Teams from Chandigarh University, Punjab and Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur Win ‘Accenture Innovation Challenge’ 2022
Accenture held the 2022 edition of the ‘Accenture Innovation Challenge’, a national competition that aims to encourage undergraduates and graduates from both technology and non-technology streams to develop innovative real-world solutions using a combination of technology and creativity. Focused on the theme of ‘Innovate for 360° Value,’ this year’s challenge focused on three key areas – innovate for business, innovate for society, and innovate to build a sustainable world.
The team from Chandigarh University, Punjab won the ‘Accenture Innovation Challenge’ 2022 in the engineering and graduate colleges category; the teams from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (TIET), Patiala, and Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi, were respectively the first and second runners-up. The team from CSMSS Shahu College of Engineering, Aurangabad, was awarded the special jury award.
In the B-School category, the team from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Udaipur, emerged as the winner and teams from Xavier Institute of Management (XIM), Bhubaneswar, and IIM, Shillong, were the first and second runners-up respectively. The team from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai, was recognized with the special jury award.
The grand prize winners received prizes worth INR 100,000 per student. Students from the first and second runners-up teams received prizes worth INR 75,000 each. Additionally, all eligible students participated in a fast-track recruitment process by Accenture for its Advanced Technology Centers in India.
Accenture Innovation Challenge 2022 saw more than 10,000 innovative ideas coming from over 98,000 college students in India. In addition, this year students from any batch or stream across engineering and non-engineering full-time programs were eligible to participate in the challenge. This year’s challenge was open to B-school students as well.
The winners of the Accenture Innovation Challenge 2022 are:
Engineering and Graduates track
Winner: Won by the team from Chandigarh University for leveraging home-automation for building an affordable humanoid ‘Sahaya’ to care for the elderly or people with disabilities. Integrated with home automation, the humanoid can help people to control devices easily.
First runner-up: Won by the team from TIET, Patiala, for developing a health-tech device called Alzhocare, focussed on helping Alzheimer’s patients to lead their lives without extreme restrictions imposed on them for safety and health. The three-way functioning of their device serves as a tight security bubble, reducing the number of deaths that take place due to the wandering of Alzheimer’s patients and helps improve the safety and security of Alzheimer’s patients by allowing their family members to keep a track of their medicine usage, health stats, and anxiety levels remotely.
Second runner-up: Won by the team from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi for developing a comprehensive business model based on detailed surveys to bring together the artisans on a single platform and providing them with training and market linkages to revive the languishing craft forms of India and creating more earning opportunities for them.
Jury’s choice: Team Robo Crops from CSMSS Shahu College of Engineering, Aurangabad, Maharashtra for creating a semi-automatic fertilizer distributor machine for crops to help reduce labor, time, and management for farmers. With crop identification by using computer vision, the multipurpose machine can help farmers to distribute fertilizers in both solid as well as liquid state.
B-school track
Winner: Won by the team from IIM, Udaipur, for creating a user-friendly solution to help combat infections in cattle. The solution aims to provide high accuracy and low medical errors to ensure cattle health is not compromised.
First runner-up: Won by the team from XIM, Bhubaneswar, for developing a user-friendly application ‘Grecycle’ for the identification and exchange of used branded items for the purpose of recycling. The application will help people recycle their cosmetic and personal care products and get rewards in return.
Second runner-up: Won by the team from IIM, Shillong, for building an integrated digital platform ‘Koshish’, which can bring together all stakeholders in one place to bridge the gap in education for migrant children by streamlining their school education.
Jury’s choice: Won by the team from NMIMS, Mumbai, for developing a metaverse solution to allow voters to choose and interact with their representatives while ensuring trust and transparency of the process, increasing the reach of the candidates, as well as enabling the convenience and inclusivity of citizens.
The challenge featured three levels. In the first level, students were asked to submit their ideas on the three themes. The shortlisted teams were mentored by leaders from Accenture and industry experts. In the second level, the students presented their innovative ideas to jury members, and 14 teams were selected to compete in the grand finale. The finalists were evaluated by a jury comprising of senior industry leaders from Accenture, start-up founders, members of academia and venture capitalists.