"Ek Kadam Unnati Ki Aur" and top 10 finalists in Intel and DST innovate for Digital India Challenge

IT Minister Mr. Ravishankar Prasad with Top 10 innovators of Intel and DST innovate for Digital India Challenge

19 Nov New Delhi: At an event in New Delhi , today Intel announced its initiative "Ek Kadam Unnati Ki Aur" (One step towards progress) aimed at driving technology adoption and making the benefits of technology broadly accessible across India supporting Government of India's Digital India Initiative. At the same event announcement was made to reveal the list of top 10 finalists of Intel and DST innovate for Digital India Challenge which was announced in April this year.

 Intel & DST Innovate for Digital India challenge was created to attract aspiring and existing entrepreneurs, makers and innovators to develop intuitive and easy-to-use solutions to drive technology adoption or create applications that accelerate the delivery of e-governance services through eKranti/MyGov apps on mobile platforms. The challenge drew more than 1900 entries from all over India. 

"Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, Honorable Minister of Communications and IT announced separate portal for innovators where any one would be able to submit their ideas and innovations."

The finalists surely worked hard to reach this level, we were able to get some look on Healthcare products from Aasha+ and TJay , while the former aims to create an effective preventive healthcare model by unifying, monitoring and tracking health diagnostics in a uniquely designed, handheld device that can capture various vitals of a patient automatically through appropriate pre-incorporated interfaces and the latter (TJay) is an IoT-based wearable platform that enables sensing, remote monitoring, diagnosis, treatment and support for people with epilepsy and other chronic disorders. Another innovative platform was Airpaper which taps into unused radio frequencies to facilitate digital data distribution.

At the innovation event, the top 10 teams of the Intel & DST Innovate for Digital India Challenge were honored by Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Honorable Minister of Communications and IT, Government of India; Mr. Gregory R. Pearson, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Sales and Marketing Group, Intel Corporation; and Ms. Debjani Ghosh, Vice-President, Sales and Marketing Group and Managing Director, Intel South Asia. The event was also graced by eminent dignitaries including Mr. Gaurav Dwivedi, Chief Executive Officer, MyGov; Mr. Hasit Kaji, Vice-President, Strategic Initiatives, Tata Consultancy Services; Mr. Kiran Karnik, Former President, NASSCOM; Mr. R. Chandrashekar, President, NASSCOM and Mr. Vikas Jain, Co-Founder, Micromax Informatics Ltd.

Speaking at the occasion, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Honorable Minister of Communications and IT said, “I would like to congratulate and thank Intel and the innovators for taking us one step closer to our goal of Digital India through the Innovate for Digital India Challenge. We strongly believe that grassroots level innovation built through robust Public Private Partnerships like this will lead the way towards achieving a truly digital India. I would also like to congratulate Intel for launching the Ek Kadam Unnati Ki Aur. Programs like these are the need of the hour to enable citizens, facilitate digital infrastructure as a utility and provide governance as well as services on demand.”

Though there was no Q&A session for media but we managed to ask Mr.Ravi Shankar Prasad about the Innovation portal which he announced in the same event. On being asked if this portal will also facilitate filing patents and other assistance , he replied affirmative. Once the portal is in place innovators are expected to share that on this portal which will be scrutinized by expert panel.

Ek Kadam Unnati Ki Aur Program

Under the Ek Kadam Unnati Ki Aur program, Intel will work with national and regional governments to create a blueprint to drive technology enabled transformation at the grassroots level in 10 states. Intel aims to work closely with entities like Common Services Centers* (CSCs) and MyGov^* that provide last mile citizen services across the country to set up Digital India Unnati Kendras that will provide devices, relevant local content and training for citizens thereby creating opportunities for development and empowerment in the 10 states.

Sharing his views, Gregory R. Pearson, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Sales and Marketing Group, Intel Corporation said, “Intel is committed to support the Digital India vision and we believe this vision can be realized with strong collaboration between the government and the technology ecosystem. We are pleased to launch the Ek Kadam Unnati Ki Aur program for making technology mainstream in non-urban India in collaboration with the government.”

Speaking on Intel’s commitment towards Digital India, Debjani Ghosh, Vice-President, Sales and Marketing Group and Managing Director, Intel South Asia said, “Intel has been fostering innovation in India for over two decades now. We are extremely proud of the milestones we have achieved across the two areas of our commitment to Digital India, through Skills Development and Innovation. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the government departments and my industry colleagues who strongly supported the Innovate for Digital India Challenge. We look forward to continuing collaboration to scale our Ek Kadam Unnati Ki Aur initiative towards making Digital India a reality.”