A Mobile App That Diagnoses Diabetes From a Urine Strip, Construction Blocks Made From Rice Husk Ash That Use 30 Percent Less Cement, a Clay Cooler That Works Without Electricity, and Pain-Free Diabetes Strips That Need No Blood: What 8 Student Groups From India and Switzerland Built in Two Weeks Through Parul University’s COIL Program With BFH.

Parul University‘s partnership with Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH) operates on two tracks. The in-person track sends 11 selected students to Bern for the at Rs 2.30 lakhs per student: multicultural teams, real Swiss industry problems, prototype development, competitive pitch to expert jury.The COIL track, Collaborative Online International Learning, makes international collaboration accessible to every student on campus without travel costs.

The COIL program is a semester-long hybrid course titled Affordability in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, co-designed by PIERC (Parul University’s incubation centre) and BFH. Students work through 6 learning cycles on a platform called Nodal, combining individual LMS sessions with group collaboration. The program launched in March 2026 with the joint credit course framework detailed in the program announcement. The Phase 2 session on 20 March 2026 was where all 8 groups (4 Indian, 4 Swiss) presented their innovation ideas, received bilateral feedback in breakout rooms, and prepared for the final presentation scheduled for 23 May.

In the earlier sessions, students studied five real-world affordable innovation case studies ranging from one-dollar corrective glasses to gravity-based energy storage systems, establishing the methodological framework they would apply to their own innovation ideas. The program’s approach to innovation and entrepreneurship education, including PIERC’s incubation infrastructure, FABLAB access, and 324+ outreach events, is documented in the program overview article. What follows in this article is what the students built when they applied that framework.

What Is Affordable Innovation: $1 Glasses to Gravity Energy Storage

Why Study Innovation at Parul University: PIERC, FABLAB, Swiss Partnership

The distinction matters: the in-person program costs Rs 2.30 lakhs and selects 11 students. COIL costs nothing beyond regular tuition and is available to MBA,Social Work,and Engineering students. It provides the same cross-cultural collaboration, the same Swiss academic partnership, and the same innovation methodology, delivered through a hybrid format that scales to more students than any physical exchange can.

AVANIKA is a low-cost healthcare solution designed for communities where lab facilities are limited or absent. The system uses a urine test strip that can be scanned using a mobile phone camera. The app analyses the strip and provides instant results for glucose levels (diabetes detection), urinary tract infection, kidney infection, and hydration levels.

The concept addresses a specific problem in rural India: basic diagnostic tests require travel to a clinic or hospital, which costs time and money that many families cannot afford. AVANIKA eliminates the hospital visit for screening-level tests. No technical knowledge is required to use it. The cost is low enough for widespread adoption. The team applied the same affordable healthcare innovation principles studied in Session 1’s case studies, where examples like one-dollar corrective glasses demonstrated that life-changing health interventions do not require expensive technology.

Challenges the team identified: accuracy may not match laboratory testing (this is a screening tool, not a diagnostic replacement). Medical approval and certification are required before deployment. Result quality depends on mobile camera quality and lighting conditions. These are honest limitations that demonstrate the team understood the difference between a concept and a deployable product.

Also check COIL Launch: Parul University x BFH Joint Credit Course

HuskForge Eco Blocks are construction blocks made from agricultural waste: rice husk ash and wheat husk ash. The innovation reduces cement usage by approximately 30 percent, which directly reduces both cost and carbon emissions from construction. The blocks provide better thermal insulation than traditional materials, meaning buildings stay cooler in hot weather without additional energy consumption.

Team members: Yash Kalpesbhai Ladva, Mishra Vikash, Vishvas Baidiyavadara, Prakhar Maru, and Jaydeep R. Jogiya. The target applications are rural housing projects, partition walls, and low-rise construction where the structural demands are compatible with the material’s properties.

The innovation connects India’s agricultural waste problem (rice and wheat husk are abundantly available and typically burned, contributing to pollution) with the construction sector’s cement dependency (cement production is one of the largest sources of industrial CO2 emissions). By converting waste into building material, HuskForge addresses two problems simultaneously. The team identified market awareness and builder trust in new materials as the primary adoption barriers.

The Terracotta Cooler is a natural cooling system made from clay that works through evaporative cooling: water absorbed into the terracotta material slowly evaporates through small pores, removing heat from the surrounding air in the process. No electricity required. No running costs. Locally producible from materials available in most Indian regions.

