JOIN USA project dealing with reduction of wastage by automating the irrigation system by Chennai's Meenakshi Sundararajan Engineering College won the first prize, while Madurai's Thiagarajar College of Engineering came in the second place, for their project, on a system that enabled people to monitor the activities of their peer or family members and send an alert if there was any accident.
The two projects were selected amongst 11 entries, that came from final year engineering students from across the country, by five judges-three IISc faculty, one official from Motorola and one from Integra Micro Systems Pvt. Ltd. The selection criteria were technical application, display of some innovative idea and practical application.
Around 1,400 engineering colleges are sent details about the award every year. The short listed projects are then given seed funds by FAER after the teams are asked to present their budget.