Atal Innovation Mission NITI Aayog partners with Embassy of Denmark to launch the Challenges for Innovative solutions for water management in India
Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog (AIM-NITI Aayog) has partnered with Innovation Center Denmark (ICDK), Denmark Embassy in India and the Denmark Technical University (DTU) to launch AIM-ICDK Water innovation challenge, which is aimed at identifying innovative next-gen solutions to solve challenges related to water. The winners of the challenges shall be a part of the Indian delegation for the Next Generation Water Action at IWA Water Congress scheduled in May 2021 in Copenhagen.
The challenge will identify two young student teams and two startups working on innovative water technologies that can address challenges identified in urban and rural areas and holds potential of impact in different domains such as agriculture and city planning.
The initiative will engage young talent from leading universities and innovation hubs across the nation to build their skills and apply their technical disciplines and innovation capacity to come up with technology driven innovative solutions for effective water management in India.
The selected innovators would have an opportunity to participate in the IWA Water Congress and would be supported by AIM NITI Aayog, Denmark Technical University - Skylabs (DTU) and partners to strengthen upon their solutions/technologies as well as accelerate the pace of the startups. They will also become a part of an international community of water professionals. The selected solutions shall also leverage upon the Danish technical expertise and rich experience in this sector and benefit from this bi-lateral collaboration.
The water challenges have been launched under the Green Strategic Partnership that has been agreed upon by the Prime Ministers of both the countries, India and Denmark, in September 2020 and underscores the focus that India has on SGD Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
Gracing this occasion, Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog said “I would like to emphasize that technology and innovation would play a prime role in finding the solution to our water problem. We have to rely upon more and more innovation-led methods to tackle the acute problem that we are faced with today and I am sure this collaboration between AIM and ICDK will take us forward in that regard.”
Mr. R. Ramanan, Mission Director Atal Innovation Mission and Additional Secretary NITI Aayog in his address appraised India’s and Denmark’s strong 400 years of productive bilateral partnership and highlighted the potential for continuous impact across multiple sectors. In India, agriculture accounts for 90% of the water consumption owing to fast depletion of underwater ground levels, excessive boring and poor irrigation systems. Large cities in India are set to become water scarce. In such a situation, it is imperative for us to identify and support innovative solutions for efficient water management in urban and rural India.
Mr Freddy Svane, Ambassador of Denmark to India, after the launch of the Challenges, said "It is a momentous year for India and Denmark, as we agreed upon a historic Green Strategic Partnership. Denmark has been a pioneer in preserving water resources; this is one of the areas where we are now setting out to work with India through government-to-government, company-to-company, innovation and research channels. The young people who will come through this programme in India will be a part of a new global community of Young Entrepreneurs in the Water sector, which will be gathered for the first time this coming May in Copenhagen."
Mr. Marianne Thellersen, Vice President for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Denmark Technical University, said “DTU Skylab is the hub for technology-based innovation and entrepreneurship located at the Technical University of Denmark, matching state-of-the-art technology and science with an ambitious and open community of students, researchers and partners. Next Generation Water Action is a programme developed by DTU Skylab that will involve young entrepreneurs and students from all over the globe to bring perspectives and solutions into the IWA World Water Congress in May 2021. I am thrilled to see that the Indian government and our Innovation Center Denmark in India have decided to partner with us in this project. DTU sees great interest in building even stronger relations with India, both within research and entrepreneurship. I look forward to welcoming the Indian entrepreneurs to Copenhagen, and I hope this will be the first of many similar joint projects for us.”
The application portal will be open for applications from 10th December 2020. More details at http://aimapp2.aim.gov.in/icdk/
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