Innovations Honored at the 1st-Ever WTFL Indian Startup Innovation Camp 2019 in Bangalore

• Startups that won the competition under the categories of Community, Conservation, Culture and Commerce are F5 Escapes, Quick Ride, NotOnMap and MeTripping, respectively


• These innovations were first-of-its-kind innovations; poised to disrupt the travel, tourism and hospitality sector


• In association with IHCL and Tata Trusts, WTFL is committed to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in the sector


• WTFL Start-Up Innovation Camp 2019 focused on talent, innovation, diversity and sustainable development within and beyond travel, tourism and hospitality industry

After attaining a successful stature at global level, World Tourism Forum Lucerne (WTFL) made its debut in India this year with first-of-its-kind competition – Indian Start-Up Innovation Camp 2019. The event concluded today on 18th December at Taj, Bengaluru where the four winners with the most unique and innovative ideas were announced.

In the first phase of evaluation, WTFL shortlisted 16 unique startups for the final round after evaluating 200 startup applications. Winners of this competition were announced in the categories of Community, Conservation, Culture and Commerce respectively in the field of travel, tourism and hospitality from the Indian subcontinent. They were also rewarded with USD 10,000 each along with a personalized two-year mentoring by industry experts.

Martin Barth, President and CEO, World Tourism Forum Lucerne said, “Out of all the game-changing ideas by 200 startups that applied for Indian Start-Up Innovation Camp 2019, we are happy to announce the names of four most unique startups that stood out with flying colors. We believe, organizing the event in India this year gave us an opportunity to come across interesting ideas. Considering that, India has a niche product portfolio in travel, tourism and hospitality sector and is expected to grow at a rate of 100% by 2028. We are sure to make a mark and create awareness around the on-going environmental issues and look forward to holding more such engaging events in India in the coming years."

[caption id="attachment_139733" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and CEO, The Indian Hotels Company[/caption]

Enclosed below is the list of start-up winners in each category:

Community	F5 Escapes, Bangalore (Malini Gaurishankar Founder & CEO, Akanksha Bumb, Co-founder & CEO)
Conservation	Quick Ride, Bangalore (Naveen Mamgain, Co-founder)
Culture	NotOnMap, Chamba (Kumar Anubhav, Founder)
Commerce	Me Tripping, Bangalore (Varun Gupta, Founder & CEO)

Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and CEO, The Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) said, “Tourism has been one of the growing economic sectors across the world. IHCL is proud to support WTFL in this great initiative to recognize innovation in the travel, tourism and hospitality sector, which is one of the biggest job creators globally."

Prabhat Pani, Senior Advisor - Partnerships, Tata Trusts, said, “The Travel, Tourism and Hospitality sector has the opportunity to bring about irreversible change in the remotest parts of India, through collective efforts of several institutions and influencers in the society. Tata Trusts believes that wider impact can be achieved through the creation of a collaborative ecosystem that fosters innovation, inclusion, sustainability and entrepreneurship. Further, Tata Trusts, with its focus on integrated community-based interventions across India, aim to create sustainable value-chains, while augmenting the socio-ecological resources.”

The globally renowned platform that provides world’s leading tourism, travel and hospitality leaders along with innovators to meet and shape a more sustainable future. For the past 10 years, WTFL has given an exclusive ground to the budding businessmen by nurturing their innovations in this sector. With this platform, our country will brace up to revive Brand India with the help of 5 Ts: Tradition, Talent, Tourism, Trade and Technology.

In 2017, Global Himalayan Expedition became the first Indian start-up to have won the prestigious WTFL competition.

About WTFL

The World Tourism Forum Lucerne is an exclusive platform where the world’s leading tourism, travel and hospitality companies meet to shape a more sustainable future for tourism. It provides decision-makers with in-depth insights into the core themes of the tourism industry and a unique global network. The World Tourism Forum Lucerne is the only platform to integrate start-ups, young executives and students into one program. Over the past ten years, it has evolved into a year-round network of leaders and innovators who are driving positive change in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. This includes an influential network of leaders from the business, education, politics, finance and community sectors.

The focus area for the upcoming India camp is the positive social impact of travel, tourism and hospitality across the globe in the following categories:

 

• Conservation (Of nature and natural resources and assets including green infrastructure, water management, recycling, upcycling)
  

• Community (Rural, eco, ethnic and authentic tourism experiences in remote locations that lead to positive economic, environmental and social impact)
  

• Culture (Collaborative and inclusive preservation of tradition, local culture and skills including food, and culinary co-hosting and revival)
  

• Commerce (An open category for all tech-enabled, disruptive, innovative, change-making, groundbreaking ideas in the sector)

About Indian Start-up Innovation Camp 2019:

Indian Start-Up Innovation Camp 2019 is scheduled for December 18th at the Taj Bengaluru and is inspired by unique start-ups operating in the categories of Conservation, Community, Culture and Commerce. The event will give the attendees a chance to interact with the founders along with an opportunity to vote for their favorite winner! 



About Tata Trusts:

Since inception in 1892, Tata Trusts, India’s the oldest philanthropic organization, has played a pioneering role in bringing about an enduring difference in the lives of the communities it serves. Guided by the principles and the vision of proactive philanthropy of the Founder, Jamsetji Tata, the Trusts’ purpose is to catalyze development in the areas of health, nutrition, education, water, sanitation and hygiene, livelihood, digital transformation, migration and urban habitat, social justice and inclusion, environment and energy, skill development, sports, and arts and culture. The Trusts’ programmes, achieved through direct implementation, partnerships and grant making, are marked by innovations, relevant to the country. 

Tata Trust’s CInI Scales Up Partnership With CropIn To Impact 40,000 Tribal Households in Jharkhand

The Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI), an Initiative of Tata Trusts, has scaled up its programme on Lakhpati Kisan with technology integration in partnership with agri-tech pioneer CropIn to improve the livelihoods of 40,000+ tribal households across its focused states in Central Indian Tribal Belt. The partnership was announced at an event conducted by CInI in Ranchi. This partnership comes as part of CInI’s ‘Mission 2020: Lakhpati Kisan – Smart Villages’ program, which aims to bring over 1 lakh households out of poverty by improving their livelihood and overall quality of life  in an irreversible and sustainable manner.

Nearly 85% of India’s agricultural sector comprises of small and marginal farmers, most of whom face challenges such as high production costs, low access to credit, and poor market linkages. Community Institutions such as Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) are a great way for these farmers to come together to overcome these issues and have economies of scale. FPOs provide a great opportunity for diverting a part of development funds into implementing technology projects for small and marginal farmers to meet their aspirations in the agriculture sector. 

The partnership with CInI is being implemented through community institutions that are led entirely by women farmers. These tribal women farmers are responsible for timely and effective monitoring of the farmlands along with providing regular guidance to the farmers. The program not only looks at poverty alleviation but also focuses strongly on women empowerment. 

The CInI’s program has witnessed great success since its launch in 2015 and has impacted the lives of over 100,000 households, bringing them in the ambit of institutional structures for driving change. They now want to strengthen their impact and efficacy by leveraging the advanced technologies in the field of agriculture to address the specific constraints faced by the tribal population in the region. CInI also believes in the merits of livestock development for which they are looking to initiate better animal husbandry practices. For taking the program to the next level with the help of a cutting-edge technology solution, CropIn will play an important role in achieving CInI’s vision of changing human lives for the better. 