Team members: Juliana Godfrey Mheluka, Nandana Nair, Hanwat Singh, Sagar Sharma, and Rajiv Tiwari. The problem they addressed: high temperatures in rural areas where affordable cooling systems do not exist, electricity is unreliable or absent, and modern coolers and air conditioners are financially out of reach.

The innovation combines traditional Indian knowledge (clay vessels have been used for cooling water for centuries) with modern design improvements: enhanced airflow efficiency, optional solar-powered fan attachment for improved circulation, and scalable design for both household and semi-urban applications. The concept is eco-friendly, biodegradable, supports local production and employment, and reduces dependency on energy-intensive cooling systems.

EasyGluco offers a non-invasive method for diabetes detection using urine test strips. The system detects glucose levels and ketone presence (an early warning for diabetic ketoacidosis) without requiring blood sampling. Users collect a sample, dip the strip for 2 seconds, and compare the colour change to a reference chart after 30 to 60 seconds.

Team members: Harsh Gupta, Anvika Marathe, Mahenur Shaikh, Ishan Kashiv, and Aayush Priyanshu. The design uses inexpensive paper and reagents, making it cost-effective for home screening. For underserved communities where regular blood glucose monitoring is impractical due to cost, pain avoidance, or absence of medical facilities, EasyGluco provides early detection capability that could prevent complications and save lives.

After presentations, the session moved to bilateral feedback: each group was assigned to a separate breakout room with another group. Indian and Swiss students discussed each other’s innovations, identified strengths and weaknesses, challenged assumptions, and provided structured critique. The feedback was documented and later consolidated. This session ran from 3:00 PM to 4:15 PM Indian time.

The bilateral format is where COIL’s value becomes most visible. When a Swiss student questions the accuracy assumptions of AVANIKA, or when an Indian student challenges the market adoption timeline for HuskForge, the critique comes from a fundamentally different innovation context. Swiss students bring European regulatory perspective, market validation methodology, and structured prototype development experience. Indian students bring frugal innovation thinking, cost-sensitivity awareness, and understanding of deployment in resource-constrained environments. Neither perspective is complete alone. Both are necessary for innovations that claim to be affordable and scalable.

Harsh Gupta (MBA aspirant): described the program as a seamless blend of global insights and practical learning, covering startup ideation, sustainable business models, and cross-cultural innovation strategies. Mansi Prajapati noted the competitive spirit within teams and the use of active listening to reach consensus on innovation ideas. Harshad Bane (social work student) described learning how to identify societal problems and develop affordable solutions, with interaction with BFH students providing new ideas and different perspectives.

Avani described the bilateral feedback session as intellectually stimulating, offering cross-cultural perspectives on how innovation and entrepreneurship function across two different landscapes. Sanskruti Mahurkar credited Unnati Ma’am, Hutesh Sir (Mr. Hutesh Baviskar, PIERC Incubation Manager), and Jay Sir for guidance throughout the course. Multiple students noted that as Social Work and MBA students, not engineers, the course helped them understand how real-life problems can be addressed through simple, practical, and innovative solutions.

COIL is one layer of a multi-layered international partnership. The in-person Innovation Management Programme sends students to Bern (Rs 2.30 lakhs, 15-20 days, multicultural teams, Swiss industry problems, and BFH faculty who said the 2026 Parul University cohort was on a different level). YEEP brings Swiss students to PIERC for Indian startup exposure. COIL provides the semester-long hybrid collaboration that extends the partnership’s reach to students who cannot travel.

The innovation projects developed through COIL feed directly into PIERC‘s incubation ecosystem, which the program overview article details alongside the FABLAB (Fabrication Laboratory) and 324+ entrepreneurship outreach events that form Parul University’s innovation infrastructure. PIERC has incubated 254 startups with Rs 20 crore+ in funding and Rs 40 crore+ in revenue. Solnce Energy secured Rs 1 crore on Shark Tank India. Voldebug Innovations received an award from the Home Minister. A student who develops AVANIKA or HuskForge through COIL and wants to take it further has a direct pathway to PIERC incubation, mentorship, and funding support. The classroom innovation can become a startup. The COIL program is the first step; PIERC is the next.

Also Read: Why Study Innovation at Parul University: PIERC and Swiss Partnership