Excel, Model Engineering College

Excel

The logo for Excel 2017, the annual national level techno-managerial symposium of Govt. Model Engineering College, Kochi, Kerala, India
Type	Techno-Managerial Symposium
Genre	Technical
Founded	2001
Place	Kochi, India
Institute	Govt. Model Engineering College
Website	www.excelmec.org

Excel is the annual techno-managerial festival hosted by Govt. Model Engineering College (MEC), Cochin, Kerala, India in association with IEEE. The symposium, conducted over a period of three days, is intended to bring to the forefront, budding innovative engineers from all over India and to provide a platform to showcase their technical skills and management capabilities. Excel incorporates versatile technical and managerial events which include both online and on site competitions, workshops, talks and seminars, video conferences, exhibitions and pro shows. In 2009, TEDxMEC, an independently organised TED event was held in for the first time. Though not associated with Excel, a TED event has been organised every year during these days. Excel also features talks by entrepreneurs, research scientists and heroes of everyday life. Since its inception in 2001, 15 editions of Excel have been hosted till date. The organisation of all these editions has been purely by the students themselves.

Excel was introduced in 2001 as a platform for the students to present and exhibit their technological innovations. The capital required to run the event was raised through sponsorships, grants from IEEE and the funds provided by the college. Exhibition stalls were put up, and competitions were held, headed by each of the then existing branches (Electronics & Communication Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering and Electronics & Biomedical engineering) which received an incredible response from students in and around the state.Subsequent editions saw the evolution of Excel both in terms of reach, number of participants and events. Purely organized by the students themselves, each edition of EXCEL saw something new and innovative. While the competitions at EXCEL prove to be the ultimate test of grit, knowledge and skill, the lecture series promises an enriching experience for the avid learner.In association with the Yi chapter of the college, the event Technopreneur - a lecture series was organised alongside Excel in the years 2006 and 2007. Sowing the seeds of a greener Kochi in the midst of urbanisation, Excel brought forth an organic farming campaign on 15 August 2014 as one the events of Excel 2014.

A large number of technical and non technical events are distributed throughout the days of the fest. The events can be broadly listed under the following categories -

TECHNICAL EVENTS

Technical events form the backbone of Excel. Excel organises a wide variety of events for its participants, ranging from robotic events such as ROBOWARS to electronic events such as DEFUSE (a circuit debugging event in which participants are required to defuse an electronic "bomb" within the given time), EXTRINSICITY (a classic electronic circuit design and debugging event), TERRAIN MASTER(create a small robot which could surpass and survive the obstacle track created, WAVE CLONING( an event that challenges participants to replicate the pre-specified waveform). Computer events at Excel include /BIN/BASH (an event that tests participants’ Linux and shell scripting skills), 4x120 (a team coding event in which a participant codes for an allotted time and teammates continue from where he/she left off), WEB MANDRAKE(website design event), APP GENIUS(participants have to modify the app that is given in the most creative way) and other coding events like LORD OF THE CODE , WEB BOT and #INCLUDE which instigate coders to think at a whole new level). Electrical events include LUMIERE (an event where participants are required to light a set of bulbs in the given order), EXTUNDO PRODIGO(participants are required to create things from a given set of materials and use them to complete tasks such as obstacle courses). Excel also includes biomedical events - LIFELINE (a circuit debugging event in which participants are required to debug malfunctioning ‘life support devices’ in order to save the life of a ‘patient’).