Deadline: 5th December 2016
The Ministry of External Affairs (Economic Diplomacy Division) along with NITI Aayog (Atal Innovation Mission) invites applications from individuals and organizations for participating in the National Contest on Social Innovation.
The Contest shall identify and showcase 25 best socially relevant and scalable Innovations at the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas 2017. The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is celebrated every year to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community to the development of India. The next edition of the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas will be organized in Bangalore from Jan 7-9, 2017.
The objective of the National Contest on Social Innovation is to identify a pool of social impact innovators that have developed or are developing commercially viable solutions to the socio-economic problems of India. This would facilitate the creation of a community of innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, grant bodies, and mentors support the selected startups for commercialisation and scale up.
Thematic Areas
The key focus sectors for the National Contest on Social Innovation include:
- Cleantech
- Education
- Health
- Housing
- Public Transport
- Skill development and Livelihood
- Waste management
- Water and Sanitation
- Women empowerment
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible applicants must be:
- Social innovators/ entrepreneurs (Individuals)
- Social enterprises (Only startups that comply with the definition of a start-up as defined in the Start-up Action Plan)
- For profit
- Not-for-profit
An innovation must be:
- An innovative product / technology based on tangible scientific discoveries of engineering innovations (deep technology)
- A novel application of an existing technology
- A scalable intervention to deliver technology/ product/ services and create a mass impact at the grassroot level
Stage of the innovation
- Innovations should at least have a working prototype, preferably a pilot test done with the potential set of beneficiaries
- Innovations should be commercially viable and should have scalable business models
Selection Criteria
The submitted applications shall be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- The need/challenge/problem statement that is solved by the innovation – How relevant is it for India?
- Is there any Innovation involved and what is the degree of the innovation?
- Is the innovation and its business model affordable sustainable and scalable?
- Current stage of development/ deployment
- Plan for commercialization with timeline and budget
- What is the scale of impact (social or economic) that it is creating
- How is the innovation in concordance with the strategic goals of the Indian Govt.?
How to Apply
Participations must be made online via given website.
Eligible Country: India
For more information, please visit National Contest on Social Innovation.