The partnership announcement event held in Ranchi witnessed a community interaction that focused on the "Role of technology in enhancing smallholder farmers’ income”.

The gathering was attended by invitees from various like-minded organizations. Speaking on the occasion, Ganesh Neelam, Executive Director of CInI said, “Achieving aspirations of tribal communities through the focused Lakhpati Kisan programme has been the focus at CInI. For us, innovative technologies and approaches are core for achieving the outcomes of these communities. The partnership with a well-known technology partner such as CropIn is very unique and important for us to meet the audacious goals of our programme. We proactively look for this partnership to be taken at scale for larger benefits of small and marginal farmers.

The first phase of this partnership started in 2018, during which CInI leveraged CropIn’s SmartFarm to improve the livelihood of 4,300+ farmers across the Gorabanda and Dhalbhumgarh regions in Jharkhand. Looking at the outcomes and impact generated by this pilot, CropIn and CInI have decided to set a bigger goal of scaling up to reach more than 40,000 households. 

SmartFarm uses cutting-edge technologies like real-time satellite-based plot monitoring to intervene at every stage of the crop lifecycle. The solution helps build accurate farmer and produce profiles through proper channelization and digitization of data. It also actively engages farmers by sending them farm best practices advisories — not only for agriculture but also for livestock like pigs and goats. SmartFarm also helps monitor the field team that consists exclusively of women tribal farmers. The field staff engage with the farmers on a day-to-day basis and gather critical farm data using SmartFarm’s easy-to-use modules. SmartFarm helps conduct yield analysis, allowing CInI to measure the impact of the interventions and improve outcomes going forward.

"Through our partnership with CInI, we aim to promote technology in the larger space especially in the tribal areas. Additionally, we are also providing our solution for the livestock sector. The uniqueness of this program is that it is managed by women-led FPOs thereby emphasizing our focus on women empowerment. We are incredibly excited about this partnership and look forward to creating a positive impact in the lives of farmers." Jitesh Shah, CRO of CropIn Technology added.

About Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI)

Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI) is a nodal agency of the Tata Trusts, working on transforming the lives of tribal households in the Central India tribal belt. The organization works with various civil society organizations, agriculture and other knowledge institutions, state agencies to establish sustainable development models for tribal communities. 

In 2015, CInI launched a highly ambitious “Lakhpati Kisan – Smart Villages” program to work with over 100,000 families and make them lakhpati irreversibly and sustainably through agriculture and allied livelihood prototypes embedded with technology innovations led by community institutions and micro enterprises.

About CropIn

CropIn is a leading AI and Data-led agri-tech​ organization that provides SaaS solutions to agribusinesses globally. CropIn’s unique suite of products enables various stakeholders in the agri-ecosystem to adopt and drive digital strategy across their operations. 

Using cutting-edge technology like big data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and remote sensing, CropIn creates an interconnected network of all these stakeholders at different levels of the agriculture ecosystem, enabling clients to analyze and interpret data to derive real-time actionable insights on standing crop. Businesses can thus leverage technology to effectively drive their initiatives around Digitization, Predictability, Compliance, Sustainability and Traceability. 

With the vision to ‘maximize per acre value’ and the mission to ‘make every farm traceable’, CropIn adds value to agri-businesses by increasing efficiency, scaling productivity, and strengthening sustainability across the board. Thus far, CropIn has digitized over 5.5 million acres of farmland and enriched the lives of nearly 2.1 million farmers, while gathering data on 380+ crops and 3,600+ crop varieties in 46+ countries across 6 continents.

Govt Join Hands with Tata Trust for $42 Millon Skill Dev Centre of 10K Students Capacity

The skill development ministry on Wednesday announced an association with the Tata Trust to build a Rs 300 crore (~ US $42.169 million) modern training and skill development centre in the city.

While the government will provide 4 acres in National Skill Training Institute at Sion in Central Mumbai, the Tata Trust will build the infrastructure and run the centre at an investment of Rs 300 crore, Union Skill Development Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey told PTI here after a review meeting.

"The institute will have a capacity of 10,000 students. We expect to lay the foundation of this project by mid-September and hope that the institute will be fully operational by next year," he added.

The review meeting was attended by skill development and entrepreneurship secretary K P Krishnan, Tata Trust representatives and officials of National Skill Training Institute.

The institute will be of international standards of Singapore and Germany providing new-age skills including factory automation, digital manufacturing, cyber security, additive manufacturing, data analytics, digital design, smart mechatronics among others.

"We want to create future-ready workforce who can cope with the changing technology and digital environment. Along with the new age courses, the institute will also continue to provide traditional skill training courses," he added.

The institute, which is expected to be ready in 18 months, aims to pull in major private sector companies across sectors to create replicas and work like environment for imparting practical training, he said.

The government is planning to build another two such institutes at Ahmedabad in Gujarat and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh by 2022, he added. PTI SM AP

Google India-Tata Trusts to Expand Internet Saathi program to Punjab, Odisha

Google India and Tata Trusts Tuesday said their Internet Saathi initiative, that aims to facilitate digital literacy among women in rural India, will be expanded to villages in Punjab and Odisha.

Launched in July 2015, the Internet Saathi programme has so far, trained 70,000 'Internet Saathis', who have in turn impacted 2.6 crore women in the country.

"The programme now reaches 2.6 lakh villages across 18 states and we are adding two more - Punjab and Odisha. Internet Saathi has contributed towards bridging the digital gender divide in rural India - female to male ratio was 1 in 10 in 2015 and in 2018, it has increased to 4 in 10," Neha Barjatya, Chief Internet Saathi, Google India told PTI.

In Punjab, the program will cover around 5,000 villages, like Paras Rampur, Kotli Than Singh, Burj, Vehra and from Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala districts.

In Odisha, the program has been kicked off from Sindhia in Baleshwar, Parakana in Puri, Bhuinpur in Kendrapara, and will cover over 16,000 villages.

The programme started as a pilot in Rajasthan and has been expanded to states including Gujarat, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana,Tamil Nadu, Goa, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.

"Internet Saathi program has shown us that with the right opportunities, there is no limit to what women can achieve. These women in rural India are learning about the Internet, not just for their own needs but for their families, kids and their communities," Barjatya said.



She added that some of the women trained under the programme have started their own micro-business like stitching, honeybee farming, and beauty parlours.

"There are also many who are driving awareness for issues like girl child education, menstrual hygiene and more within their communities," she added.

Raman Kalyanakrishnan, Head - Strategy, Tata Trusts said it is imperative that women in rural India are provided with adequate opportunities and knowledge for inclusive growth and societal progress.

"The Trusts have increasingly been using technology in all its programmes across 29 states in India. Punjab and Odisha being a geography of focus for several Tata Trusts' existing initiatives gives us an added advantage in planning and implementing the Internet Saathi programme in these regions," he added.

Barjatya cited a study with Kantar that found a significant number of the Internet Saathis saying they believe they are seen as a source of information in their village -- people are coming to them consistently for answers to help children with schoolwork, to learn new cooking recipes, search for jobs, or to run a business.

The study was based on interviews of over 2,500 people across rural India.

