In an attempt to inspire young India to innovate and help them hone their talent, Intel in alliance with the Department of Science and Technology has launched the “Digital India Challenge 2.0.” This year’s challenge in collaboration with MyGov, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY), and T-Hub Foundation is aimed at inspiring innovation at the grassroot level.
Minister of Information Technology, K. T Rama Rao, Government of Telangana such public and private collaboration could help initiate a culture based on innovation. Managing Director, and VP Sales and Marketing, Debjani Ghosh said that the rate of technology adaptation in India is low and Intel endeavors to create a community of innovators who will increase the rate of new technology adaptation in the country.
Intel recently collaborated with NITI Ayog to start working on establishing tinkering laboratories for the young makers in ten schools across the country. These Atal Tinkering laboratories will serve as a precedent for 490 others that are said to be launched soon after.
Another project by Intel involved with Department of Science & Technology, and Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SINE) from IIT Bombay to form a new collaborative incubation program named ‘Plugin’, to support hardware and start-ups based on systems.
In another similar program, Intel, with the help of the Ministry of HRD trained 10,000 children on ideation and maker skills.
Automation and technology will bring in a scalable solution. The IoT and Cloud technology will transform the digital experience as we see it today. The Challenge this year will roll-out in five different stages, and the grand finale will take place in April 2017. The teams that are shortlisted will be eligible to receive an INR 3,00,000 grant so that they can create minimum viable products (MVPs) based on the Intel Architecture (iA) at the T-Hub incubator in Hyderabad.
After the final round of displaying their innovation more in detail, the winner will walk away with an INR 20,00,000 grant to work on their project. This model of competition is similar to the one used by Google for it Mars mission competition.
Such competitions are designed to promote a higher quality of startup culture. The competition makes the innovators aware of their standings and thus work on their competitive drawbacks. This essentially provides the right infrastructure needed for innovation, especially in technology. This primary lynchpin is meant to act as a catalyst in the already existing startup culture in the country.
