Techkriti is an annual four-day inter-collegiate technical and entrepreneurship festival at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. The festival is usually held in March.[2] The 30th Edition of Techkriti is scheduled to be held from 14th to 17th March 2024. The festival began in 1995[2] to develop student technological innovation. The word Techkriti is derived from tech (technology) and the Sanskritkriti (creation).
History
The first Techkriti was held in March 1995 and has since continued as the institute's annual technological and entrepreneurial festival.[3] Since then the fest has grown and is claimed to be Asia's largest technical and entrepreneurial fest.[4]
It had the theme "Blueprint to a smarter world".Under the umbrella of UNESCO, in association with Classmate, Juniper Networks, Vh1, and Myntra amongst others, it included newer initiatives like Start-up Weekend, and Robo-games like Robo Pirates (Aqua-robogames), Multirotor (Quadrocopter), Richie Rich (Portfolio Optimization), Marketing Villa, Bridge Design Challenge and many others.
Techkriti '16
3 to 6 March 2016
had a theme of "Beyond Our Planet"
Techkriti '17
23 to 26 March 2017
It had the theme of "Factualising Fictions". It included talks by Geoffrey Beattie, Sumit Chowdhury,Vijay Prasad Dimri, Devika Sirohi, Arsh Shah Dilbagi,Ian Angell and others.
Techkriti '18
15 to 18 March 2018
It had the theme of "Prism of Possibilities". The guest speakers included Simon Taufel, Karnal Singh, Dr. Mohsin Wali, Jon Bowermaster among others. The final day included the participants grooving to the melodies of Bollywood’s favorite, Sonu Nigam.
Techkriti '19
7 to 10 March 2019
It had a theme of "Forging The Matrix".A colossal affair of technology and science, it hosted academic giants like Kannan Ramamurthy, Meenakshi Lekhi, Satyarup Siddhanta, Archna Sharma, and others. The Chief guest for the fest was Mr. Dinesh Sharma, the Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. It also hosted unprecedented workshops on niche topics like Building Architecture & fun events like Paintball, CS-GO, Bike stunt shows. The cultural extravaganza had shows by Zakir Khan, Benny Dayal and Nucleya.
Techkriti '20
19 to 22 March 2020
It had the theme of “Cybernetic Utopia”. The first online edition of Techkriti. It hosted workshops on stocks, data science, python programming, machine learning & robotics. Pandering to the gamers, it also held PUBG Tournaments, a solution for games amidst Covid restrictions.
Techkriti '21
12 to 14 March 2021
It had a theme of “Realm of Virtuality”. This year Techkriti was conducted in a fully online mode, because of Covid’19 constraints. The talks and sessions were delivered by prodigies like Praveen Thipsay, Dr. John C Mather, Pete Micheals, Dr.Bikash Sinha, Dr. Rajendra Singh amongst others. It also had virtual comedy nights by artists like Nishant Suri, Vipul Goyal & Kanan Goyal.The final day included a grand virtual concert by the playback singer KK.
Techkriti '22
24 to 27 March 2022
It had a theme of “Transcending Origins”. It had been touted to be the “legacy restorer” as it was a hybrid fest, recovering from the repercussions of Covid’19. Rajat Sharma, Bjarne Stroustrup, J N Goswami & Dr. Lyn Evans were a few of the other speakers present at the event. The festival was concluded with a concert by the singing maestro, Shaan.
Techkriti '23
23 to 26 March 2023
It had a theme of “Enigmatic Tessellations”. IIT Kanpur’s Techkriti'23, Asia's one of the largest annual technical and entrepreneurial festivals, kicked off with its 29th edition on March 23, 2023. The inaugural ceremony was graced by the presence of Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Director IIT Kanpur; Prof. Arnab Bhattacharya (Associate Dean, Students Affairs), and Prof. Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, the FAC (Festival Advisory Committee) Chairman.
Techkriti '24
14 to 17 March 2024
It had a theme of “The Cosmic Nexus”. IIT Kanpur’s Techkriti'24, Asia's one of the largest annual technical and entrepreneurial festivals. it's held on 14th to 17th march 2024, where Samay Raina(for Comedy Night) and Farhan Akhtar(for Pronight) was invited in the event.
Organisation
Techkriti is an entirely student organized festival.[citation needed] The structure of the organising team is four-tiered. Leading the team were the Festival Coordinators along with a team of Heads, each with an allotted portfolio. Administrative portfolios include marketing, media and publicity, finance, security, hospitality and show management. Event-related portfolios include public relations, web and design. Each Head has his own team of coordinators and executives.[citation needed]
Techkriti-19 came under extensive scrutiny due to financial mismanagement by the student team and the then finance head.[18] The festival had to be bailed out using funds from the students gymkhana, collected as a part of the fee from current students. These financial malpractices led to an overhaul of the festival team, which was then overseen by a festival advisory committee chaired by a faculty counsellor.
Workshops and talks
Students and academia at the festival can attend talks by professionals in various fields from India and abroad. Speakers at Techkriti have included aerospace scientist and former Indian president A. P. J. Abdul Kalam,[19]Free Software Foundation founder Richard Stallman and Rakesh Sharma, the only Indian to date to travel in space. Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai was the guest of honour at the 2016 festival, which was scheduled to end with a musical evening.[20]