LAHORE: The Information Technology University (ITU) organised the `MakerFestLahore-17`, a festival to promote technology and creativity and celebrate grassroots innovation and invention, on Saturday at Arfa Kareem Software Tower.

A large number of students from schools and universities across Pakistan displayed their inventions where more than 85 companies and investors were present.

The event provided an opportunity to makers from arts and technology to showcase the locally developed projects that draw inspiration from STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics).

The `MakerFest` is the continuation of the internationally renowned Maker Faires, hosted across America, Europe, Africa and parts of Asia. The festival offers an opportunity to the makers, especially students from dif-ferent educational institutions, of the country to showcase their creations.

Grade six student from a private school Fatima Chaudhry presented her creation `Water Bucket Alarm System` at the event which, she said, aimed to save water.

`I want to preserve water,` she added.

University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, student Sumama showcased a robot that can clean the floor of a standard room in minutes. Sumama said that the robot had censors installed which helped it clean the floor without hitting any object in a room. The robot can be operated through a mobile phone application.

Hasnat Ahmed, a student of a private school, was proudly exhibiting a turbine network based hydro-electric power generation system for residential application.

He said the system utilised the potential energy stored in residential water tank and converted itinto electrical energy using a network of small turbines installed in water pipes. `We can charge our UPS by using the application during power outage,` he added.

Some of the companies attending the festival promoted their mobile applications of music, health fitness, education and security while some others promoted their gadgets and robots.

The stall of a company which manufactured a mobile app supported with a device to control a number of functions of a car beside protection against theft/ snatching attracted many visitors.

ITU Vice-Chancellor Dr Umar Saif said the MakerFest-Lahore-17 was held to promote grassroots innovation and invention and encouraged the students to invent solutions to the problems through the use of technology, gadgets and electronics at young age.

He said that `Makers Movement` was picking up the steam in the world and contributing to add new inventions, innova-tions and the economies. The US economy was built on makers activity as the recent examples like Facebook and Google were initiated by a couple of students, he added.

He said that the festival would help to go forward to lay hands on applications, hardware and startups and to commoditise innovations in science and technology and engineering.

He said the fest would enable the kids and youth to invent real solutions to the problems by using tools to learn the use of technology to create their own products such as producing electricity using solar panels, automating farmers life, regulate water flow, farm land, filter the contaminated water to encounter problems.

Mr Saif added that such festival would help popularise science and technology among children and youth to make innovative products through software oriented tools, programming, languages, compilers, internet and worldwide web.