Chetan Maini, managing director of Bangalore based REVA Electric Car Company, has "stopped innovating and started playing", according to the Young Entrepreneurs Organisation (VEO).

This is the category in which Maini - who has developed half a dozen electric, solar, and hybrid-electric vehicles over the past decade - won this year's Thomas Alva Edison Award for Innovation, established by YEO and the Edison Preservation Foundation to honour YEO members for innovative contributions to society.

"Such awards encourage young entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams," says Maini. "I myself was such an entrepreneur.

Today I see my dreams taking shape with the positive response that the REVA has got from the Indian market."

The 'stop innovating and start playing' category is based on the principle Edison applied when he yearned to develop something but was faced with a mind block: he reminded himself to play first by experimenting for fun, thus relieving the pressure and releasing creative energy.

The other two categories in the annual awards are also based on Edison's tenets: 'fail your way to success' and 'limitation is a springboard to greater creativity'.