"The study shows that 8 in 10 Saathis and their beneficiaries believe people in their village respect them more. Also, 9 in 10 women beneficiaries believe in a woman's right to express herself, and earn a living for her family," she said. PTI SR DRR

Tata Trusts, Social Alpha Launch Fellowship Program to Empower Entrepreneurs with Deep science & Technology focus

The Tata Trusts and Social Alpha announced the launch of their flagship fellowship program, the Social Alpha Entrepreneurs for Impact (E4i) Program, here today. The E4i program is a 12-month immersive fellowship that equips passionate ‘entrepreneurs-in-the-making’ to leverage India’s deep science, innovation and entrepreneurship environment.

Speaking at the launch, Manoj Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO, Social Alpha said, “We wanted to create an avenue for passionate, empathetic and mission-driven changemakers to scout for potential technologies, create co-founding teams, build and test their solutions, and convert them into impactful ventures. We believe that by harnessing the power of science and technology innovations and mission-driven impact entrepreneurship, we can address some of India’s most critical social, economic and environmental challenges."

The first cohort of the E4i program will focus on finding solutions across a few high priority areas like water, sanitation, health, agriculture, energy and environment. Finalists will be encouraged to adopt a problem statement in one of these focus sectors, and identify or develop a solution that has the potential to create impact at scale while remaining financially sustainable. All throughout, Social Alpha will provide support to E4i finalists through its network of experts from public and private sector, non-profits and foundations.

The program itself is structured to include experiential, immersive and instructional components that mimic the lifecycle of an enterprise. From observing the problems on-ground, validating and refining their theory of change, converting prototypes into viable solutions, to developing preliminary business plans- finalists will undergo a practical and hands-on learning experience encompassing all the strategic ins-and-outs of running an enterprise. “As our focus is to impart useful and practical know-how, E4i finalists will have access to mentors – with background in R&D, entrepreneurship, venture investing and grassroots development action, who can guide them towards creating a successful venture, through real world knowledge, insights, networks and connections. They can also expect a lot of hands on support from successful innovators and entrepreneurs”, said Kumar.

“Another critical aspect of the E4i program is that we are providing a small safety blanket to all the finalists by way of a monthly stipend of INR 60,000. This is not compensation for their foregone salary or career trade-offs, but a means to cover their essential expenses over the 12 month period. We believe the provision of stipend will allow us to attract people who are ready to assume the entrepreneurial risk but have economic constraints holding them back. We aim to make the E4i program a catalyst for a new wave of science and technology entrepreneurship in the country.” adds Kumar.

The E4i program is now accepting applications; Deadline for application is January 6th, 2019. To apply log onto www.socialalphachallenge.org.

Social Impact Investor Social Finance Launches Massive $2 Bn worth of India-Focused Funds

Soon within 48-hours after US government agency OPIC has announced that it is looking to back late-stage Indian startups, an another not-for-profit and impact financing platform, Social Finance, has announced today the launch of two funds of US$1 billion each for India (collective value of both funds US$2 billion).

Formed in 2007, Social Finance Ltd. is a not for profit organisation that partners with the government, the social sector and the financial community to find better ways of tackling social problems globally. It works with government, investors and delivery partners to develop new models of social change.

The purpose of the first India-focused fund, India Education Outcomes Fund (IEOF) is to bring funds on scale to the best education service providers, with a sharp focus on improving learning and skilling outcomes. The second fund, the India Impact Fund will catalyse debt for impact in housing, health and education.

These funds were officially launched at the Annual summit of the Global Steering Group on Impact in New Delhi, by Sir Ronald Cohen, Chairman, Global Steering Group for Impact Investment, in the presence of an array of luminaries including Former US Vice President Al Gore, Prince Maximillian of Lichtenstein and Former Tata Chairman, Mr. Ratan Tata.

This event also marked the official launch of Social Finance India, which, with these funds will be poised to become a major force in the impact finance space. Social Finance India, will be headed by Mr. Govind Sankaranarayanan, who held critical leadership positions at the Tata Group for over two decades, and until very recently was the COO of NBFC giant, Tata Capital.

The Board of Social Finance India includes several financial sector veterans, Dr. Rajiv Lall, Founder MD & CEO of IDFC Bank, Mr. Ashish Dhawan, Founder of PE firm Chrysalis Capital and Ashoka University and Mr. Vikram Gandhi, Former Vice Chairman, Credit Suisse and Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Business School. Mr. Yuri Afanasiev, Chief Representative of the United Nations in India has recently joined as a member of the Advisory Board.

The Tata Trusts and Omidyar Network, two of the leading names in the philanthropic world have backed Social Finance India. To recall, Omidyar India partner and managing director Roopa Kudva had recently announced to invest about US$ 250 million in Indian startup ventures and organizations over the next four-to-five years.

Details of the funds:

India Education Outcomes Fund (IEOF):

The India Education Outcomes Fund (IEOF) is a unique outcome fund structure where a corpus of US$1 billion will focus on improving the quality of education in India and set up 'pay-for success' contracts with pre-determined metrics.

Some of the key target outcomes for IEOF include:

• Improving learning outcomes and numeracy for children in grades 1-3, studying in Government and affordable private primary schools


• Technology aided interventions to improve learning outcomes in subjects such as mathematics for children in grades 6-10 (upper-primary and secondary sections),


• Improving completion rate of girls till class 10 in Government and affordable private school

India Impact Fund (IIF):

IIF is intended to be a USD 1 billion pool of funds which will catalyse debt to Impact Enterprises. It will help bridge the large funding gaps in meeting the UN Sustainable Development goals. The first Fund within the umbrella IIFF, will target equity funding for small lenders in the priority sectors as outlined in the PSL (Priority Sector Lending) - Agriculture, MSME, Education, Housing, Social Infrastructure, Renewable Energy. UN SDG Impact Finance group will partner with Social Finance for impact measurement. Subsequent funds under the IIFF umbrella will be designed to support the Indian Government's National priorities of 'Make in India', 'Skill India', 'Swachh Bharat', 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana' and 'Digital India'.

Notably, besides UK as its origin country, Social Finance already has sister organisations in the US, Israel, Netherlands, and now India will be fifth member country of its global network.

Dr. Rajiv Lall, Chairman Social Finance India said, "We are delighted to have Govind Sankaranarayanan, as the CEO of Social Finance India. Govind, who has led large complex organisations in the financial services space, is the perfect leader for being an institution that will use the power of finance to amplify social impact.

Speaking about the launch, Mr. Govind Sankaranarayanan, Managing Director of Social Finance India said, "It is a great privilege to be a part of this global organisation, and take forward Sir Ronald Cohen's vision of using finance as an agent for good. India is ground zero for meeting the challenges of the UN SDG goals and Social Finance India will catalyse different types of innovative financial instruments and financial intermediaries to help bridge funding gaps across a range of sectors. An important part of this effort will be the sharpening of our focus on outcomes and improving the sophistication of impact measurement."

[Top Image - Photo by Jonathan Brinkhorst on Unsplash]

Social Impact Investor Social Finance Launches Massive $2 Bn worth of India-Focused Funds

Soon within 48-hours after US government agency OPIC has announced that it is looking to back late-stage Indian startups, an another not-for-profit and impact financing platform, Social Finance, has announced today the launch of two funds of US$1 billion each for India (collective value of both funds US$2 billion).

Formed in 2007, Social Finance Ltd. is a not for profit organisation that partners with the government, the social sector and the financial community to find better ways of tackling social problems globally. It works with government, investors and delivery partners to develop new models of social change.

