The Centre of Excellence (CoE) established under the aegis of India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA), at CDAC Noida in collaboration with Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India and the Uttar Pradesh Government, announced the winners of its Grand Challenge Contest 2021 on Monday.
Earlier in July this year, the CoE had invited proposals for Grand Challenge 2021 for design and development of mobile handset accessories across seven product categories, including power bank, charger, wireless charger, bluetooth speaker, Smart Light Systems, Digital Radio & Headsets.
After an overwhelming response from contest participants, the winners were announced on Monday across categories. The first prize for best design and best prototype is Rs. 25,000, respectively. Under the contest, the funding amount for two best designs for prototype development is Rs. 25000/-.
The Grand Challenge witnessed participation from a total of 1409 teams registered for the contest and participants submitted 577 Synopsis. The submission was about 41% with 557 Synopsis from the academic institutions and 20 Synopsis from the R&D institutions and Industry.
In addition to the financial support, the winning designs will also be mentored by the CoE expert panel to develop the prototypes and ready them for the market. These comprise CDAC, ICEA, SAMEER , BARC, and MEITY.
On the occasion, Ajay Prakash Sawhney (IAS) Secretary, MeitY, Government of India, “Announced the winners and apprised them of the commitment of Government of India (GOI) to extend all support for product development and commercialization. The Secretary, MeitY, GoI also emphasised the need for necessary linkages with the start-up promotion schemes of Government of Uttar Pradesh, so as to nurture the winners with necessary funds to transform them into successful SME/MSME.
“Further, he added the need of more innovative ideas that can catalyse the electronics industry in India and can help to add unicorns in the electronics hardware domain as well.”
Commenting on the awards, Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA), said, “I would like to congratulate all the participant teams at the Grand Contest 2021. India is known to be the country full of youth and energy. It is exciting to witness innovative solutions being invented through the contest. The solutions and innovative products developed will help scale up the efforts of the CoE in a meaningful manner.”
Mohindroo Further added, “Mobile Add-on products are essentially the preserve of MSME’s. The CoE will fill a critical gap and enable India’s MSME’s to substitute imports, build brands in the domestic market and penetrate globally. The CoE was set up by ICEA in collaboration with MeitY and UP Government and the core objective of the CoE is to build a large and strong MSME network, which can produce designs that can be used in India and globally. The CoE will continue to work towards the development of path-breaking technologies in this regard.
Arvind Kumar (IAS), Additional Chief Secretary, IT & Electronics, Government of Uttar Pradesh, MeitY said, “I congratulate all winners of the Grand Contest 2021. The Government of Uttar Pradesh supports the development and growth of technology. And the CoE is well equipped to take the efforts of ICEA and the MeitY ahead. The UP Government will continue to encourage more investments into the development of new technologies and solutions.”
Col. A. K. Nath, Director General, CDAC emphasised the role of Centre of Excellence (CoE) in supporting the local industries through CoE right from the design to development of products related to mobile handset accessories.
