Mumbai: The 6th edition of Innovation for India Awards (IIA) concluded with Marico Innovation Foundation awarding 6 winners in the business and social sectors: Agastya International Foundation, ERAM Scientific, The Better India, Concept medical, Green India Building Systems and Services (GIBSS) and xBITS. Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, graced the occasion as Chief Guest for the event. The Innovation for India award winners are selected basis 4 key pillars by our knowledge partner EY along with a board of independent jury: Uniqueness, Impact, Potential to Scale and Practicality. The winning projects, in their respective categories were:

Social category:

·         Agastya International Foundation: Taking education to the children Agastya International Foundation’s Lab on Bike (LOB) program aims to empower India; with a trained instructor on a motorbike equipped with a Lab in a Box(LIB) – a set of 10 theme-based boxes covering a variety of topics in science moving from one village to another

·         ERAM Scientific developed e-lite 14, especially designed for schools is a modular, and pre-fabricated public toilet made up of mild steel and is integrated with user-friendly electronic interfaces to address the issue of open defecation in India

·         The Better India: India’s first media start-up, The Better India is dedicated to showcasing positive news and social development news, showcases unsung heroes, change-makers and grass-root innovations catalyzing significant on-ground impact

Business category:

·         Concept Medical developed a drug delivery device that uses a balloon to deliver Sirolimus preventing lesions in heart arteries during surgery for coronary artery disease

·         Green India Building Systems and Services (GIBSS) developed building systems that helps businesses reduce operating costs by up to 60% through a suite of energy efficient products in the area of air conditioning, hot water generation and lighting

·         xBITS developed RightBiotic, which is an affordable point-of-care (POC) device for testing antibiotic sensitivity of pathogens found in human urine leading to urinary tract infections (UTIs). The device gives the sensitivity results within 4 hours

Commenting on the event, Harsh Mariwala, Chairman, Marico Ltd. said that “We are proud to be the platform that strives to bring forth India’s best innovations. The pace of change and breakthrough innovations showcased in the wide variety of entries is proof that India has enough talent with ideas that can make a real difference to people. The jury’s job is getting tougher with each passing year.”

While the innovations did take Centre stage, the Pièce De Résistance of the event was the fireside chat led by Noshir Kaka, MD, McKinsey India on ‘DISRUPTIVE INNOVATIONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON INDIA’. Participating in this discussion were Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-Founder and CEO – OlaCabs, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder, PayTM & Haresh Chawla, Partner, India Value Fund Advisors and Ashish Hemrajani, Founder, Book My Show

Dr. RA Mashelkar, Honorary Chairman of the Governing Council, Marico Innovation Foundation commented “With each passing award year of India for Innovation awards, I am heartened to see growing number of entries in both the social as well as the business categories. These innovations are not only driven to deliver impact at levels India needs the most, but also are at costs that can truly make them affordable for masses. Every entry we have received this year showcase the growing scientific temper in entrepreneurs and businesses, and prove that India is surely surging ahead”.

Of the 481 entries received this year, 55 were shortlisted to be presented to the Jury. This year our eminent Jury members as per categories were as follows:

Social Category: Dr. RA Mashelkar, Anu Aga, Kishore Mariwala, Paul Basil, Ramji Raghavan, G.G. Sohani, Dr Harish Hande, Chetna Gala Sinha

Business Jury: Dr RA Mashelkar, Shanti Ekambaram, Praveen Gandhi, Sourav Majumdar, Ganesh Natarajan, Sam Balsara, R. Sundar, Srikrishna Ramamoorthy, Dr. Ajit Ranade

The first Jury round saw 15 shortlists, followed with the second Jury round. The winning applications were audited by our knowledge partner, Ernst & Young. After thorough scrutiny and verification, the final 6 winners were chosen.

With yet another year of Marico Innovation Foundation’s Innovation for India Awards coming to a conclusion, it was another year of some amazing efforts that make a difference to India coming to light.

Source : Lokesh Shastri