The purpose of the first India-focused fund, India Education Outcomes Fund (IEOF) is to bring funds on scale to the best education service providers, with a sharp focus on improving learning and skilling outcomes. The second fund, the India Impact Fund will catalyse debt for impact in housing, health and education.

These funds were officially launched at the Annual summit of the Global Steering Group on Impact in New Delhi, by Sir Ronald Cohen, Chairman, Global Steering Group for Impact Investment, in the presence of an array of luminaries including Former US Vice President Al Gore, Prince Maximillian of Lichtenstein and Former Tata Chairman, Mr. Ratan Tata.

This event also marked the official launch of Social Finance India, which, with these funds will be poised to become a major force in the impact finance space. Social Finance India, will be headed by Mr. Govind Sankaranarayanan, who held critical leadership positions at the Tata Group for over two decades, and until very recently was the COO of NBFC giant, Tata Capital.

The Board of Social Finance India includes several financial sector veterans, Dr. Rajiv Lall, Founder MD & CEO of IDFC Bank, Mr. Ashish Dhawan, Founder of PE firm Chrysalis Capital and Ashoka University and Mr. Vikram Gandhi, Former Vice Chairman, Credit Suisse and Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Business School. Mr. Yuri Afanasiev, Chief Representative of the United Nations in India has recently joined as a member of the Advisory Board.

The Tata Trusts and Omidyar Network, two of the leading names in the philanthropic world have backed Social Finance India. To recall, Omidyar India partner and managing director Roopa Kudva had recently announced to invest about US$ 250 million in Indian startup ventures and organizations over the next four-to-five years.

Details of the funds:

India Education Outcomes Fund (IEOF):

The India Education Outcomes Fund (IEOF) is a unique outcome fund structure where a corpus of US$1 billion will focus on improving the quality of education in India and set up 'pay-for success' contracts with pre-determined metrics.

Some of the key target outcomes for IEOF include:

• Improving learning outcomes and numeracy for children in grades 1-3, studying in Government and affordable private primary schools


• Technology aided interventions to improve learning outcomes in subjects such as mathematics for children in grades 6-10 (upper-primary and secondary sections),


• Improving completion rate of girls till class 10 in Government and affordable private school

India Impact Fund (IIF):

IIF is intended to be a USD 1 billion pool of funds which will catalyse debt to Impact Enterprises. It will help bridge the large funding gaps in meeting the UN Sustainable Development goals. The first Fund within the umbrella IIFF, will target equity funding for small lenders in the priority sectors as outlined in the PSL (Priority Sector Lending) - Agriculture, MSME, Education, Housing, Social Infrastructure, Renewable Energy. UN SDG Impact Finance group will partner with Social Finance for impact measurement. Subsequent funds under the IIFF umbrella will be designed to support the Indian Government's National priorities of 'Make in India', 'Skill India', 'Swachh Bharat', 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana' and 'Digital India'.

Notably, besides UK as its origin country, Social Finance already has sister organisations in the US, Israel, Netherlands, and now India will be fifth member country of its global network.

Dr. Rajiv Lall, Chairman Social Finance India said, "We are delighted to have Govind Sankaranarayanan, as the CEO of Social Finance India. Govind, who has led large complex organisations in the financial services space, is the perfect leader for being an institution that will use the power of finance to amplify social impact.

Speaking about the launch, Mr. Govind Sankaranarayanan, Managing Director of Social Finance India said, "It is a great privilege to be a part of this global organisation, and take forward Sir Ronald Cohen's vision of using finance as an agent for good. India is ground zero for meeting the challenges of the UN SDG goals and Social Finance India will catalyse different types of innovative financial instruments and financial intermediaries to help bridge funding gaps across a range of sectors. An important part of this effort will be the sharpening of our focus on outcomes and improving the sophistication of impact measurement."

[Top Image - Photo by Jonathan Brinkhorst on Unsplash]

Phool, An IIT Kanpur backed Startup Recycling Temple Waste Wins United Nations' Award

Kanpur-based startup Phool (Fomerly HelpUsGreen), which converts flowers and offerings collected from religious places into biodegradable alternative to Thermacol and incense sticks received the United Nations Young Leaders Award at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, yesterday.

Ankit Agarwal, Co-founder, Phool (Fomerly HelpUsGreen), was selected as one of the 17 young leaders for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations, at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York. Ankit was selected from more than 18,000 youth from more than 184 countries. As a young leader, for the next two years, Ankit will be engaged in UN advocacy efforts and support young people in the realization of the goals by collaborating with the UN on strategic opportunities. The Young Leaders, representing five continents, seventeen countries, and their constituencies of millions of young people around the world, range from scientists, inventors, story tellers and activists.

Related Reading - 10 Indian Startups That Are Making Earth A Better Place To Live

The UN Young Leaders is a flagship initiative led by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres's envoy of youth. The jury comprised of social visionaries and SDG advocates spanning across a range of backgrounds.

Founded in May 2015, by Ankit Agarwal and Karan Rastogi, Phool (Fomerly HelpUsGreen) has been supported and incubated by Tata Trusts' Social Alpha and IIT Kanpur. Phool is a sustainable solution to the monumental 'temple-waste' problem in India. Having pioneered the 'flowercycling' technology to preserve the Rivers Ganges from becoming a dumping ground for temple waste; they have recycled 11,060 metric tonnes of temple-waste flowers till date. Phool collects 8.4 tons of floral-waste daily and is upcycled into biodegradable packaging material, charcoal-free incense and natural vermicompost.

In an effort to create a circular economy, Phool employs women who were earlier manual scavengers thereby impacting more than 73 Manual Scavenger families and increasing their income 6x times. They are also being provided with facilities like insurance, bus service and medical benefits.

Ankit Agarwal, UN Young leader for SGD said, "We are deeply humbled by the UN recognition and opportunity to represent our nation, India at the prestigious forum furthering our work towards cleaning the Ganges and 2030 agenda for sustainable development."

"Three years ago, Member States committed to the Sustainable Development Goals, an ambitious agenda for people and planet. In order to achieve these ambitious Goals, we must engage today's youth and empower a generation which knows about the Goals, cares about their success and actively works toward their realization," said Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake - UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Youth.

Manoj Kumar, Head, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Tata Trusts & CEO, Social Alpha said, "Phool has very innovatively applied the regenerative system model by recycling waste and also creating employment for the extremely poor and underprivileged. We are proud of what the founders have achieved in a short period."

Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Director IIT Kanpur, said, "Flower waste to Greening, IIT Kanpur is proud to be the technology partner of Phool, a company dedicated to not only greening the environment but also in the process empowering thousands of women through this endeavor matching IIT Kanpur's credo of 'Technology for Sustainable development'."

Phool is also set to receive the 'Goal Keepers Award' award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation this month in New York and the UN Momentum of Change Award, which will be awarded as part of COP26 Summit in Poland in December. Earlier this year, Ankit Agarwal was named in the Forbes 30 under 30 list.

Phool, An IIT Kanpur backed Startup Recycling Temple Waste Wins United Nations Award

Kanpur-based startup Phool (Fomerly HelpUsGreen), which converts flowers and offerings collected from religious places into biodegradable alternative to Thermacol and incense sticks received the United Nations Young Leaders Award at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, yesterday.

