Deadline: 10-May-21
In support of the Prime Minister’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and the UN SDGs, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL) in association with Invest India, Startup India, and AGNIi are launching the Grand Water Saving Challenge to address the need for an efficient flush system in public toilets to ensure optimum usage of water while ensuring a clean and hygienic toilet.
The World Economic Forum’s Healthy Cities and Communities initiative which catalyzed this Innovation Challenge aims to improve people’s well-being holistically by enabling them to live longer and fuller lives in their local environments.
The Grand Water Saving Challenge is a national hackathon inviting Technologists, Inventors, and start-ups from the field of Water and Sanitation to participate. Winners of the challenge will receive a cash prize of Rs. 5 Lakh in addition to an opportunity to install and test the invention at a Suvidha centre, developed by HUL.
Themes for Challenges
- Water
- Sanitation
- Social Impact
The Challenge aims to address the need for an efficient flush system in public toilets to ensure optimum usage of water while ensuring a clean and hygienic toilet. The World Economic Forum’s Healthy Cities and Communities initiative which catalyzed this Innovation Challenge aims to improve people’s well-being holistically by enabling them to live longer and fuller lives in their local environments.
Incentives
- 1st Prize – Rs. 5,00,000;
- 2nd Prize – Rs. 2,50,000
- Opportunity to install and pilot the invention at one of the upcoming Suvidha centres or alternate testing and evaluation site.
All startups entries will be judged by objective criteria, basis which 2 startups will be selected for the final awards.
Relevant Stakeholder
- Incubator
- Individual
- Ideation Stage Startup
- Validation Stage Startup
- Early Traction Startup
- Scaling Stage Startup
Problem Statement
- An innovative water saving flush system designed for squat latrines to ensure clean and hygienic toilets for all.
- Community and public toilets remain one of the most challenging shared spaces in terms of cleanliness, hygiene, and operations and maintenance. Water supply to these is often limited and the burden of wastewater and fecal sludge management & treatment is high as well.
- There is a need for a better flush system that uses less water while ensuring a clean and hygienic toilet. The participants of this challenge need to design (stage 1) and prototype (stage2) a flush system on a squat toilet pan (can be made from ceramic or recycled plastic) that uses no more than 2.5 liters of water to clean the pan surface of any visible fecal residues evaluated using actual or simulated human feces.
Eligibility Criteria
- The challenge is open to Startups that are registered with DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade)
- The Challenge is also open to academic institutions that may not be registered as above.
- Employees of the Company, its Affiliates, distributors, appointed agency/entity holding the Challenge, their families and immediate relatives are not eligible to participate in the program.
- The Challenge is valid for Indian nationals residing in India who are eighteen years of age or above and who are not legally ineligible to participate for any reason whatsoever.
For more information, visit https://www.startupindia.gov.in/content/sih/en/ams-application/challenge.html?applicationId=6050cc03e4b03f92cbc8c95e