Awards & Competitions
Amrit Mahotsav App Innovation Challenge 2021

Amrit Mahotsav App Innovation Challenge 2021

About Amrit Mahotsav App Innovation Challenge 2021

Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji has given a clarion call to celebrate the 75th year of Independence of India, as the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. On this auspicious occasion, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), is launching the Amrit Mahotsav App Innovation Challenge 2021. The challenge seeks to identify the best Indian Apps , which have the potential to scale and become world class Apps in their respective categories.

This Innovation Challenge is in continuationof the AatmaNirbhar App Innovation Challenge orgainsed in 2020 that helped identify 24 Winning Apps and 20 Promising Apps.

It is estimated that more than 500 million users use smartphones in India, and more than three quarters of them are online. Indians are also amongst the top downloaders of apps in the world. This massive market holds a plethora of opportunities for Indian innovators and tech gurus. Under the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, it is the aim of Government to make Indians one of the major “uploaders” of apps, apart from “downloaders”.

Over the past few years, many new apps have entered and started dominating the market in various fields whether it be social media, messaging, marketing, transport, and food etc. Amrit Mahotsav App Innovation Challenge also has a category of Culture and Heritage that will help identifyApps that can showcase the rich cultural heritage and traditions of India. The identified categories will give an opportunity to innovators and tech entrepreneurs to build solutions that will be as per the vision laid out by Hon’ble Prime Ministerregarding the role of Hackathons, Innovation Challenges and Startups in contributing to building the New India.

This Innovation Challenge with various cash awards and incentives of featuring Apps on Leader Boards seeks to create an ecosystem where Indian entrepreneurs and Start-ups are incentivised to ideate, incubate, build, nurture and sustain Tech solutions that can serve not only citizens within India but also the world.

The Mantra is to Make in India for India and the World.

The Amrit Mahotsav App Innovation Challenge 2021 may include the following 16 categories:

* Culture & Heritage
* Health
* Education
* Social Media
* Emerge Tech
* Skills
* News
* Games
* Entertainment
* Office
* Fitness & Nutrition
* Agriculture
* Business & Retail
* Fintech
* Navigation
* Others

Apart from identifying these applications, participants may also pitch in their ideas for making these apps more adaptable and suitable for everyone, and ways to incorporate emerging technologies to keep up with advancements in technology which requires businesses to have a vision for the next few years. Participants may also be suggested to look out for apps which are incorporating latest technological trends like Beacon Technology, 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Instant Apps, IoT & AR/VR.

PROCESS

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Only Indian entrepreneurs and start-ups are eligible to submit their entries in various categories as enlisted. High school & college students may also be considered for participation as most of these students, especially the ones who are in the field of engineering, are budding entrepreneurs and are the first ones to adapt to the upcoming trends of technology. Further, participants may be allowed to perform in teams with not more than 4 participants in each team.

INNOVATION CHALLENGE PROCESS

* The Innovation Challenge will be available on innovateindia.mygov.in
* The last date of submission of entry is September 30, 2021
* The applicant may only apply online to submit their proposals by registering and logging on MyGov portal: www.mygov.in
* Applicants are advised to provide self-contained proposals with essential supporting materials provided as uploads for an informed and fair evaluation/review.
* No changes will be accepted once proposals are submitted.
* Providing incorrect information will lead to outright rejection of proposals.

EVALUATION PARAMETERS

* Easy User Interface
* Robustness
* Security features
* Scalability & Interoperability
* Vision of App for next 5 years (Participants may pitch in their ideas for making the app successful by * incorporating apps with emerging technologies/latest trends)

There will be a two stage Selection Process:

* 1st Stage – Screening of eligible entries
* 2nd Stage – Evaluation by Jury, with actual Demo

SELECTION PROCESS

* The Jury may be a mix of leading experts from Government, Industry & Academia and experts from Private Sectors. The jury can be composed of members from NASSCOM, MeitY & NITI Aayog for assessing the participants
* Shortlisted Apps to be awarded & put on Leader boards

* Government to adopt suitable Apps, guide them to maturity