Ankit Agarwal, Co-founder, Phool (Fomerly HelpUsGreen), was selected as one of the 17 young leaders for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations, at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York. Ankit was selected from more than 18,000 youth from more than 184 countries. As a young leader, for the next two years, Ankit will be engaged in UN advocacy efforts and support young people in the realization of the goals by collaborating with the UN on strategic opportunities. The Young Leaders, representing five continents, seventeen countries, and their constituencies of millions of young people around the world, range from scientists, inventors, story tellers and activists.

Related Reading - 10 Indian Startups That Are Making Earth A Better Place To Live

The UN Young Leaders is a flagship initiative led by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres's envoy of youth. The jury comprised of social visionaries and SDG advocates spanning across a range of backgrounds.

Founded in May 2015, by Ankit Agarwal and Karan Rastogi, Phool (Fomerly HelpUsGreen) has been supported and incubated by Tata Trusts' Social Alpha and IIT Kanpur. Phool is a sustainable solution to the monumental 'temple-waste' problem in India. Having pioneered the 'flowercycling' technology to preserve the Rivers Ganges from becoming a dumping ground for temple waste; they have recycled 11,060 metric tonnes of temple-waste flowers till date. Phool collects 8.4 tons of floral-waste daily and is upcycled into biodegradable packaging material, charcoal-free incense and natural vermicompost.

In an effort to create a circular economy, Phool employs women who were earlier manual scavengers thereby impacting more than 73 Manual Scavenger families and increasing their income 6x times. They are also being provided with facilities like insurance, bus service and medical benefits.

Ankit Agarwal, UN Young leader for SGD said, "We are deeply humbled by the UN recognition and opportunity to represent our nation, India at the prestigious forum furthering our work towards cleaning the Ganges and 2030 agenda for sustainable development."

"Three years ago, Member States committed to the Sustainable Development Goals, an ambitious agenda for people and planet. In order to achieve these ambitious Goals, we must engage today's youth and empower a generation which knows about the Goals, cares about their success and actively works toward their realization," said Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake - UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Youth.

Manoj Kumar, Head, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Tata Trusts & CEO, Social Alpha said, "Phool has very innovatively applied the regenerative system model by recycling waste and also creating employment for the extremely poor and underprivileged. We are proud of what the founders have achieved in a short period."

Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Director IIT Kanpur, said, "Flower waste to Greening, IIT Kanpur is proud to be the technology partner of Phool, a company dedicated to not only greening the environment but also in the process empowering thousands of women through this endeavor matching IIT Kanpur's credo of 'Technology for Sustainable development'."

Phool is also set to receive the 'Goal Keepers Award' award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation this month in New York and the UN Momentum of Change Award, which will be awarded as part of COP26 Summit in Poland in December. Earlier this year, Ankit Agarwal was named in the Forbes 30 under 30 list.

Social Alpha & Tata Trusts Launches India's 1st Nationwide Search for Healthcare Startups

Social Alpha and Tata Trusts – PATH Impact Lab, today, announced the launch of India’s first nationwide search – ‘Social Alpha Quest for Healthcare Innovations’. The program is designed to solve key healthcare challenges, eliminate disparities, and achieve health equity in India.

The program focuses on healthcare technology innovations in devices and diagnostics including point of care devices in the following areas:

a) Innovations in maternal and child health including and not restricted to, areas such as sepsis, maternal diabetes & hypertension

b) Innovations chronic and non-communicable diseases such as point-of-care detection of diabetes, neuropathies, retinopathies, cardio-vascular diseases, head & neck cancer, cervical cancer and other cancers

c) Innovations in detection and diagnosis of infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV, TB, chikungunya, HCV etc.

Commenting on the program launch, Manoj Kumar, Head of Innovation, Tata Trusts and CEO, Social Alpha, said, “Science and Technology innovations have the potential to create enormous new possibilities and opportunities for solving affordability, accessibility and quality challenges in the healthcare delivery. The Social Alpha Quest for Healthcare Innovations is a step towards supporting the innovative startups in their lab to market journey. Along with our partner PATH, we hope to search and support high impact, high quality yet affordable healthcare solutions and take them to the underserved communities across the world.”

Neeraj Jain, Country Director, PATH Impact Lab, said, "We are pleased to partner with Tata Trusts Social Alpha for 'Quest for Healthcare' to bridge significant gaps in adoption and scaling of medtech innovations which would positively impact public health in India and beyond. This program brings together complementary strengths of PATH and Social Alpha as well as our other partners THSTI, Philips and IIT Delhi in providing an optimal mix of support tools to medtech startups at the cusp on exponential growth"

The Social Alpha Quest for Healthcare Innovations program will primarily focus on adoption and scaling of innovative products in order to accelerate development, positively impact public health outcomes and achieve global product standards. This will be achieved through funding to conduct clinical validation studies along with intensive mentoring and support in business models, regulation, global technologies and market dynamics. Startups that have developed product prototypes and now seeking expertise and financial support for clinical testing and validation will benefit from this program.



The selected startups will be supported by Tata Trusts - PATH Impact Lab and their network of mentors for a period of up to 15 months and will receive the following offerings:

• Funding up to INR 25 lakhs for clinical validation




• Mentorship support in refining business model, navigating regulatory landscape, understanding national & global market dynamics




• Support in product design through access to Social Alpha and Tata Trusts - PATH Impact Lab’s product shop




• Access to PATH’s expertise in design and clinical validation and facilitate access to PHCs/hospitals.




• A 2-3-day Barrel for the founder(s) of selected startups intensively focused on business strategy and growth




• Facilitating engineering and technical support




• Additional grant up to INR 25 lakhs for Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) and achieving international product standards




• Opportunities for global exposure visits for advanced training, networking, research support etc.




• Opportunity for dilutive investments by Social Alpha and eligibility to receive support in raising the next round of funding post meeting eligibility and diligence requirements

Tata Trusts – PATH Impact Lab was launched in January 2018, a first in India to support and bring to market innovations for affordable and high quality public health solutions to benefit vulnerable populations with limited resources and provide comprehensive support to selected innovators through product design, clinical validation, commercialization and market development.

To apply, please log onto: www.socialalphachallenge.org. Last date to submit applications is August 23rd, 2018.

Tata Trusts’ FISE Incubatee Voxelgrids Unveils Portable MRI Scanner 4-Times Faster Than Currently Available

Tata Trusts’ Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE) today announced, the development of a high-tech portable Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner, a first ever in the country, designed to make MRI affordable and accessible for everyone. A team of highly talented engineers at Voxelgrids, an incubatee of Tata Trusts’ Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE), have been able to achieve this radical innovation in 24 months.

Voxelgrids, an incubatee of FISE, is a Bangalore-based startup founded in March, 2017 by Arjun Arunachalam and Raghava Kumar Molluru, according to the data available at Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

The 1.5 Tesla whole body MRI scanner will make MRI scans 3 to 4 times faster, compared to other scanners that are currently available in the market. The scanner is compact, extremely light weight and consumes far less power.

These developments will reduce the cost of an MRI scan significantly and will expand the scope of diseases that MRI can be employed to diagnose. It will also enable the deployment of fully portable whole-body high field MRI scanners. This system can be mounted on a truck and taken to small towns in the remotest parts of the country, for real-time imaging of patients at district level or even primary health centres.

Commenting on this development, Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chairman, Tata Trusts, said, “Innovation and entrepreneurship requires creativity, hard-work and endurance to succeed. I am pleased that the MRI project team has demonstrated this. It also requires an enabling ecosystem to ensure that the most talented innovators are encouraged to take entrepreneurial risks and create positive social, economic and environmental impact.”

