The world today is increasingly getting inclined towards technological innovations to which we must stay upgraded or we’ll fall behind in this fast paced era.

This is what the young and highly accomplished Meghdut Roy Chowdhury has learnt after an exposure to some of the leading mentors in emerging technologies from Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv and Paris. An alumnus of the Techno India University, he is now the new director of Global Operations of the institute.

He is all set to share his valuable insight among the students of the university and has amended the curriculum accordingly. In his opinion, the world is undergoing such a technological revolution that new kinds of jobs will replace the current ones within the next 20 to 30 years.

Thus, one must be prepared to face this shift or else might risk losing a job. Keeping this in mind, “Providing incubation and acceleration to the students’ progress, we will prepare them for a brighter tomorrow,” said Goutam Roy Chowdhury, chairman of Techno India Group and chancellor of the university, at the launch of “Vision for Innovation”.

Other stalwarts present in the panel were Sujoy Biswas, director, and Gautam Sengupta, vice-chancellor of the university.

The institute’s Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme, was started in 2014 by Goutam Roy Chowdhury with an initiative to promote entrepreneurship and self employment among the students. A safety device for women and children known as “The Smart Bag” was showcased as a part of the Vision for Innovation programme.

The device is the brainchild of fourth year computer science students Anubhav Ghosh, Chahat Bhotika and Samidhya Karmakar. The plight of victims of child abuse we see or hear in news every day moved the budding minds to invent the gadget. But there are already a 1,000 safety apps, so what different does this offer? “Most of the apps need to be activated at the moment of danger to make them work.

How can we expect a child of five-six years to be quick enough to sense trouble and activate the safety app?” said Ghosh. This is a small credit card sized portable device synced with all the popular social media networks. It can be easily kept inside a hand bag or a school bag.

One can switch on and put it inside the child’s bag before he/she leaves home. The device will keep posting HD pictures of the places the child is in with its exact GPS location. The tool will require only Rs.4 per day for maintenance.

“This has been experimented successfully in the Park Street area in Kolkata and will be launched in the market within six months,” said Biswas.