Friday, March 11, 2011

It's a honour that techies look forward. Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan and Alefia Merchant are part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) prestigious India Technology Review 35 list for 2011 for innovative work. Bangalore Women Techies Honoured by MIT Bangalore-based Microsoft researcher Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan came up with a low-cost digital system which lets users use a normal pen and a plain paper to record data and instantly store it digitally.


 


It's a honour that techies look forward. Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan and Alefia Merchant are part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) prestigious India Technology Review 35 list for 2011 for innovative work.

Bangalore-based Microsoft researcher Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan came up with a low-cost digital system which lets users use a normal pen and a plain paper to record data and instantly store it digitally.

Alefia Merchant developed a novel method of screening for eye diseases in children under the age of five. Her work towards prevention of blindness among young children in developing countries even earned her the Humanitarian of the Year title.

Merchant, 32, developed the method as part of her community paediatric ophthalmology project at the Narayana Nethralaya Post-Graduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Bangalore.

Aishwarya's solution has been piloted with Self-Help Groups who microfinance and maintain records of each person's savings and loans. Conventionally, the data was recorded at a site on paper and it was later converted into digital data. Aishwarya's team built a digital financial record management application, on top of the device, that follows the structure of the paper accounting system used by the SHGs.

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