India's future is in innovation: Pitroda

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Information technology facilitates social innovations, and could help improve life of the poor, said Sam Pitroda, PM advisor on information, infrastructure and innovations and chairman of the Action for India.

Well, that statement didn't come from vacuum. Pitroda was impressed by a wide array of exhibits by over 100 young innovators from the agriculture, energy, healthcare and education sectors at the event, ‘Scaling Social Impact Through Technology’, organized by the Action for India at IIT Delhi on Saturday.

“All ideas are great. This is future of India. I want more people to know about the innovations,” he said. The government, both at the state and Centre, is doing a number of things to help this change and make delivery of public service different, Pitroda said.

“IT will definitely help. Vocational training is a great idea to train millions of individuals. And it’s all going to happen,” he added. In order to support social entrepreneurs in starting new business models, efforts are under way to increase the corpus of National Innovation Fund. “The fund will collect Rs 500 crore, including Rs 100 crore,

announced by the finance minister," said Pitroda.

Among the participants was GramVaani, which runs specialized campaigns for women education and helps bridge rural-urban digital divide. A company, Jaldoot, runs 23 vehicles to facilitate safe drinking water using innovative technology.

Biosense has developed a device to diagnose anemia with the help of battery-driven device. This device could be available at Rs 12,000. Another healthcare ICT start-up, iKure, has come up with remote monitoring of patients wherein data could be collected and passed on to

physicians in the area.

Simpa Networks offers solar energy based on pay-as-you-go model. It works with solar system integrators and seeks to reduce power consumption. Onergy has set up renewable energy centres and is training rural entrepreneurs.

The forum discussed financial, technical and skill challenges faced by social innovators in the country and sought assistance from the government.