Samsung Launches ‘Solve for Tomorrow’, an Innovation Competition for India’s youth to solve real-world problems

GURUGRAM – Samsung, India’s most admired brand, today launched the inaugural edition of Solve for Tomorrow, a new youth-centric national education and innovation competition, inviting India’s brightest young minds to come up with innovative ideas that can transform the lives of people and communities around them.

With Solve for Tomorrow, a citizenship initiative that engages Gen Z around the world, Samsung aims to provide support to youth in India aged 16-22 years from across cities, towns and villages to turn their ideas to solve real-world issues into action. In the first year, Solve for Tomorrow is inviting ideas in the areas of Education, Environment, Healthcare and Agriculture, the priority UN Sustainable Development Goals for India.

Support will include mentoring of the top 50 teams (individuals or teams of up to 3 members) by industry experts and Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT Delhi) to help enhance their ideas, along with a boot-camp at IIT Delhi, a certificate of participation, and vouchers worth INR 100,000 for online courses in design thinking, STEM, innovation, leadership, among others. The top 10 teams will get the opportunity to visit Samsung India offices, its R&D centres and Samsung Opera House in Bengaluru where they will interact with young Samsung employees and researchers.

The annual program will end with the grand announcement of three national winners, who stand a chance to get mega support of up to INR 1 crore and mentoring support for six months to take their ideas to the next level under the expert guidance of IIT Delhi.

Participants can apply for Solve for Tomorrow, get detailed information on the program and terms and conditions at www.samsung.com/in/solvefortomorrow, starting June 09, 2022 till 5 pm, July 31, 2022.

Mr. Ken Kang, President and CEO, Samsung Southwest Asia, said, “At Samsung, harnessing the power of youth is priority. This is what drives us and our global CSR vision of ‘Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People,’ which seeks to empower the next generation to achieve their full potential and pioneer positive social changes. Solve for Tomorrow also takes us a step ahead in our vision of ‘Powering Digital India’ as the country’s strongest partner.”

 “With Solve for Tomorrow, we aim to motivate and nurture creative thinking and problem-solving among the youth and encourage them to find innovative technology solutions with a social impact. We want to play our part in strengthening the innovation ecosystem in the country, taking forward the vision of the Government and the people of this country,” he said.

Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director, IIT Delhi, said: “With Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow initiative, we are looking at prospective innovations with impact potential to address the future challenges faced by society. This partnership will enable young change-makers to explore wider opportunities and provide a platform for activating and nurturing their ideas.”

Solve for Tomorrow at a Glance

Who can participate: 16-22 year-olds, individually or in teams of up to 3

Application themes: Education, Environment, Healthcare and Agriculture

What will they get: Online training, mentoring from Samsung & IIT Delhi, Bootcamp at IIT Delhi

What do winners get: Total of up to INR 1 crore to 3 winning teams, mentoring for 6 months

Where can they apply: www.samsung.com/in/solvefortomorrow

From when: Starting June 09, 2022

Till when: Till 5 pm, July 31, 2022

 Application Window – Round One

Individuals or teams of up to three can submit their applications on www.samsung.com/in/solvefortomorrow, where they will elaborate on the problem they are solving, the proposed solution and its social impact.

A jury comprising of subject matter experts from FITT, IIT Delhi will shortlist top 50 teams from among all the applications received, based on a selection criteria that includes the best use of technology (app, product or service), creativity, originality of idea, feasibility of the solution with current technology, potential to positively impact society or the environment and the potential to reach its intended target audience.

Idea Development – Round Two

In this round, the top 50 teams will be provided online training on design thinking and will attend a boot camp at IIT Delhi on developing a proof of concept. The teams will also get support from professors and mentors at IIT Delhi to detail out their ideas and start working on their early prototypes.

Each participant from the 50 selected teams will get a certificate of participation and course vouchers of up to INR 100,000 that gets them access to any online course relevant to design thinking, STEM, innovation, entrepreneurship, business skills, management and leadership.

Once teams submit videos on their ideas and prototypes, a jury panel of experts from Samsung will select 10 teams that will move to Round Three. The selection criteria for this round will include development of the idea since original submission, demonstrable use of research and/or testing to understand needs of the target audience, demonstration of design thinking and quality of presentation.

Final Prototype Building – Round Three

Top 10 teams will be given next level of online training covering topics such as prototyping and designing for manufacturing, introduction to business communication, funding opportunities and certifications as well as mentoring from experts at Samsung and IIT Delhi to prepare their ideas for the finale.

Teams will also visit Samsung facilities including its India Headquarters in Gurugram, its R&D centres in Noida and Bengaluru and the world’s largest mobile experience centre at the iconic Opera House in Bengaluru where they will interact with young Samsung employees and researchers.

At the end of this round, the teams will submit their final prototypes and prepare for a live presentation at the Finale Event in front of an eminent jury.

Top 10 teams will be given Samsung hampers worth INR 100,000, which will include exciting Samsung products.

Samsung will offer a total of up to INR 1 crore in grants to three winning teams, getting them one step closer to turn their ideas into their dream startups that can help address India’s key concerns in the areas of Agriculture, Education, Environment and Healthcare.

In addition, winning teams will also get an 85-inch Samsung Flip interactive digital board for their respective schools and colleges.

With the grant, winners will get the opportunity to work with mentors from IIT Delhi for a period of 6 months and get access to an incubation centre at the IIT Delhi campus. During these 6 months, they will work on their ideas and take it to the stage where they can seek consumer validation for their prototypes.

First launched in the US in 2010, Solve for Tomorrow is currently operational in 33 countries globally, and has seen over 1.8 million young people participate worldwide.

Globally, participants in the competition have developed several innovative solutions, such as converting food waste into leather, a portable desalination device equipped with a solar panel to filter polluted water and using coffee grounds to as an alternative energy source to alleviate pollution, among many others.

To find out more and register for the competition in India, visit www.samsung.com/in/solvefortomorrow. Application entry closes at 5 pm on July 31, 2022.

Samsung believes in using innovation to positively transform communities and create a better life for people through its citizenship initiatives. Empowering youth through education is one of the best ways we can prepare our young people to boldly face the world of the future.

Samsung Electronics runs three citizenship programs globally – Samsung Smart School, Samsung Innovation Campus and Solve for Tomorrow – through which it is empowering the leaders of tomorrow and equipping them with the tools they will need to realize meaningful change.