MRI is a completely safe Imaging modality as it is free of ionizing radiation. It also provides exquisite tissue contrast that other imaging modalities like X-RAY and CT cannot. However, despite its strengths, there are practical issues that limit the modality’s impact and reach. The current state-of-the-art MRI scanners are bulky and expensive. This makes MRI unaffordable and inaccessible for a large population. Furthermore, the Imaging process itself is slow and an MRI scanner’s ability to image moving organs, such as the human heart, is limited. As a result, the role of MRI in diagnosing cardiac disease, one of the top causes of death today, is inadequate. This whole body MRI scanner aims to address these limitations.

Voxelgrids has been supported by Tata Trusts’ Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE) from development to introduction of the MRI scanner. FISE promotes socially relevant innovations and entrepreneurship with a mission to create large scale sustainable social impact. FISE engages with entrepreneurs throughout their product lifecycle stages, providing critical incubation and mentorship support.

The project won the prestigious Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) award in 2017 while it was still under development. Bangalore based Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences is the clinical partner for the development, where the first system has been installed.

About the Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE):

FISE promotes innovations and entrepreneurship with a mission to create large scale sustainable social, economic and environmental impact. FISE nurtures start-ups through their lab to market journey, helping them create high quality, commercially viable, accessible and affordable solutions. This is achieved through a unique three-tier ecosystem architecture called Social Alpha. Social Alpha is focused on catalysing entrepreneurship for impact and provides critical technology and business incubation support to the mission driven start-ups. FISE is a “technology business incubator” supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

In February, FISE, in a first-of-its-kind nationwide search, had announced the “Social Alpha Energy Challenge” to find high impact innovations that could catalyze system change in the field of energy.

In January, FISE has also announced its ₹900 million plan where Tata Trusts will invest in those startups & ideas in which other investors hesitate to invest in. It will also launch lab-style incubators across India.

Additionally, in the same month, deAsra Foundation, an organization aimed at empowering budding entrepreneurs has also collaborated with Tata Trusts's FISE along with Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) to promote entrepreneurship across the country.

Tata Trusts’ FISE Incubatee Voxelgrids Unveils Portable MRI Scanner 4-Times Faster Than Currently Available

Tata Trusts’ Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE) today announced, the development of a high-tech portable Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner, a first ever in the country, designed to make MRI affordable and accessible for everyone. A team of highly talented engineers at Voxelgrids, an incubatee of Tata Trusts’ Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE), have been able to achieve this radical innovation in 24 months.

Voxelgrids, an incubatee of FISE, is a Bangalore-based startup founded in March, 2017 by Arjun Arunachalam and Raghava Kumar Molluru, according to the data available at Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

The 1.5 Tesla whole body MRI scanner will make MRI scans 3 to 4 times faster, compared to other scanners that are currently available in the market. The scanner is compact, extremely light weight and consumes far less power.

These developments will reduce the cost of an MRI scan significantly and will expand the scope of diseases that MRI can be employed to diagnose. It will also enable the deployment of fully portable whole-body high field MRI scanners. This system can be mounted on a truck and taken to small towns in the remotest parts of the country, for real-time imaging of patients at district level or even primary health centres.



Commenting on this development, Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chairman, Tata Trusts, said, “Innovation and entrepreneurship requires creativity, hard-work and endurance to succeed. I am pleased that the MRI project team has demonstrated this. It also requires an enabling ecosystem to ensure that the most talented innovators are encouraged to take entrepreneurial risks and create positive social, economic and environmental impact.”

MRI is a completely safe Imaging modality as it is free of ionizing radiation. It also provides exquisite tissue contrast that other imaging modalities like X-RAY and CT cannot. However, despite its strengths, there are practical issues that limit the modality’s impact and reach. The current state-of-the-art MRI scanners are bulky and expensive. This makes MRI unaffordable and inaccessible for a large population. Furthermore, the Imaging process itself is slow and an MRI scanner’s ability to image moving organs, such as the human heart, is limited. As a result, the role of MRI in diagnosing cardiac disease, one of the top causes of death today, is inadequate. This whole body MRI scanner aims to address these limitations.

Voxelgrids has been supported by Tata Trusts’ Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE) from development to introduction of the MRI scanner. FISE promotes socially relevant innovations and entrepreneurship with a mission to create large scale sustainable social impact. FISE engages with entrepreneurs throughout their product lifecycle stages, providing critical incubation and mentorship support.

The project won the prestigious Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) award in 2017 while it was still under development. Bangalore based Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences is the clinical partner for the development, where the first system has been installed.

About the Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE):

FISE promotes innovations and entrepreneurship with a mission to create large scale sustainable social, economic and environmental impact. FISE nurtures start-ups through their lab to market journey, helping them create high quality, commercially viable, accessible and affordable solutions. This is achieved through a unique three-tier ecosystem architecture called Social Alpha. Social Alpha is focused on catalysing entrepreneurship for impact and provides critical technology and business incubation support to the mission driven start-ups. FISE is a “technology business incubator” supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

In February, FISE, in a first-of-its-kind nationwide search, had announced the “Social Alpha Energy Challenge” to find high impact innovations that could catalyze system change in the field of energy.

In January, FISE has also announced its ₹900 million plan where Tata Trusts will invest in those startups & ideas in which other investors hesitate to invest in. It will also launch lab-style incubators across India.

Additionally, in the same month, deAsra Foundation, an organization aimed at empowering budding entrepreneurs has also collaborated with Tata Trusts's FISE along with Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) to promote entrepreneurship across the country.

Tel Aviv University and Tata Trusts Join Hands to Bring Israeli Tech to Indian Farmers

Tel Aviv University and Tata Trusts are launching the Indian Centre for Agri & Allied Tech (I-CAT) that will bring Israeli know-how and innovation to the farmers of the state of Andhra Pradesh in southern India.

The initiative, supported by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, will include an advanced R&D center, as well as activities of agricultural experts in villages and farms – aiming to overcome various technological, agronomic and economic barriers, and promote sustainable agriculture and food security. In the future, the program will be extended to all parts of India.

Assisted by TAU's Boris Mints Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions to Global Challenges, the program will operate a joint TAU-Tata Trusts steering committee, collaborating with experts from both Israel and India, in order to identify problems in rural India and find potential solutions in Israel.

The program consists of five main components: experts, corporations and research institutes in Israel will adapt existing technologies and develop new solutions to meet the needs of Indian agriculture;

• the central R&D hub to be established in Andhra Pradesh will test the various solutions under local conditions, while training local workers to operate the new technologies;




• a network of satellite farms will conduct additional experiments, and supply farmers with guidance and various services;




• farmers in each of the hundreds of villages throughout Andhra Pradesh will implement and test the new technologies in their own fields;




• business models will be developed to support wide diffusion of the innovative solutions among the broader farming population.

Israel's Tel Aviv University is known for its advance research in 'arid-zone agriculture', an agricultural techniques for non-irrigated cultivation of crops, and 'Dryland farming', which is associated with drylands - dry areas characterized by a cool wet season followed by a warm dry season.


Notably, of late, a lot is being done in the field of agri-tech in India, as last week government of India's policy think-tank NITI Aayog has partnered IBM to develop a crop yield prediction model using artificial intelligence (AI) to provide real time advisory to farmers in backward states of India.

