8 Cr Prize money: Amrit Mahotsav App Innovation Challenge 2021: Opportunity to young entrepreneurs

About The challenge

Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji has given a clarion call to celebrate the 75th year of Independence of India, as the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. On this auspicious occasion, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), is launching the Amrit Mahotsav App Innovation Challenge 2021. The challenge seeks to identify the best Indian Apps, which have the potential to scale and become world-class Apps in their respective categories.

This Innovation Challenge is in continuation of the AatmaNirbhar App Innovation Challenge organised in 2020 that helped identify 24 Winning Apps and 20 Promising Apps.

It is estimated that more than 500 million users use smartphones in India, and more than three-quarters of them are online. Indians are also amongst the top downloaders of apps in the world. This massive market holds a plethora of opportunities for Indian innovators and tech gurus. Under the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, it is the aim of the Government to make Indians one of the major "uploaders" of apps, apart from "downloaders".

Over the past few years, many new apps have entered and started dominating the market in various fields whether it be social media, messaging, marketing, transport, and food etc. Amrit Mahotsav App Innovation Challenge also has a category of Culture and Heritage that will help identify apps that can showcase the rich cultural heritage and traditions of India. The identified categories will give an opportunity to innovators and tech entrepreneurs to build solutions that will be as per the vision laid out by Hon'ble Prime Minister regarding the role of Hackathons, Innovation Challenges and Startups in contributing to building the New India.

This Innovation Challenge with various cash awards and incentives of featuring Apps on Leader Boards seeks to create an ecosystem where Indian entrepreneurs and Startups are incentivised to ideate, incubate, build, nurture and sustain Tech solutions that can serve not only citizens within India but also the world.

The Mantra is to Make in India for India and the World.

The Amrit Mahotsav App Innovation Challenge 2021 may include the following 16 categories:

• Culture & Heritage
• Health
• Education
• Social Media
• Emerge Tech
• Skills
• News
• Games
• Entertainment
• Office
• Fitness & Nutrition
• Agriculture
• Business & Retail
• Fintech
• Navigation
• Others

Apart from identifying these applications, participants may also pitch in their ideas for making these apps more adaptable and suitable for everyone, and ways to incorporate emerging technologies to keep up with advancements in technology which requires businesses to have a vision for the next few years. Participants may also be suggested to look out for apps which are incorporating the latest technological trends like Beacon Technology, 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Instant Apps, IoT & AR/VR.

PROCESS

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Only Indian entrepreneurs and start-ups are eligible to submit their entries in various categories as enlisted. High school & college students may also be considered for participation as most of these students, especially the ones who are in the field of engineering, are budding entrepreneurs and are the first ones to adapt to the upcoming trends of technology. Further, participants may be allowed to perform in teams with not more than 4 participants in each team.

INNOVATION CHALLENGE PROCESS

• The Innovation Challenge will be available on innovateindia.mygov.in
• The last date of submission of entry is September 30, 2021
• The applicant may only apply online to submit their proposals by registering and logging on the MyGov portal: www.mygov.in
• Applicants are advised to provide self-contained proposals with essential supporting materials provided as uploads for an informed and fair evaluation/review.
• No changes will be accepted once proposals are submitted.
• Providing incorrect information will lead to outright rejection of proposals.

EVALUATION PARAMETERS

• Easy User Interface
• Robustness
• Security features
• Scalability & Interoperability
• Vision of App for next 5 years (Participants may pitch in their ideas for making the app successful by incorporating apps with emerging technologies/latest trends)

There will be a two stage Selection Process:

• 1st Stage - Screening of eligible entries
• 2nd Stage - Evaluation by Jury, with actual Demo

SELECTION PROCESS

• The Jury may be a mix of leading experts from Government, Industry & Academia and experts from Private Sectors. The jury can be composed of members from NASSCOM, MeitY & NITI Aayog for assessing the participants
• Shortlisted Apps to be awarded & put on Leader boards
• Government to adopt suitable Apps, guide them to maturity

IMPORTANT DATES

AWARDS

A grand finale event (LIVE event) can be organized that may be conducted on the MyGov Innovate Platform and at the end of the event, the results of the App Innovation Challenge may be announced.

Following cash Awards will be given in each of the 16 Categories

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

• The contest is open to Indian Citizens only. 
• The decision of the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) will be final and binding with regard to selection on all stages. 
• By making a submission in the contest, all participants warrant and represent that to the best of their knowledge, their submission is original and does not violate or misappropriate any third-party trade secret, “know-how,” copyright, patent or other intellectual property right. Participants also warrant and represent that there are no obligations of any nature, legal or otherwise, which would prohibit, restrict, or interfere with their participation in the Contest or submission of their design report, and agree to obtain any necessary clearances, authorizations and/or approvals prior to participation.
• The participants agree that MeitY will share information submitted by the participants as to panel experts, reviewers etc. (any information that you may not want to share publicly should not be submitted).
• Government does not claim ownership over Intellectual Property Right (IPR) for the Innovation that is sent to us by submitting an application. The IPR shall remain with the applicant at all times.
• Government reserves the right to publish the grantees information with regard to Name of the App, Brief summary, Key Functionalities, Developer Contact, Team details.
• By entering the Contest, each participant agrees to release MeitY from and against any losses, damages, rights, claims and actions of any kind arising from 
  • an exclusion or disqualification of such participant pursuant to these rules; 
  • late or unsuccessful efforts to notify winners of any prize; 
  • forfeiture of a prize and the selection of an alternate winner; 
  • late, lost, delayed, damaged, misdirected, incomplete, illegible or unintelligible entries;
  • telephone, electronic, hardware or software program, network, Internet, or computer malfunctions, failures or difficulties of any kind;
  • failed, incomplete, garbled or delayed computer transmissions;
  • any condition caused by events beyond MeitY’s control that may cause the Contest to be disrupted or corrupted; and
  • any injuries, losses or damages of any kind relating to participation in this Contest.
• Government reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, suspend this contest and modify the rules, prizes & funding related to the contest without prior notice. In no event shall Government or any other organizers be liable for any claims, losses, expenses or damages, arising out of or in connection with the foregoing.

CORRESPONDENCE

Any correspondence with the participant will be done through an email provided by the participant at the time of filling the application form. Organizers are not liable in case of email delivery failures.

DISCLAIMER

MeitY reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, suspend this contest and modify the rules, prizes & funding related to the contest without prior notice. In no event shall MeitY/Digital India/MyGov/NIC or any other organizers be liable for any claims, losses, expenses or damages, arising out of or in connection with the foregoing.

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