In the race to being the next economic superpower, India has opportunities aplenty to show the world how to do things the sustainable way. For India, the challenges are many: we are at the receiving end of global climate change with extreme changes to our weather; our energy needs are set to increase exponentially in the coming years to sufficiently power our economy; and our lands and waters are going to have to deal with the waste and outcomes of all this economic productivity, while also producing plentiful (and safe) food and water for our population.
Fortunately, India also has the world’s largest bank of talent. To quote Mr Shombi Sharp, UN Resident Coordinator, India, “India has the greatest youth generation in history. No country has ever had so many young minds to tap, than India has right now.” One of the best ways to tap these beautiful young minds is to give them the right platform. Samsung did just that, with Solve for Tomorrow 2023.
For Mr J B Park, President and CEO, Samsung, Southwest Asia, the Solve for Tomorrow competition is a way to team up with India’s youth power to bring the transformation that India needs today. “Samsung is empowering the next generations to achieve their full potential and pioneer positive social changes. To do this we are focusing on education for youth under our global CSR vision: Together for Tomorrow, Enable People.”
This is only the second year for Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow competition, which is present in 63 countries worldwide. Already, this year’s competition drew over 70,000 entries! Since the entries closed in May, the competitors have presented their ideas to the Samsung jury, built and refined their prototypes, participated in site visits to Samsung’s Research Institutes and HQs across the country, been to bootcamps where they’ve worked closely with experts on various aspects of engineering a solution, and bringing it to the market as a working, feasible and economically viable product or service.
And now, the Top 3 have been chosen in a Grand Finale event held on Oct 10th, in New Delhi: Team Think, Team Stemly and Team NIT Surat.
Team Think is powered by three young tinkerers, Ankush Yadav, Mukkabir Rahman and Varsha KJ, who came together online to solve the problem of keeping farm workers cool in our hot summer sun. According to Ankush, “We never thought that we would even come to participate in Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2023. Winning it is a dream come true for us!” His teammate Mukkabir however, is more sanguine, and is already planning ahead, “We will use this money for further operations.” Varsha is already excited about the next phase. “There’s a lot to do now, which starts from tomorrow itself. Winning this competition has been the perfect start for our dream.”
Team Think’s solution is a small, wearable personal cooling unit that helps users regulate their body temperature during hot and cold weather. They’ve experimented with various solutions, materials and tested their product in several conditions before settling on two final versions. Their latest prototype is likely to be priced between ₹1000-1500, and users can control it via the device itself, or through an app.
Team Stemly’s Yash Yadav was both excited and numb at the win. “It’s a dream come true. It’s the culmination of months of hard work and it hasn’t really set in as yet but I am sure I’ll be extremely happy in a few minutes. There’s a lot to do as this platform has just accelerated and kickstarted my Stemly. So that it can actually reach out to the people that it wanted to impact and help them out.”
Stemly started out as a question, when Yash was surprised by how only a few girls chose science after 10th grade in his own school. After many conversations and a lot of research, Yash realised that the solution needs to counter the constant babble of discouragement with positive messages; in addition to arming girls with information, resources and role models. Team Stemly’s platform leverages AI to deliver hyper personalised experiences to each of its users, and learns from each interaction how to be a more effective mentor.
Team NIT Surat’s Sweep Robot also had its beginnings in personal experience, when Aditi Tapariya, Harshil Mistry and Vaibhav Gupta came across a filthy beach they couldn’t stop thinking about. Their made from scratch Sweep robot solves the problem of trash collection, sorting and recycling from India’s beaches. It can comb beaches for trash, then sort them using AI, all while ensuring minimal displacement of sand, and all the living creatures that call beach sand home. While the team is very aware that their solution will impact jobs in the sanitation sector, they are confident that it will not create a net job loss, but a displacement of workers towards work that is safer, and adds more value.
At the win, Vaibhav was giddy with excitement. “I’m very happy and very excited and I’m feeling every feeling! After the pitch, we were very confident, but listening to the others we got nervous! But finally, ours was the first name that was announced! We were very proud and happy.” His teammate Harshil couldn’t quite put his joy into words. “We had so many ups and downs! Our prototype is so huge, that the entire hotel knew that we were here and working on our prototype! It was tough, but we did it! Obviously, we want to use the money effectively on R&D to refine this idea, and to get this product out.” Aditi too, was bubbling over with the R&D possibilities that the prize money makes possible for them. But mostly, she was grateful. “Samsung took care of everything. In fact, if they hadn’t helped us in getting our prototype here, we would not have been able to give a good pitch and all of this would not have been possible. Thank you Samsung!”
In case you missed it, you can still watch the grand finale here, where the Top 10 teams pitch their ideas to a Grand Jury comprising of luminaries Mr Shombi Sharp, Dr. Archana Chugh, Professor IIT, and Mr Mohan Rao Goli, CTO, Samsung Research Institute, Bangalore. You can also visit Solve for Tomorrow, and keep an eye on what’s coming down the pike for next year.
For all the innovators and dreamers out there: you’ve got just six months to get your ideas and prototypes ship-shape and ready for Solve for Tomorrow 2024!
This is a partnered post.
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