NITI Aayog has also tied up with Google to foster AI and Machine Learning ecosystem in India.

[Top Image - TheTimesofIsrael.com]

Tel Aviv University and Tata Trusts Join Hands to Bring Israeli Tech to Indian Farmers

Tel Aviv University and Tata Trusts are launching the Indian Centre for Agri & Allied Tech (I-CAT) that will bring Israeli know-how and innovation to the farmers of the state of Andhra Pradesh in southern India.

The initiative, supported by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, will include an advanced R&D center, as well as activities of agricultural experts in villages and farms – aiming to overcome various technological, agronomic and economic barriers, and promote sustainable agriculture and food security. In the future, the program will be extended to all parts of India.

Assisted by TAU's Boris Mints Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions to Global Challenges, the program will operate a joint TAU-Tata Trusts steering committee, collaborating with experts from both Israel and India, in order to identify problems in rural India and find potential solutions in Israel.

The program consists of five main components: experts, corporations and research institutes in Israel will adapt existing technologies and develop new solutions to meet the needs of Indian agriculture;

• the central R&D hub to be established in Andhra Pradesh will test the various solutions under local conditions, while training local workers to operate the new technologies;




• a network of satellite farms will conduct additional experiments, and supply farmers with guidance and various services;




• farmers in each of the hundreds of villages throughout Andhra Pradesh will implement and test the new technologies in their own fields;




• business models will be developed to support wide diffusion of the innovative solutions among the broader farming population.

Israel's Tel Aviv University is known for its advance research in 'arid-zone agriculture', an agricultural techniques for non-irrigated cultivation of crops, and 'Dryland farming', which is associated with drylands - dry areas characterized by a cool wet season followed by a warm dry season.


Notably, of late, a lot is being done in the field of agri-tech in India, as last week government of India's policy think-tank NITI Aayog has partnered IBM to develop a crop yield prediction model using artificial intelligence (AI) to provide real time advisory to farmers in backward states of India.

NITI Aayog has also tied up with Google to foster AI and Machine Learning ecosystem in India.

[Top Image - TheTimesofIsrael.com]

Tata Trusts Launches The First Nationwide Hunt for Innovators & Entrepreneurs, Invites Entries for “Social Alpha Energy Challenge”

In a first-of-its-kind nationwide search, Tata Trusts’ Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE) – which supports technology-based solutions for social impact through their lab-to-market journey – has announced the “Social Alpha Energy Challenge” to find high impact innovations that could catalyze system change in the field of energy.

With a focus on cleantech, sustainability and energy efficiency, the Social Alpha Energy Challenge aims to discover next-gen technology innovations that promise to unlock new solutions to India’s energy challenges or make existing energy networks smarter, cleaner and more affordable. In this ambitious hunt, the Challenge is inviting entries from innovators across various stages of the energy lifecycle - generation, transmission and distribution, storage, and consumption, in multiple sectors such as households, farm, industry, infrastructure, building, utility and transport.

The winners will be assessed on select parameters such as the breakthrough nature of the innovation, business viability, environmental sustainability, social impact, and scalability potential. The winners of the Energy Challenge will form the first cohort of enterprises for Tata Smart Energy Incubation Centre (TSEIC) - an incubator and start up accelerator being built in partnership between Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited and Tata Trusts.

A maximum of 10 winners will be selected to receive complete incubation support that will include:

-- 6-18 months of access to the upcoming Tata Smart Energy Incubation Centre in New Delhi

• Access to state-of-the-art lab facilities and world class-infrastructure


• Access to test beds on the ground for trials and field testing


• Strategy and go-to-market (GTM) support


• Mentorship by experts, specialists, and sector leaders


• Gateway to a diverse and large investor ecosystem

Manoj Kumar, Head of Innovation, Tata Trusts and CEO, Social Alpha, said, “Two years back we created FISE as a key component of our Social Alpha architecture with a charter to catalyse innovation and entrepreneurship for impact. Tata Trusts’ continued commitment to sustainability and climate challenges has sharpened our focus further on creating a pipeline of high impact cleantech solutions that address the challenges of affordable energy access in complete convergence with our livelihoods and sustainability initiatives at the grassroots level. TSEIC is our dedicated incubation centre with a charter to solve various riddles of energy challenges using state of the art technology infrastructure and domain expertise.”

Praveer Sinha, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited, said, “Tata Smart Energy Incubation Centre aims to bring innovation, domain and business expertise across the entire energy value chain to support scalable and sustainable solutions that helps to create new opportunities and nurtures societal value. T-SEIC will facilitate the vision to support and provide ecosystem for the start-up enterprises working to provide cost effective solutions. I believe, the TSEIC will go a long way for the development of Innovative and Cost Effective Technologies in India”.

The last date to submit applications is 7 April, 2018. Entrants for the energy challenge can register here: http://socialalphachallenge.org/energy/

To recall, last month FISE has also announced its ₹900 million plan where Tata Trusts will invest in those startups & ideas in which other investors hesitate to invest in. It will also launch lab-style incubators across India.

Additionally, deAsra Foundation, an organization aimed at empowering budding entrepreneurs has also collaborated with Tata Trusts along with Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) to promote entrepreneurship across the country.

In 2015, Tata Trusts partnered with Google to give 1000 scholarships for the Android Nanodegree to deserving students in India. Tata Trust will alone offered 500 free scholarships for the complete Android Nanodegree in India.

Tata Trusts Launches The First Nationwide Hunt for Innovators & Entrepreneurs, Invites Entries for “Social Alpha Energy Challenge”

In a first-of-its-kind nationwide search, Tata Trusts’ Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE) – which supports technology-based solutions for social impact through their lab-to-market journey – has announced the “Social Alpha Energy Challenge” to find high impact innovations that could catalyze system change in the field of energy.

With a focus on cleantech, sustainability and energy efficiency, the Social Alpha Energy Challenge aims to discover next-gen technology innovations that promise to unlock new solutions to India’s energy challenges or make existing energy networks smarter, cleaner and more affordable. In this ambitious hunt, the Challenge is inviting entries from innovators across various stages of the energy lifecycle - generation, transmission and distribution, storage, and consumption, in multiple sectors such as households, farm, industry, infrastructure, building, utility and transport.

The winners will be assessed on select parameters such as the breakthrough nature of the innovation, business viability, environmental sustainability, social impact, and scalability potential. The winners of the Energy Challenge will form the first cohort of enterprises for Tata Smart Energy Incubation Centre (TSEIC) - an incubator and start up accelerator being built in partnership between Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited and Tata Trusts.

A maximum of 10 winners will be selected to receive complete incubation support that will include:

-- 6-18 months of access to the upcoming Tata Smart Energy Incubation Centre in New Delhi

• Access to state-of-the-art lab facilities and world class-infrastructure


• Access to test beds on the ground for trials and field testing


• Strategy and go-to-market (GTM) support


• Mentorship by experts, specialists, and sector leaders


• Gateway to a diverse and large investor ecosystem

Manoj Kumar, Head of Innovation, Tata Trusts and CEO, Social Alpha, said, “Two years back we created FISE as a key component of our Social Alpha architecture with a charter to catalyse innovation and entrepreneurship for impact. Tata Trusts’ continued commitment to sustainability and climate challenges has sharpened our focus further on creating a pipeline of high impact cleantech solutions that address the challenges of affordable energy access in complete convergence with our livelihoods and sustainability initiatives at the grassroots level. TSEIC is our dedicated incubation centre with a charter to solve various riddles of energy challenges using state of the art technology infrastructure and domain expertise.”

