The Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), Kochi with the support from the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai, facilitated a TechCamp in Kochi, Kerala from 19th May to 21st May, 2022. The three-day Camp tackled emerging oceanic environmental issues such as Desalination, Smart Maritime Supply Chains, Power-free Solutions, Regulation of Consumption, Inland Waste Management and Marine Pollution. It convened 7 international and local experts with 50 participants to undergo comprehensive innovation and technology-based training via expert presentations, interactive sessions and group discussions. Throughout the three days, the trainers took up a collaborative and multifaceted approach to enhance awareness about ocean health and sustainability working towards achieving the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-14 which calls to ‘conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources

TechCamp Kochi 2022

Winners of the Small Grants Program

The Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), Kochi with the support from the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai, facilitated a TechCamp in Kochi, Kerala from 19th May to 21st May, 2022. The three-day Camp tackled emerging oceanic environmental issues such as Desalination, Smart Maritime Supply Chains, Power-free Solutions, Regulation of Consumption, Inland Waste Management and Marine Pollution. It convened 7 international and local experts with 50 participants to undergo comprehensive innovation and technology-based training via expert presentations, interactive sessions and group discussions. Throughout the three days, the trainers took up a collaborative and multifaceted approach to enhance awareness about ocean health and sustainability working towards achieving the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-14 which calls to ‘conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources’.

CPPR and our partners announced a call for TechCamp Kochi 2022 Small Grant Proposals in July 2022 – this was an opportunity for the participants to move the ideas and initiatives that they developed during the event into action, and to further disseminate the digital skills learned at TechCamp to others in their communities. Following are the winners of the Small Grant Program:

Project Title: Inventorization and development of an online B2B market place for seaweed cultivators in India
Team: Sakshi Gore, Mehta Jaykumar
Project location: Maharashtra and Gujarat

Project Title: The Great Chilika Clean-up Festival
Team: Shagun Kar, Sourav Pati, Shivangi Bahadur, Nivedita Biswal, Gul, Anant
Project location: Chilika Lake, Odisha

Project Title: TechCamp in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu
Team: Anjana Vencatesan, Keerthi Devasena
Project location: Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu

Project Title: MatsyaPasha: Tackling Lost & Ghost Fishing Nets
Team: Ritbik Kumar, Anirban Bhattacharjee, Raghav Dhaka
Project location: Petuaghat and Sultanpur, Kolkata, West Bengal

Project Title: Community owned beach transformation
Team: Bishal Mohanty, Dipambika Mishra
Project location: Puri-Konark, Odisha

Project Title: Aggregation of Data on Marine Litter Mapping using GPS enabled onboard Camera on CataClean 1.0 – Prototype
Team: Shrijan Praveen Tayde, Madhurima Dey
Project location: Mumbai, Maharashtra

Project Title: An Artificial Intelligent (AI) system for tracking plastic pollution in Vypin Island, Kerala
Team: Akhil Prakash E, Midhun Shah Hussain, Amal George, Afreen Hussain, Dr. A. A. Mohamed Hatha
Project location: Vypin Island, Kerala

Project Title: GIS-based marine mammal bycatch study leading to a citizen science initiative in India
Team:Priyanka Iyer, Usha Ravindra
Project Location: Indian coastal areas (EEZ)

“Tracking Marine Debris” plenary address by Dr Jenna Jambeck

Dr. Jenna Jambeck is the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia (UGA). She is also lead of Circular Materials Management in the New Materials Institute at UGA and of the Circularity Informatics Lab. She has been conducting research on solid waste issues for over 25 years with related projects on marine debris since 2001. She also specializes in global waste management issues and plastic contamination. Her work on plastic waste inputs into the ocean has been recognized by the global community and translated into policy discussions by the Global Ocean Commission, in testimony to U.S. Congress, in G7 and G20 Declarations, and the United Nations Environment program. She conducts public environmental diplomacy as an International Informational Speaker for the US Department of State. This has included multiple global programs of speaking events, meetings, presentations to governmental bodies, and media outreach including in Chile, Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, South Africa, Vietnam, Jordan, Israel, India, China, Bulgaria, South Korea and Taiwan. She has won awards for her teaching and research in the College of Engineering and the UGA Creative Research Medal, as well as a Public Service and Outreach Fellowship. In 2014 she sailed across the Atlantic Ocean with 13 other women in eXXpedition to sample land and open ocean plastic and encourage women to enter STEM disciplines. She is co-developer of the mobile app Marine Debris Tracker, a tool that continues to facilitate a growing global citizen science initiative. The app and citizen science program has documented the location of over five million litter and marine debris items throughout the world.

Kate Furby

Media producer and Science Journalist at Tiny Beaker Media

Kelton McMahon

Associate Professor at University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography

Lydiah Wanjiru

GIS Specialist in Kenya

Dr. R Venkatesan

Adjunct Professor at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Ceylan Usaki Erali

Co-Founder at ara Studios

Margot Stiles

CEO at Stilesworks

Dilnawaz Khan

Founder at Power Deck

Samdy Lonh

Freelance ICT Consultant