Aditya Pachpande, CEO, Nextgen Innov8 talked to NewsX exclusively on NewsX India A-List. At the young age of 14, Aditya is a force to reckon with in the field of innovation and education. In a pandemic stricken world, Aditya has invented a Do it Yourself (DIY) UVC Light Sterilization ‘Suraksha Box’ to decontaminate and sterilize vegetables, groceries, and other essential items.
“The global pandemic of COVID-19 has brought in a lot of hardships for everyone and has definitely disrupted the day to day lives of the entire population. One such hardship is how to sterilize the vegetables and groceries and other essential items that we get from outside into our homes. Surface contamination or surface transmission is the major reason for the spread of the virus. So many households use potassium permanganate or baking soda to sterilize it or just simply wash and dry it under the sun. However, these methods are very tedious, time-consuming, and waste a lot of resources,” the young innovator shared the idea behind his novel creation.
“I saw my mother and other families struggling and I always believe that extreme times have led human beings to come up with creative solutions. So that’s why I designed this sort of ‘Suraksha box’ with the ready and available materials at my home,” Aditya continued. Elaborating on the working mechanism of the box, the child prodigy told us, “It is inspired by nature’s natural disinfectant: sun rays. We use sun rays as our inspiration but in a controlled environment. Inside the box, there’s the mesh on which you put the items and they’ll sterilize it from all sides so it’s 360-degree sterilization. It has a range of 240 nanometers and can destroy the RNA and DNA viruses and sterilize objects. Inside of the box is covered in bubble wrap aluminum foil with the best possible reflection for UVC light.”
“I’ve also received a publication of a patent from Govt of India and it is also appreciated by senior scientists at CSIR, NIV & ICMR,” he added. Aditya is set on a mission to provide the ‘Suraksha box especially to the needy at affordable prices, “Looking into the pandemic situation, we decided to make this a social venture and hence I donated and installed 15,100 COVID-19 Suraksha boxes to the needy, underpaid and underprivileged schools and paying homage to Mahatma Gandhiji on his 150th birthday, through a nonprofit social venture NextGenInnov8 social foundation.”
“We are doing this through crowdfunding from various schools and students are collecting funds to fuel the dream crowdfunding platform in order to provide Suraksha boxes to the needy. We launched the campaign on the 2nd of October because I believe in Mahatma Gandhi’s quote: Be the change you wish to see in the world,” shared Aditya with us.
“I’m appealing to all NGOs, media houses, government bodies, CSRS of corporate schools, and other individuals to support me in this, and support us in this noble cause. They can buy the box for self-use or for their corporations very soon as we will be selling this through our website and Amazon,” added the young changemaker.
The young entrepreneur shared with us about his startup and future plans, “NextGenInnov8 is an innovation-driven company, I believe, every child in the world has the capability to think innovatively and find solutions to problems. We at NextGenInnov8 want to give the power of innovation to every teacher as well as children in the New World order so that they can come up with various creative solutions to problems faced by their families, communities, and even global issues, and we can make the world a better place”
“Our mission is to set up innovation clubs in every possible school in the world and our vision is to teach children all around the world skills like critical thinking, creativity, innovation to prepare them for an unsecured future. Every other child in the world is capable of doing this but they just need the right guidance, the right resources, the right ecosystem,” he continued.
“We have already installed the Suraksha boxes in a few vegetable markets, Kirana shops, police stations, schools, colleges, and salons, and we have very encouraging responses from them,” Aditya told.
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Aditya who also juggles his study and personal time to strike the right balance along with his startup believes age is just a number and one should always try looking for solutions to problems and never let go of dreams. “I think helping others really makes a difference and impacting their lives gives me immense satisfaction. It gives me a feeling that making an impact can potentially change the world. Many people asked me, when I received the patent publication for the box, how you were planning to commercialize this product. I said no, this is not a time to make money or a business out of it. It is a time to give the needy and others a chance, hence I made it as a social venture,” said the child innovator.
On a concluding note, Aditya shared his views about such indigenous Indian startups which can come up with various innovative ideas and solutions and how they potentially revolutionize or even disrupt industries. “I was lucky enough to attend a session by our Honorable Prime Minister Modiji where he spoke about his vision to make India a $5 trillion economy and encouraged more youth to become entrepreneurs as part of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ that they can solve various problems and contribute to making India a $10 trillion economy.”
