BENGALURU: Western Digital concluded its flagship startup challenge - Data Innovation Bazaar 2020. This was hosted in partnership with Startup India and Invest India, and Ecosystem partners - Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Department of Science & Technology - Ministry of Science & Technology (DST) and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE Delhi-NCR).
The annual startup challenge delivered a platform to promote data-driven solutions for industries including healthcare, education, agriculture, energy & environment, smart transportation and smart cities.
India has the world's third largest startup ecosystem. Startups are gaining momentum and entrepreneurs are increasingly looking to collaborate with partners, get more exposure and expand their business. The corporate sector has been engaging with startups to get a fresh perspective in addition to making corporations more agile.
Winners of Data Innovation Bazaar 2020 were announced in a virtual event led by the office of the India Country Manager and Vice President, Supria Dhanda, in the presence of chief guest, Deepak Bagla, MD and CEO of Invest India, members from Western Digital’s executive leadership, the government and leading academia.
The top five startups who were awarded a prize of Rs 25 lakh are:
- The first place was awarded to AarogyaAI Innovations Private Limited and earned a prize of Rs 10 lakh for their genomics and artificial intelligence-driven rapid diagnostic solution for drug-resistant tuberculosis.
- Anukai Solutions Private Limited got the second place with a prize of Rs 6 lakh, for their innovative traffic management solutions with the help of AI.
- Agua Wireless Systems Private Limited was awarded the third place with a prize of Rs 4 lakh for their IoT-based solutions that enable smart water management by automating water distribution, billing and leakage detection in buildings, layouts and cities.
- The fourth place with a prize for Rs 3 lakh went to Paraclete Image Labs Private Limited for their assistive device for the visually impaired which acts as a reader as well as exam writer.
- ShilpMIS Technologies was awarded the fifth place prize and got Rs 2 lakh for their platform that simplifies Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality content creation and discovery for immersive & interactive learning.
- Additionally, Aarogya AI was awarded a special women entrepreneur prize of Rs 2 lakh.
“Frugal innovations, which form the core of the Indian startup ecosystem, provide a plethora of solutions to combat the socio-economic issues in the country and across the globe. As one of the largest forums promoting entrepreneurship in India, our community of stakeholders has helped entrepreneurs succeed and take their innovations from labs to land,” said Deepak Bagla, MD & CEO, Invest India, in a statement.
In a statement, President, Technology & Strategy, Western Digital, Siva Sivaram said, “To define the success of a startup, one needs to build blocks of vision and strategy, leverage the ecosystem along with new-age innovation; and these are few of the traits which we saw in our finalists. Technology has played an elevated role during challenging times by transforming our lives and creating a greater positive impact on business.”
“The zeal to solve the challenges India faces was seen across all the solutions. Nearly 50% of the applications were ideas for the healthcare and education sector, and about one-third of the short-listed applications are directly relevant to the areas of smart cities, smart video, connected homes and transportation.” said Dhanda, in a statement.
The top 40 shortlisted teams will be given TiE membership and be invited for a three-day innovation bootcamp offered by Western Digital. All the women-led entrepreneurs in the top 40 will get an exclusive three-month accelerator opportunity offered by WE Hub, a government of Telangana initiative. The 40 finalists will also get to participate in Khoj Incubator program offered by Atal Incubation Centre-BIMTECH with 15 of them getting an opportunity to be a part of the Incubation Program. The 2020 edition of Data Innovation Bazaar had received a total of 963 applications and saw entries across various industries.