A Manufacturing Innovation Challenge 2020 (MIC2020) was organized by the Gujarat government and NASSCOM Centre of Excellence IoT & AI, an initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), from 15th July 2020 to 21st August 2020.
88 mature startups from across the country registered for the challenges which were an overwhelming response for MIC2020. The startups went through a rigorous screening process of four rounds. The objective of the challenge was to solve key challenges the manufacturing industry is facing today by building a first of a kind platform for enterprise and start-up collaboration.
The three startups which include AirVlabs, Alluvium, Chistats were announced as winners of the three challenges in an online award ceremony. The winners will now get an opportunity to work with companies who nominated their use cases on a remunerative Proof of Concept. One-year membership to the NASSCOM CoE Acceleration Program will also be provided to the start-ups.
In the emerging technologies of Analytics, IoT, AR/VR, AI/ML, and Robotics for Digital Transformation, the NASSCOM Center of Excellence is the largest collaborative innovation platform. To jumpstart and drive the emerging technologies ecosystem in India is a part of the Digital India Initiative. The country attains a leadership role in the convergent area of hardware and software by leveraging India’s IT strengths and assistance.
To build market-ready products by Indian Deep-Tech Startups& Companies leverage cutting edge technologies done by CoE as it was their main objective. To build industry capable talent in an entrepreneurial ecosystem that facilitated Incubation, Funding, Acceleration, Industry Connect and Mentoring aimed by CoE through the startup’s program.
Three use cases such as Workers Health and Safety, Solution to Promote Safety of Workers in Large Plants; Predictive maintenance of high-value assets; and 360° Virtual Tour of the plant were nominated by NASSCOM CoE in conjunction with JK Lakshmi Cements Ltd, Bayer Corpscience, and Tata Chemicals Ltd. The startups were encouraged to solve any of the challenges by submitting a proposal.
The Outreach partners were Gujarat Electronics & Software Industries Association (GESIA) while IIT Gandhinagar was the Research Partner. There had been representation from senior leaders from industry, academia, and government for the twelve top startups presented to Jury.
According to Saurabh Gaur, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, the significance of self-reliance is at an all-time high in current times. The government of India made the clarion call for an AatmaNirbharBharat as they are cognizant of this. Incremental change using technology is driven by India as it has high caliber potential.
Capabilities need to be built at this time such that it will bolster self-reliance and innovation. Enterprises, startups, policymakers need to put in a collaborative effort to identify the right problems and solution providers. For further innovation & build self-reliance, Manufacturing Innovation Challenge 2020 is a perfect example of this cross-collaboration.
To accelerate and kick-start a Digital Transformation journey in the country’s formidable industries is possible with platforms like MIC which has great potential.
