Hult Prize At Ashoka University Judges Innovations In The Field Of energy
At Ashoka University, the Hult Prize competition took place, where teams from Ashoka University competed to be selected for the regional finals to represent India for the final Hult Prize. The Hult Prize Foundation is a start-up accelerator for budding young social entrepreneurs emerging from universities around the world. The annual competition aims to build and launch the most compelling social business ideas. The winning team will receive USD 1 Million in seed capital as well as mentorship and advice from the international business community. It is the world’s foremost platform for the creation and launch of for-good, for-profit start-ups emerging from the university. Often referred to as the "Nobel Prize for Students", it is an initiative of Hult Business School and United Nations, with the support of President Bill Clinton. The Global Challenge for 2017-2018 is: “Harnessing the power of energy to transform the lives of 10 million people. “
For the event at Ashoka University, there were more than 10 teams which competed with 6 teams finally presenting. Some of the teams which presented included team Blueyard, which consisted of Sachin Mehra, Punyashloka Panda and Rhea Pandey who aimed to explore an education system to inculcate a culture of sensitivity. Another team which presented was team Imperium, which consisted of Anand Waghmare, Aditya Singh, Nayanika Krishnan and Liyana Gasnafar, which aimed to increase the efficiency of the energy system by tapping into areas unexplored to harness it. There was another team, called team Insolar which consisted of Harsh Karamchandani, Vidhi Goel, and Mohit Sharma, which aimed to harness solar energy to power mobile devices on the go.
The winning team was team MC Squared (Solar Sakhi), which consisted of Atitya Ragul.V, Neeraj Adhithya K.S., Twinkle Malhan and Gangatharan who aimed to build Compact, cost-effective Stand Alone Power System (SAPS) based on solar technology for rural primary schools. The runner-up was team Jugaad AC, which consisted of Tanisha Katara, Surendra Singh and Sourabh Tuwani, and aimed to build eco-coolers with plastics and use no electricity, while the second runner-up was Team Project Urja, which consisted of Vishal Ajjampur, Jayjit Das, and Vikrant Kadian, which aimed to solve one of the most overlooked problems that our country faces, to harnesses the power of clean biogas energy to innovate how we grow, cook and dispose of food.
The judges for the event were Mr Anurag Kanti, Founder of INDIA Redefined, a collaborative platform for citizens, corporates and NGOs, and an advisor/mentor for start-ups, social enterprises and incubators, and Mr Anirban Roy, Managing Director of SEED, an end to end CSR implementing agency. The winning team will go on to represent Ashoka University at the regional finals, and then compete for the big prize if selected.
The event was sponsored by the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Ashoka University, and organized by Priyank Narayan, Jeeva Mathew and Vasundhara Gupta.
