Infosys arm presents social innovation awards in Bengaluru

The global software major's philanthropic arm Infosys Foundation on Tuesday presented its 'Aarohan Social Innovation Awards' in Bengaluru to 12 individuals and NGOs for their contribution to social causes and the underprivileged in the society.

"We identified winners from over 900 submissions and across six award categories including, healthcare, rural development, destitute care, women's safety and empowerment, education, sports and sustainability," the Foundation said.

A total of 12 social innovators were recognised through the awards for their innovations impacting the social sector.

The top 'platinum award' worth Rs 30 lakh was presented to Prashant Gade from Madhya Pradesh for a low-cost myoelectric prosthetic arm called 'Inali Arm', as well as Khushwant Rai and Anjali Khurana from Punjab for their affordable personal braille printer.

The second 'gold award' with a prize money of Rs 20 lakh was won by Mayur Ladole, Gaurav Dastane and Nilesh Jadhav from Maharashtra for a water-disinfecting hand pump, and Samagra Empowerment Foundation from Maharashtra for a 'smartloo' platform.

Other winners included innovations like mobility device for the disabled, smart automated drug delivery and anti-pollution mask for respiratory patients, weed removal machine that processes weed into green manure, an audio device to address low braille literacy in India and biodegradable sanitary napkins.

"The awards were conceived as a means of creating impactful change at scale, by encouraging people to address social challenges in India," said the Foundation's Chairperson Sudha Murty on the occasion.

To incubate and scale their innovations, the platinum and gold prize winners were eligible for an eight-week residential mentorship at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Hyderabad, Telangana, the Foundation said.

The cost of the mentorship will be jointly taken care of by the Foundation and IIT Hyderabad.

The award winners were chosen by a jury comprising Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore former Dean Professor Trilochan Sastry, Indian toy inventor Padma Shree Arvind Gupta and the Foundation's chairperson and renowned author Murty, among others.

--IANS

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