Kanak Gogoi, a 12th passed entrepreneur from Guwahati, has over a dozen innovations under his name, from a gravity-operated bicycle to a car that can run on air. However, he refuses to commercialize any of his creations because he believes that the government has been negligent towards scientific innovations.

Gogoi says, “The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offered to build a fully furnished lab for me in Guwahati. The Chief Minister had granted me about 1.6 acres of land in 2007, but the file is still lying untouched at the local administrative office.”

Felicitated by the President of India last week for his achievements, the 47-year-old Gogoi is a celebrity in Guwahati’s scientific and engineering circles. He has developed his penchant for creating extraordinary things from ordinary materials used for day-to-day activities during his younger days.

When Gogoi started out, he had two options; pay up his children’s school fees or spend the money for his scientific innovations. He opted for the latter. In the past 13 years, he has spent Rs. 1.5 crore (Rs. 15 million) of his own money to satisfy his scientific and engineering curiosities, but steadfastly refuses to commercialize any of them and blames the government for not promoting scientific innovations.

Gogoi has not bothered to apply for intellectual property rights (IPR) for any of his innovations. “I have a successful real estate business, which affords me the luxury of having enough spare money and spare time to concentrate on my engineering activities. I don’t expect and nor do I wish for any monetary returns,” says Gogoi who had refused an invitation from a North Carolina based organization to shift to their campus with a daily stipend of $1,000.