For those of us who yearn for cleaner surroundings, greater inclusivity in education and at the workplace, and ways to beat the extreme heat in India, there is much to look forward to. As Mr Shombi Sharp, UN Resident Coordinator, India says, “India has the greatest youth generation in history. No country has ever had so many young minds to tap, than India has right now.”
To put this in context, Mr Sharp made these comments during the finale of the Solve for Tomorrow competition by Samsung India, held in Delhi on Oct 10th. The competition, which is only in its second year in India, received applications from over 70,000 teams of young innovators across four core themes: Education and Learning; Environment and Sustainability; Health and Wellness; and Diversity and Inclusion.
Since the entries closed in May, the competitors have presented their ideas to the Samsung jury, built and refined their prototypes, participated in site visits to Samsung’s Research Institutes and HQs across the country, been to bootcamps where they’ve worked closely with experts on various aspects of engineering a solution, and bringing it to the market as a working, feasible and economically viable product or service.
And on Oct 10th, it all came together in the grand finale, where each of the Top 10 teams made their final presentations to an esteemed Grand Jury comprising of luminaries Mr Shombi Sharp, Dr. Archana Chugh, Professor IIT, and Mr Mohan Rao Goli, CTO, Samsung Research Institute, Bangalore.
Dr. Chugh was thoroughly impressed by both the calibre of the participants and the quality of their ideas and execution. “They really are very thoughtful and are working on problems that need to be resolved. I’m very happy that they are concerned about it, and are working on it. There is a huge range, and it is very impressive. They’re coming up with solutions that are viable.” Mr Goli, on the other hand, was full of pride, and hope for India’s future. “This evening, all this young talent reiterated that India means innovation. India is going to be that guiding light for the entire world. Every year, they are setting new benchmarks, new standards, new ways of thinking.” Of course, Mr Sharp stole everyone’s heart when he said in Hindi, “SDGs duniya mein mumkin honge, kyunki India mein mumkin honge!”
The Top 10 teams included Team Demeter, Team Hackvengers, Team Jalraaj, Team Milaan, Team Musketeers, Team NIT, Team Stemly, Team TEG, Team Think and Team Touchpad. After these team presentations, Shubham Mukherjee, Head, CSR & Communications, Samsung Southwest Asia took a moment to talk about Samsung’s motivation behind the Solve for Tomorrow Competition. “Solve for tomorrow is our youth education and innovation competition, and as part of this program, we aim to empower the youth of the country to solve real life issues and transform the lives of people with their innovative ideas. At Samsung, our Global CSR vision is “Together for Tomorrow, Enabling People.” Solve for Tomorrow is our attempt at fulfilling that vision.”
This was followed by a round of felicitations for all the Top 10 teams where they received ₹1 Lakh as prize money per team, in addition to other prizes. And then, it was time for the main event – the announcement of the Top 3 teams who would take home the grand prize of ₹1.5 Crores and support from Samsung, in addition to bragging rights, and incredible visibility. These accolades went to Team NIT, Team Stemly and Team Think for their groundbreaking innovations in Environment and Sustainability, Health and Wellness, and Diversity and Inclusion.
Team NIT from Surat is solving the problem of trash collection, sorting and recycling from India’s beaches. Their robot named “Sweep” (engineered from scratch) can comb beaches for trash, then sort them using AI, all while ensuring minimal displacement of sand, and all the living creatures that call beach sand home. While the team is very aware that their solution will impact jobs in the sanitation sector, they are confident that it will not create a net job loss, but a displacement of workers towards work that is safer, and adds more value.
Team Stemly’s Yash Yadav is a bright young man who was surprised by how only a few girls chose science after 10th grade in his own school. After many conversations and a lot of research, Yash realised that the solution needs to counter the constant babble of discouragement with positive messages; in addition to arming girls with information, resources and role models. Team Stemly’s platform leverages AI to deliver hyper personalised experiences to each of its users, and learns from each interaction how to be a more effective mentor.
Team Think is powered by three young tinkerers who came together online to solve the problem of keeping farm workers cool in our hot summer sun. Team Think’s solution is a small, wearable personal cooling unit that helps users regulate their body temperature during hot and cold weather. They’ve experimented with various solutions, materials and tested their product in several conditions before settling on two final versions. Their latest prototype is likely to be priced between ₹1000-1500, and users can control it via the device itself, or through an app.
For these teams, and indeed all participants of the Solve for Tomorrow competition, this is just the beginning of a long road to entrepreneurship and innovation. As last year’s winning teams have proved, there is hunger for these solutions. When you have a behemoth like Samsung backing you and validating you, investors and partners find you.
For Mr J B Park, President and CEO, Samsung, Southwest Asia, the Solve for Tomorrow competition is a way to team up with India’s youth power to bring the transformation that India needs today. He addressed the participants with tremendous respect, “We have witnessed your innovation and your bright ideas that have the potential to change the world and transform the lives of people. In my mind, all of you are winners. We believe the youth have unlimited potential. Youth have the power to innovate and solve the biggest challenges in our world.”
He also talked passionately about the larger vision behind the Solve for Tomorrow competition. “Samsung is empowering the next generations to achieve their full potential and pioneer positive social changes. To do this we are focusing on education for youth under our global CSR vision: Together for Tomorrow, Enable People.” May it be so.
If you’ve missed out on all the action, you can catch up on all the episodes here. If you know a young innovator who needs a larger platform for their big idea, stay tuned to Solve for Tomorrow in 2024!
This is a partnered post.