6 Winning Ideas Announced By Kolhapur Startup Mission

600+ Startups Give Solutions To Solve Kolhapur's Civic Issues, 6 Winning Ideas Announced By Kolhapur Startup Mission

Six ideas have been selected to receive financial and technical support from Kolhapur Incubation Center and SIIC IIT Kanpur.

Kolhapur/Mumbai, March 3, 2021: In an overwhelming response, the Kolhapur Startup Mission received more than 600 entries from different start-ups between January 15 and 31, 2021. Kolhapur Startup Mission is aimed at inviting and empowering start-ups in Kolhapur to solve the city's civic issues through innovative ideas & technology, and supporting new entrepreneurship.

The idea is the brainchild of Maharashtra Minister of State for Home, Housing & IT, Shri Satej Patil, who is also the guardian Minster of Kolhapur. The Mission was launched in partnership with Kolhapur Incubation Center (KIC), DY Patil Education Group and Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC) of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur on January 15, 2021.

The winning startups are Acquafront Infra, Riverbin, Samudhyoga Waste Chakra, Kolhapur-based Eco Green India and innovations by Tejaswini Mali and Ronak Sutaria.

Based on the eligibility criteria, the organizers selected 133 applications for the second round and the same were evaluated on the relevance and innovations by the SIIC team. Of these, 60 entries were further selected for the third round and were evaluated by a panel of experts. After a detailed assessment, 15 entries were selected for the final presentation held on March 2, 2021. Over 100 startups from Kolhapur participated in this Innovation Challenge.

The esteemed panel members for the final round included Prof. Amitabha Bandopadhyay, Mr. Mithun John, Dr. C. D. Lokhande, Dr. Abhijit Sathe, Mr. Jai Shankar Sharma and Ms. Aditi Kumar. After detailed deliberations and discussions, the panel chose five start-ups that will receive technical, financial & co-incubation support from Kolhapur Innovation Center & SIIC IIT Kanpur.

Commenting on this, Hon'ble Minister Satej Patil said, “I am extremely happy to see such an overwhelming response for Kolhapur Startup Mission. Thanks to the support of our Municipality Commisioner Dr. Kadambari Balkawade & MLA Ruturaj Patil, will able to provide all the administrative & local support to these startups to test the ideas in Kolhapur. I am confident that this initiative will make Kolhapur one of the top start-up destinations of the country."

The focus areas for which the entries were invited included Water Management, Waste Management, Air Quality Management, Education, Public Health, E-governance, Agriculture and Mobility & Transportation.

Lauding the initiative Dr Anita Gupta, Head-NESTEDB, said, “Sowing the seeds of innovation in the young minds, particularly in the non-metros, is important but building the platforms to connect innovators with potential customers is even more important. I compliment the SIIC IIT Kanpur, KIC, DY Patil and KMC that have come together to create this innovative platform. Platforms like Kolhapur Startup Mission will be extremely helpful for startups and innovators building B2G solutions.”

The winners were announced in the presence of Dr. Anita Gupta, Head-NSTEDB, DST, Govt of India, MLA Shri Ruturaj Patil, Dr. Kadambari Balkawade, IAS, Commissioner, Kolhapur Municipal Corporation, Shri Deependra Singh Kushwah, IAS, Nodal Officer & CEO, Maharashtra State Innovation Society and Dr. Nikhil Agarwal, CEO, SIIC, IIT Kanpur.

About Kolhapur Startup Mission: http://www.kolhapurstartupmission.com/

List of Winners of the Kolhapur Startup Mission 2021:

Applicant Name	Location	Brief Introduction
Ankit Patel (Acquafront Infra)	Kanpur	The team has developed various MODULAR FLOATATION PRODUCTS and their solution, that claimed the top spot, is to use the innovative flotation products for Lake Rejuvenation at Kolhapur.
Rohan Salvi	Pune	This team has developed an innovative product- Riverbin to clean the lakes, rivers and large water bodies. It's a team of students from Maharashtra mentored by Dr Yogesh Dhote from Indira college of Engineering and Management, Pune.
Tejaswini Mali	Pune	They have developed a touch-free waterless and odourless indoor as well as outdoor urinals with unique design.
Ronak Sutaria	Mumbai	This team has built India's first scientifically validated real-time air quality monitoring network solution. Their products provide the low-cost sensor based Atmos Air Quality devices and a streaming data analytics dashboard which will allow civic authorities and local citizens to understand the air quality situation in Kolhapur.
Samudhyoga Waste Chakra (P) Ltd	Chennai	Samudhyoga Waste Chakra is a clean tech company specialized in developing advanced technology to derive value out of waste. They have developed two flagship units – Decentralized plastic pyrolysis system and Ecofert unit.
Sumit Powar	Kolhapur	The team Eco-Green India has developed a device that can bring an old vehicle close to BS-VI norms. This can help in the reduction of air pollution significantly.

About Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC), IIT Kanpur

Startups and social enterprises are widely regarded as the key to addressing developmental challenges, especially in emerging economies such as India. With path breaking innovation brewing at incubate startups, SIIC IIT Kanpur aims to create impact at the bottom of the pyramid. Established in the year 2000, Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC), IIT Kanpur is one of the oldest technology business incubators with many successes under its belt. The multifaceted, vibrant incubation ecosystem nurtured over a period of 2 decades aims to fill all the gaps that exist on the road to convert an idea into business. SIIC has developed the experience base and ecosystem that become key ingredients in the development of early-stage, technology-focused start-ups disrupting paradigms across the domains such as agriculture, healthcare, aerospace, energy, water, and education.

Website: https://siicincubator.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IncubatorIITK