Heads of 23 innovative start-ups meet Kerala CM

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Heads of 23 innovative start-ups from Kerala and other states led by Kerala Start-up Mission (KSUM) CEO Saji Gopinath met chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan here on Wednesday to impress upon the societal application of such moon-shot innovations. The start-up innovators are participants of the Global Innovation Challenge (GIC) at KSUM here.

The chief minister could listen to around 70 percent of the innovations and he expressed his delight on hearing some of the innovations including the toddy tapper, solar photovoltaic and health care solutions through robotics and artificial intelligence.

One of the GIC participants, Nava Design and Innovation founder head Charles Vijay said, “The toddy tapper device developed is based on simple robotics with vacuum extraction for toddy tapping from coconut plantations. Around 270 times of climbing by a toddy tapper can be reduced to two climbs by installing the device which can be removed 90 days later. Productivity multiplies by minimum 18 folds”.

Ravi Pinoty, founder of Vihati Techno Health from Telengana said, “Our solution is a preventive healthcare platform which remotely monitors body vitals and uses Artificial intelligence and Machine learning to analyse and suggest actions to prevent diseases”. After the meet, he said, “It was a nice feeling to present ourselves before the CM. He listens to each idea carefully,” he said.

Start-up enterprise to fill the gap of school education from Rajasthan, Vidhyalay Udhyam founder Kumari Komal said, “We are promoting entrepreneurship in the last mile reach of India through design thinking. We aspire to eradicate child labour and empowering women”. Soon after the meet she said, “I was very happy and equally elated to meet the CM. He listened to me patiently and I am humbled by his attitude. This definitely shows his eagerness to accept new ideas in the face of conventional processes”.

A start-up from West Bengal Krishworks led by its founder Subhajit Roy said, “We help rural entrepreneurs set up profitable English centres to teach children and youth English in rural areas through tabs,” After the meet he said, “It was proud moment for me to speak about innovation and ideas in front of honourable CM of Kerala, which shows that he is continuously nourishing entrepreneurship culture”.

Chief minister cheered up the GIC participants and wished them well with their innovative solutions to address the needs of society in various sectors. It is a proud moment for the state to see that start-ups from other states are coming to Kerala to develop their innovations, he said.

"The participants of GIC were able to explain their ideas to the Chief Minister today and the CM wished all the participants good luck. Interactions like these clearly communicates the Government's intent to support innovative ideas that can impact billions. Such opportunities to interact with the decision makers install more confidence in the start-ups to take their ventures forward," KSUM CEO Dr Saji Gopinath told TOI on Wednesday.

“GIC gives a unique platform for innovators to come out with solutions to problems in three key sectors namely health care, environment and education using modern technologies. The boot camp is on for the finalists from July 2 to July 6 and the winners will be announced on July 7,” he said. Of the 25 finalists selected for GIC, 14 innovators are from Kerala and 11 from outside the state, he said.

“We are immensely humbled by the gesture of respected CM, as he himself took time to meet us. This shows the seriousness and effort of respected CM in making the Kerala start up ecosystem a leading one at a global level. We feel really lucky to have an opportunity to participate and utilise such a forum,” said Ashok P Kurian, an official at KSUM.