The winners from the University Challenge and Open Innovation Challenge of the India Innovation Growth Programme 2.0 (IIGP 2.0) were announced in New Delhi today. Over 1300 applications for innovative ideas across social and industrial sectors were received. From the more than 1300 applications, 50 innovators were invited to participate in a week-long advanced training session covering the basic principles of product commercialization, readiness for market, business models, intellectual property rights and competitive positioning by faculty members from the Indian Institute of Ahmedabad (IIM- A).

Dignitary attending the IIGP 2.0 award ceremony

The India Innovation Growth Programme 2.0 (IIGP 2.0) made up of Tata Trusts along with founding stakeholders the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and global security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin, display a renewed focus on innovations addressing socio-economic challenges. The newly enhanced programme is joined by new partners, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, in addition to the on-going support and partnership from FICCI and IUSSTF.

Following presentations on their ideas in front of an esteemed judges panel, 10 innovators were declared winners of the IIGP award for 2017. This includes a certificate and a cash award of INR 10 lakh each to winners of the University Challenge and up to INR 25 lakh each to winners of the Open Innovation Challenge as Upspeed Funding.

Winners of the IIGP 2.0 University challenge being presented with a cheque and certificate

The winning innovations of IIGP 2.0, 2017 provide technologies that can facilitate the promising missions of the government of India, including, Swachch Bharat – Clean India, Green India, Make in India, Digital India, and the recently adopted Healthy India. The IIGP through its past and present winners is striving to strengthen these flagship government initiatives by being a technology enabler.

“Through the India Innovation Growth Programme, we challenge innovators to bring forth ideas and innovations that will shape India’s industrial future,” said Lockheed Martin Chief Technology Officer Keoki Jackson. “This is a tremendous partnership between government, academia and industry as well as a primary example of how we are supporting Make in India’s goal to position the country as a hub for global manufacturing.”

“Tata Trusts have epitomised for over hundred years the concept now recognized as Corporate Social Responsibility. Innovation in technology and its solutions is crucial in the Trusts’ quest to scale and enhance the reach and execution of its programmes. The Trusts bring to IIGP 2.0 their strong interest in innovations that have an effective and durable impact on social change.” Padma Shri V. R. Mehta, Trustee, Tata Trusts.

Congratulating the IIGP winners, Shri Harkesh Mittal, Adviser, Member Secretary, National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science & Technology, Government of India said, “the technologies on display during the competition ensure us that India is sitting on a goldmine of talent. Through IIGP, we hope to inspire a new wave of technological development and find solutions to problems facing India and the world.”

IIGP 2.0 has also been supported by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) through Startup India. They will be registering fifty startups that are part of the final stage of IIGP. The IIGP 2.0 is the only public-private partnership of its kind that will invest in social and industrial innovations, train innovators in world-class commercialization strategies, offer support for incubation and assist in business development, ultimately taking ideas and Indian technologies into the global marketplace. The programme will enable entrepreneurs to develop science and technology-based solutions for the benefit of the society. 

About Department of Science and Technology (DST)

Department of Science and Technology (DST) plays a pioneering role in driving the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) development across various domains all over the country. DST has a multipronged approach and multifarious initiatives and activities, spanning from funding high-end basic and cutting edge research and technology development of excellence, to translation of innovation and scientific outputs to market through incubators and startup promotion. DST also focuses on inclusive growth and empowerment of society by deploying appropriate technologies of societal relevance. DST has established nearly 110 technology business incubators at Institutions of excellence including IITs, IIMs, NITs and leading private universities. DST has recently rolled out a new umbrella initiative NIDHI i.e National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations under Prime Minister’s National Initiative of Startup India to facilitate conversion of innovative ideas to startups.  DST is actively involved in transforming the Indian innovation landscape by engaging new models of Public- Private Partnerships with leading MNCs  i.e. Intel, Bennett Coleman and Co, Boeing, Lockheed Martin Corp, Texas Instruments, Tatas among others.

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 97,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

About Tata Trusts

Tata Trusts is amongst India's oldest, non-sectarian philanthropic organizations that work in several areas of community development. Since its inception, Tata Trusts has played a pioneering role in transforming traditional ideas of philanthropy to make impactful sustainable change in the lives of the communities served. Through direct implementation, co-partnership strategies and grant making, the Trusts support and drive innovation in the areas of education; healthcare and nutrition; rural livelihoods; natural resources management; enhancing civil society and governance and media, arts, crafts and culture. Tata Trusts continues to be guided by the principles of its Founder, Jamsetji Tata, and through his vision of proactive philanthropy, the Trusts catalyze societal development while ensuring that initiatives and interventions have a contemporary relevance to the nation.

For more information, please visit http://tatatrusts.org/.

For more details on the Programme visit: www.indiainnovates.in.