Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is all set to host Shaastra 2020, one of the largest tech festivals in India to be completely run by students. This flagship event will be held between January 3 and 6, 2020 with a host of events planned. This will be the 20th Edition of this annual event. Nearly 40 events and 30 workshops have been scheduled this year with a total footfall of over 40,000 students, participants and visitors expected. An exhibition featuring student innovations, startups and visiting college teams is being organized at the KV Grounds in IIT Madras campus on all four days, which will be open to the public.

This year, IIT Madras students have introduced ‘Assistive Technology (AT) Makeathon’ in collaboration with IIT Madras’ TTK Center for Rehabilitation Research and Device Development (R2D2), which developed India’s first indigenously designed standing wheelchair. The objective is to provide effective solutions by combining students’ ideas and innovations with the resources of R2D2. This will help enhance the quality of life for the elderly, adults and children with disabilities by implementing successful prototypes designed by students. This will also create a mindset for social entrepreneurship among engineering students by providing them with a platform to showcase their ideas and enabling them to set up their start-ups.