had two international shows of aircraft models. 150 high-fliers built their own miniature aeroplanes using professional kits supplied to them by IAMA.
The workshops were heavily overbooked with registrations flooding in from all corners through email, snail mail, online registrations, letters and faxes.
The InfoTech ShowThe theme for the exhibition was the fast growing field of Infotech. Leading companies from India, as well as some companies from Silicon Valley participated. The list of participants is as follows:
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
AT&T Corp.
Datapro Infoworld Limited
Express Computer and IT People
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB)
KLA-Tencor Corp., California
NCR Corp.
Onspec India Computer Automation
Persistent Systems Private Limited (PSPL)
Silicon Automation Systems (SAS)
Sybase India Limited
Syntel Software Private Limited
Tata Infotech Limited
Tata Liebert Limited
The companies exhibited many revolutionary products in global information technology and made full use of this unique opportunity for human resource development.
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Atomic Energy Exhibition 
The atomic and nuclear energy department of the Government of India exhibited their latest breakthroughs. They revealed a lot of interesting information regarding the Indian nuclear research programme and India's nuclear capabilities. The functioning of nuclear reactors, usage of nuclear energy and computer simulations of atomic chain reactions were demonstrated by the BARC officials.
Techfest'98 was a spectacular success in achieving its objectives. Through successive editions of Techfest, we hope to achieve the broader aim of making a better India.