Indian government announces ₹2.1 million cash prize for the best innovative ideas for sustainable energy

• The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has announced a startup challenge to find the best solutions for problem statements in sustainable energy.
• The first prize will be awarded ₹10 lakhs, second ₹7 lakhs and the third best idea will get ₹5 lakhs.
• The challenge is also open to students from academic institutions who can present a prototype for their solutions.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has announced a startup challenge to solve key problems in the sustainable energy sector.

The top 3 ideas presented will be awarded with cash prizes. The first prize will be ₹10 lakhs, second will get ₹7 lakhs and the third best idea will get ₹5 lakhs.

The problems are in the areas of livelihood application, power system and design, solar energy, wind energy, energy solutions for industrial processes in SMEs, mid-to-large-scale manufacturing units, biomass and waste-to-energy supply chain for power and thermal generation, mobility and energy storage etc.

The challenge is also open to students from academic institutions who can present a prototype of their solutions.

This is not the first time the Indian government has opened up its problem statements for solutions from the budding startup ecosystem. Every other week, through the Startup India portal, different ministries set up challenges calling out innovators to send in their ideas and solutions.

The government also partnered with technology leaders like WhatsApp. The messaging platform announced its interest in the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem by partnering with Invest India (which runs Startup India) in October 2018 and had said that it would work towards identifying startups with large-scale socio economic impact.