After intense training sessions and pitching by Top 50 contesting teams, Samsung India today announced the Top 10 teams of the inaugural edition of its national education and innovation competition, ‘Solve for Tomorrow’, that celebrates the spirit of innovation, enterprise and social responsibility amongst India’s Gen Z.
A three-day Design Thinking Bootcamp and pitch event was conducted by FITT and Samsung at the IIT Delhi campus. A total of 118 participants attended the camp and made their pitches to a Samsung jury.
The Samsung jury picked the Top 10 teams that came up with the best ideas in the areas of environmental conservation, making healthcare more accessible to the less privileged, menstrual hygiene for rural women and stress management.
Solve for Tomorrow, a CSR initiative of Samsung, had invited applications from 16-22 year-olds in India to apply for this innovation competition to promote a culture of innovation amongst youth, and support ideas that will transform the lives of people and communities. A record 18,000 plus registrations were received in the inaugural edition.
The top 10 teams will now hone their skills further through engagements with Samsung and its knowledge partner FITT, IIT Delhi, improve their ideas, create prototypes, and pitch to an eminent jury at a Grand Finale in New Delhi scheduled for November. These 10 teams will also feature in a TV series that will be produced by the Network18 Group and be telecast on their national channels and OTT platform Voot through October and November.
For the top three winning teams, Samsung will offer a total of up to INR 1 crore in grants, getting them one step closer to turning their ideas into their dream startups that can help address India’s key concerns in the areas of Agriculture, Education, Environment, and Healthcare.
“We are absolutely delighted to see a variety of transformational ideas from these young participants. What warms our heart more is that they come from diverse backgrounds and from every nook and corner of India. A silent revolution is taking place in India today with the rise of an innovation ecosystem, and Gen Z is at the forefront of it. Solve for Tomorrow, our flagship CSR program, will continue to mentor and support young minds who are trying to transform the lives of people around them,” said Mr. Partha Ghosh, Head, CSR, Samsung India.
“A platform like Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow is a stepping stone in building a community of young innovators. The innovation ecosystem in India requires a major push and Solve for Tomorrow is just that platform. Indian youth has the capability and the intent to enable change and we are certain that together with Samsung, we will be able to drive that change for the betterment of society,” said Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director, IIT Delhi.
