Innovation

Karkhana Makerspace is India's first one of it's kind Makerspace and technical training and product development company, with a bottom line to provide hands on-training for academia as well as industry. They have been successful in reusing electronic components for their technical projects which helps them pursue their sustainability goal plan as well as technical skill development programmes. They also provide a unique approach to learning.

One with the founder and CEO, Siddharth Bhatter exclusively at IIT Delhi.

Inspiration

Some incidents happened, so I will tell you the story of how this idea popped up in my head and the way we settled with this (KARKHANA) name. One day a father and a child came around this place looking for some help with his son’s science project from school. We helped them out to make it from scratch and used his own components for making his project believing resources are limited and quality education is needed. The work was over but something kept lingering in the back of my head. I was thinking, what if I could provide people a platform where they can come and make something useful, that’s not currently available. Or what if, it was just a space where one could freely craft their imaginations into objects of a showcase, wouldn’t it be nice?

As products come from factories, so do ideas from the human mind. Thus KARKHANA the name.

Overall impact

Education can’t stop here. We have now solved one major problem we thought needs to be solved. We now know two phases of education, conceptual education, and practical education. However, with the progress of time, we might need to change the phase of education, into something which may be the need of the hour. With every paradigm shift, new organizations need to take up the challenges and solve them effectively thereby creating opportunities and setting up standards keeping corporate sustainable goals alive.

Moreover, with this, we can reduce the tampering of our resources and recycle those to make new and innovative products that can let the environment and society grow and breathe happily.

Business benefit

It trains students in engineering schools, on embedded systems platforms and advanced electronics required skill sets. Embedded system is a trending automation platform where the need for engineers is increasing by the day.

They started the summer training program in Mumbai and Bhubaneswar simultaneously with paid internships in the field of Embedded Systems. We were the first company in Odisha, to provide an internship in ARM Processor and Wireless Communication Systems. Karkhana Makerspace conducted workshops, training, and seminars at ample college across India. The kids built some really cool projects on Atmel and ARM-based controllers from scratch and using used components by modifying it. We have already started providing the service to school because the spark and enthusiasm of learning the “HOW THINGS WORK” or “HOW WE CAN MAKE IT FROM REUSE” was an early seed to be sown.

We are awarded with South India's Most Vibrant Startup - Edex (The New Indian Express ) in 2018. Talking about the profits, Karkhana earned the revenue of 20 lakhs in the year 2018 with annual growth rate of 9%. The profits margin stood at 48% in FY 2018 on revenues.

Now under the business, we have covered approx 30 colleges across India including IIT Guwahati, IIT Bhu, NIFT Delhi and many more prestigious institutions. We also got tie ups with Eduvance, Microchips USA, IBM, TechGropse etc. and many more.

Social and environmental benefit

Education can’t stop here. We have now solved one major problem we thought needs to be solved. We now know two phases of education, conceptual education, and practical education. However, with the progress of time, we might need to change the phase of education, into something which may be the need of the hour. With every paradigm shift, new organizations need to take up the challenges and solve them effectively thereby creating opportunities and setting up standards keeping corporate sustainable goals alive.

For example IOT-based blind stick project aimed at providing blind people a way to interact with the world. It is a feasible stick that can be easily accessible. Other is i-flasher whom we refers as 'Your Promotion Buddy' aims at increasing visibility and social promotions without use of internet connectivity for small businessman who just waste a lot of paper and resources on their promotional activities. IOT based blind stick also won as one of brilliant innovation at Startup Odisha. Hence, using daily utensils and electronic components, you can generate a viable product that can solve peculiar social problems.

Moreover, with this, we can reduce the tampering of our resources and recycle those to make new and innovative products that can let the environment and society grow and breathe happily.

Interviews

Siddharth Bhatter, Founder & CEO

Akash Verma, COO