Vaishali Sharma is an Indian engineer, innovator and revolutionary educationist. She is the co-founder of Young Tinker Academy and Young Tinker Foundation, which was started to empower high school students with “Skill Consciousness” and hands-on STEM problem-solving to ideate, prototype, and build innovative solutions.
At the Young Tinker Foundation, she works on designing Young Tinker Spaces, creating teaching tools, and developing indigenous projects that solve real-life problems. Her team at the Young Tinker Foundation has impacted the lives of over 275,000 students across India. She has also developed content in vernacular languages for Tinker on Wheels – a mobile lab that transforms Indian school outdoors into AI STEM labs. Additionally, she has been shortlisted among the top 130 women entrepreneurs for the Women Transforming India Award by NITI Aayog, Government of India.
Recently, she was invited to the Berlin Science Week as the Winner in Science Engagement category in the Falling Walls Engage conducted by the Falling Walls Foundation, Berlin, Germany.
In 2021, she created India’s 1st U-19 team which secured World Rank 3 in NASA’s Rover Challenge 2021. This student team comprised of students from all spheres of life such as an 18 -year old boy who was earlier a cycle mechanic, and a 17-year old girl who worked in a welding shop to name a few. This Indian team made everyone realise the potential of the students at the grassroots. Her another student team won one of the category award at NASA Rover Challenge 2023, which included students from orphanages & remote villages apart from other students.
She has also received prestigious awards like 3M-CII YICA Special Impact prize, Award of Excellence by STPI, Govt of India, ‘Women Tech TrailBlazeHER of the Year Award’ from the Delhi Management Association. This recognition is a testament to the impactful endeavors. Her focus of work is on bringing girls & women in S.T.E.M. She believes the women’s talents whom we nurture are the true achievements of her work. She is working on creating women role-models who can become leaders and take the nation forward.
