Ahmedabad: Government of Gujarat awarded six startups as it concluded the two-day Vibrant Gujarat Startup Summit with learning not only for the Startups participating from across the country but also for industry leaders, policy makers, investors, venture capitalists as well as students that plan to be a part of the startup ecosystem.

The national level Startup Grand Challenge which was organized by iCreate with an objective of finding innovative technology based and commercially viable solutions to key developmental issues of the state and the nation like solving issues pertaining to food and water, had received an more than 1300 entries out of which only 26 were shortlisted to present either their ideas or prototypes.

State government awarded top three startups that have already created a prototype with prize money of Rs 15 Lakh, Rs 9 Lakh and Rs 3 Lakh respectively; while top 3 startups which are still at an idea stage were awarded prize money of Rs 5 Lakh, Rs 3 Lakh and Rs 1 Lakh respectively.

BalaSubramaniam of GIBSS Geothermal air-conditioning System from Mumbai won the first prize of Rs 15 lakh for creating a prototype that can solve the water loss problem in conventional air-conditioning systems. ArindamSom of AmritPani from Kolkata won the second prize for their most affordable and complete household water filtration system and AshayTejwani of Aqueous Solutions from Mumbai won the third prize in the prototype category for their technology that can be used for economical desalination of sea water using Graphene.

Meanwhile in the idea category, Sanjay Kumar from Gandhinagar won the first prize for his project on the extraction of neutraceutical secondary metabolites from agro waste using the reusable Nanobiocatalyst. AnandDeshmukh from Surat won the second prize for his project on safe and economic biodegradable hydrogels for water conservation in agriculture using green technology and Harshika from Ahmedabad won the third prize for her project on de-salinators that neither requires high energyBSE -0.87 % nor high temperature for removal of salts and making water suitable for human consumption or irrigation.

Speaking at the award ceremony of Startup Grand Challenge, Rohit Patel, Minister of State, Industries, Government of Gujarat said “I am delighted to see such overwhelming response for the Startup Summit.” According to him, Gujarat government is keen to promote the startup culture in the state and it is committed to provide all the assistance & support. For this, the state government has come up with a policy framework to boost startups & innovation in Gujarat.

The two-day summit saw startups from across India interacting with other stake holders of the startup ecosystem like senior government officials, industry experts, investors, incubators and venture capitalists. There were pitching sessions where entrepreneurs showcased their innovations and ideas in front of investors and simultaneously there were reverse pitching sessions where investors pitched their expectations to budding entrepreneurs.

In addition to the support from Government of Gujarat, organizations like Uber, Brand Capital, Spinta Global Accelerator and SDG Accelerator offered mentoring, financial and incubator support to selective startups present at the summit.

Source: The Economic Times