More women using technology such as drone in agriculture, says TANCAM vice-president

Small ideas form the base for innovations, according to R. Thendral, vice-president, Corporate and Industry Relations, Tamil Nadu Centre of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing (TANCAM), Chennai.

Delivering the Women’s Day Hackathon Address at the TNWISE 2025 event at the Periyar Maniammai Institute of Science and Technology (PMIST), Vallam, near Thanjavur on Friday, organised by the TANCAM, a Centre of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing, set up by the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), in assoication with Dassault Systèms at the TIDEL Park, the TANCAM vice-president said even the small ideas that crop up during the execution of day-to-day work at residences could lead to innovations.

Further, networking of basic ideas would help improve the innovative ideas or prototype models and hit the market with a bang, she added.

Stressing on the need to remain acquainted with latest technological advancements, Ms. Thendral pointed out that the percentage of women agriculturalists who have adopted internet-of-things (IOT) or drones technology in their agricultural activities which hovered around 18% in 2018-19 period have now gone up to 30%.

Earlier, delivering the chief guest address, K. Sushil Kumar, consultant, Tiruchirappalli Engineering and Technology Cluster (TREAT) lauded the PMIST for its foresightedness of setting up an incubator facility for manufacturing of ‘instant idiyappam’ product 15 years ago.