Praveer Sinha, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited, said, “Tata Smart Energy Incubation Centre aims to bring innovation, domain and business expertise across the entire energy value chain to support scalable and sustainable solutions that helps to create new opportunities and nurtures societal value. T-SEIC will facilitate the vision to support and provide ecosystem for the start-up enterprises working to provide cost effective solutions. I believe, the TSEIC will go a long way for the development of Innovative and Cost Effective Technologies in India”.

The last date to submit applications is 7 April, 2018. Entrants for the energy challenge can register here: http://socialalphachallenge.org/energy/

To recall, last month FISE has also announced its ₹900 million plan where Tata Trusts will invest in those startups & ideas in which other investors hesitate to invest in. It will also launch lab-style incubators across India.

Additionally, deAsra Foundation, an organization aimed at empowering budding entrepreneurs has also collaborated with Tata Trusts along with Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) to promote entrepreneurship across the country.

In 2015, Tata Trusts partnered with Google to give 1000 scholarships for the Android Nanodegree to deserving students in India. Tata Trust will alone offered 500 free scholarships for the complete Android Nanodegree in India.

Ratan Tata Launches ₹900 Mn Plan To Invest In Startups; To Setup Lab-Style Incubators Too

Ratan Tata, the chairman of global business conglomerate Tata group, has given a go ahead to a new initiative where Tata Trust will help startups in India which are high-risk and have uncertain business model in which no other investors do funding.

Additionally, under the same initiative a number of lab-style incubators for startups will be established across India.

Tata Trust's FISE or the Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship is both a social impact fund as well as a business incubator, which was set up 18 months ago and has funded nearly. two dozen startups across businesses that range from cleaning the Ganga to building low-cost robotic exoskeletons for disabled workers. FISE is also supported by the government's Department of Science and Technology (DST).

The key objective of Ratan Tata's Trusts and FISE is to fund those kinds of startups and business models which no other investor will normally touch with a barge pole.

Additionally, Tata Trusts has also announced ₹500 million fund for startups and ₹300 million to these incubator labs, besides the ₹100 million from DST.

According to Manoj Kumar, who serves as Tata Trusts senior advisor, FISE’s objective is not profit or valuation, but to brush up and polish startups to help them take where others will be interested.

"When no one else gives these startups funds, we do. So, you could say our model is to fund high-risk, uncertain return business models," Kumar said.

Unlike other funding institutions like venture capital and angel investors, FISE does not assist microfinance startups or an e-commerce fashion platform which other venture capitalists will jump at. FISE instead helps ideas having social impact, for example a portable MRI machine that can deliver reports at one-fifth of the cost or an easily accessible world-class toilet.

Manoj Kumar further explained in a business daily that he was being told by Ratan Tata, when they were planning the venture, that -- "If you want to have deep and irreversible impact on a social scale, then you have to try different things, and not use the same approach again and again".

The above development was first reported in Business Standard.

Besides all this, FISE’s is also setting up an incubator facility -- Tata Smart Energy Incubation Center -- a 40,000 sqft facility in Delhi’s Rohini, which is expected to be launched next month, along with a health-care facility as well. Thereafter, at least “one lab will go live” every six months for two years, said Kumar, adding that each centre will be either industry or theme focussed.

Earlier yesterday, Haryana state government has also announced the plan to set up an startup incubator called 'Global Start-up Village', which will be India's biggest startup hub and will be located in Gurugram in next couple of years.

Pune's deAsra Ties-up with Tata Trusts and OSDA To Encourage Entrepreneurship Across India

deAsra Foundation, an organization aimed at empowering budding entrepreneurs has collaborated with Tata Trusts and Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) to promote entrepreneurship across the country. There has been a strategic focus on improvement of technical education, developing the right infrastructure for skills-based training and more importantly, entrepreneurship development.

OSDA is primarily engaged with skill development in Odisha, encouraging entrepreneurship among the skill trained youth. OSDA will be providing entrepreneurship education and training, and deAsra will provide the platform for information & handholding support to candidates, and will even provide youth the ability to create business plans that are fully functional and easy to understand and use.

Tata Trusts and deAsra together have collaborated to promote entrepreneurship and help unemployed youth to start their own businesses. deAsra Foundation with the support of Tata Trusts will be providing aspiring candidates guidance to develop a viable business plan, facilitate funding and execute a profitable business.

Ms. Pradnya Godbole, CEO, deAsra Foundation said, “Our collaborative approach with two established institutions, will help all of us together reach a big audience who can be guided in the right direction which helps with entrepreneurship development and provide youth with self-employment & employment opportunities”

deAsra, Tata Trusts and OSDA together can help solve the problem of unemployment and provide youth with opportunities to help build their future.

EasyGov, Cloud Services for Government Programmes, Raises Angel Round from Tata Trust, Rajan Anandan & Others

EasyGov, provides advanced Cloud services to improve efficiency, transparency and effectiveness in delivery of Government welfare schemes and services, have announced today a successful Angel round for an undisclosed amount from Tata trust initiative (Lead Investor), Rajan Anandan, Rajeev Ahuja (Navayuga Group), Kshitij Arora and other investors on LetsVenture. EasyGov and its team were supported by legal advisors KMNP Law.

EasyGov is an advanced Cloud solution to enable citizen self-services for availing Government of India schemes and services. EasyGov provides citizens complete information to facilitate them to get their entitlement/ rights available from Government of India. The startup has captured the interest and admiration of multiple policy makers and government arms who are keen on integrating and developing government services to be more accessible and effectual. Recently the CEO of NITI AYOG, Mr. Amitabh Kant met and discussed with EasyGov it’s current and potential future services for the citizens of India and appreciated as well as valued the work that was being accomplished by the same.

“There are some ideas that simply apply to a Billion Indians. This one does! What EasyGov is solving, is a tough, complex problem. I am very impressed with the team's deep domain expertise and tech chops. Very excited about EasyGov and the team has my full support. Let's solve for a Billion!” said Rajan Anandan, Vice President and Managing Director Google India and South East Asia and investor in the round.

“EasyGov leverages technology to simplify and automate the delivery of govt services to citizens. The company is making a significant, positive impact on how citizens interact with the govt and avail welfare schemes. By integrating analytics and the Aadhar stack, it is also bringing transparency to the process and truly empowering the citizens of India. I congratulate Amit and the EasyGov team for the great work they are doing, and am very excited to be part of their journey” said Shanti Mohan, Founder and CEO of LetsVenture.

Amit Shukla, Founder, EasyGov believes in empowering and developing India to greater heights with the motto of Empowering citizen and delivering convenience. The company has recently developed an Aadhar stack based Entitlement Engine that will help any family check all possible benefits they can get from various welfare schemes offered to them not only by the Centre but also the State Governments and NGOs. The firm has not just automated, it has simplified Government services delivery using advanced Aadhar stack and IT analytics. EasyGov can launch any G2C services or scheme in few clicks and has processed over 10K service request in the last 12 months in National Capital Region (“NCR”) alone. It has done over Rs. 25 Lacs revenue in last Financial Year with over 20+ services available in NCR alone. EasyGov is currently in talks with various Government institutions and service providers for offering services on cloud.