India Innovation Growth Programme 2.0 top winners announced

New Delhi: 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).
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 Up-speed Funding.
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.
Welcoming the guests, Dr. A. Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI stated “FICCI is
proud to be a founding partner of the India Innovation Growth Programme. Along with the
Department of Science and Technology, Lockheed Martin and Tata Trusts, we look to
continue to build on the tremendous success of the last 10 years, and support in
commercialisation and recognition of entrepreneurs who are willing and capable of starting
innovative start-ups.”
Delivering his keynote address, Dr. Harshvardhan, Union Minister of Science,
Technology and Earth Sciences, Government of India said “This is a golden period in
India’s history. The Mission Innovation movement of the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri
Narendra Modi, who not only gave the idea but also coined the term, has been very well
appreciated across the world. Anyone in the country, who has an idea and the passion for
innovation, whether educated or not, will have the rock solid support of the government to
convert the idea into a successful enterprise.”
“The India Innovation Growth Programme 2.0 is bound to enrich the innovation value chain
in India. Innovators must remember that money is a means and not an end to your
entrepreneurial dreams.” Shri Y.S. Chowdary, Minister of State for Science, Technology
and Earth Sciences, Government of India.
“The India Innovation Growth Programme has been supporting startups for over a decade.
As IIGP 2.0, the partnership has been strengthened to scale up the programme. To continue
to be leaders, IIGP 2.0 needs to think ahead and grow exponentially with support to 100
entrepreneurs each year. We must also ensure that the gospel of innovations must reach the
grassroots level in the next decade.” Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of
Science and Technology.
“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.”
Addressing the innovators, Mr. Nirankar Saxena, Assistant Secretary General, FICCI
said “Over the last decade, IIGP has played an instrumental role in building the start-up,
innovation & technology ecosystem in India with tremendous impact to show. Over the next
10 years, as IIGP 2.0, the programme aims to scale the impact to 10 billion and more,
continuing to contribute to the vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.”
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