Indian-led UT team wins ‘ideas’ award

AUSTIN, TX — A team from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin led by Indian American Mandeep Patel was named the winning team in innovation in the Shell Ideas360 program, Shell Oil Company announced recently.

In its fourth year, Shell Ideas360, a global program connecting students to help develop ideas to tackle the world’s food, water and energy challenges, asked students from across the globe to submit innovative solutions to some of the world’s issues.

Students were given the opportunity to shape their concept into a business pitch with mentors and had access to a platform of resources to further help refine skills and provide them with real-world experience, Shell said.

From the 750 entries submitted from more than 144 countries, five finalists were announced and the Patel-led team, Smart Panels, was named the overall winner as well as the Audience Choice Award winner. Other members of the winning team are Malvika Patel and Taylor Zhao.

Each member of the three-member UT team was awarded a National Geographic Adventure.

Outside of the UT team, a team from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur was also among the finalists. The IIT team’s idea was to create a passive solar water wall aiming to reduce the electricity consumption and total carbon footprint of houses by substituting conventional air cooling systems.