Swachhata Start Up Challenge launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) of the Government of India in collaboration with the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) to encourage innovative start-ups to enter the sanitation and waste management sector. The invitation is open for innovative startups to participate.
Swachhata Start Up Challenge – How to participate and things to do
Startups interested in partaking in this challenge are suggested to submit their online application form between Jan 27, 2022, and March 31, 2022. The pre-selection round will commence from May 1, 2022, to April 30, 2022, in which 30 candidates will be selected after a thorough screening process.
The selection phase will span between May 1, 2022, and May 30, 2022, in which shortlisted participants will need to submit an electronic selection form, followed by a virtual pitch event which will then be succeeded by the selection of the final 10 laureates. The award ceremony will be held in June 2022.
The Challenge is open to start-ups registered in India and French actors collaborating with an Indian start-up (as a joint venture). The primary mission of the Swachhata Startup Challenge is to support startups creating solutions across four thematic areas viz. (i) social inclusion, (ii) zero dump (solid waste management), (iii) plastic waste management and (iv)transparency through digital enablement.
Financial Rewards
A financial award of ₹25, 00,000 will be extended to the top 10 startups from MoHUA-AFD alongside 1-year of personalized professional support. Apart from this, eligible startups will get additional incentives which include up to ₹ 50 Lakhs follow-on investment from Villgro, the implementation partner of the Challenge, and upto 100,000 USD worth of credits and support from technology partner Amazon Web Services, to each winner.
Submission Details
The call for online submission of applications starts from today through the dedicated micro-site launched at the event (www.swachhatastartupchallenge.com) that details the key modalities of the Challenge.
Ananth Aravamudan – Sector Lead, Climate Action, “We are proud to be a part of this thought-provoking Challenge that aims to bolster the country’s evolving waste management ecosystem. In our capacity as the initiative’s implementation partner, we will put our best foot forward in enabling both MoHUA and the AFD to execute this challenge successfully. To that end, we will also help startups to get more capital from the ecosystem i.e. Startup India Seed Fund, and many more.”
The Challenge aims to provide an enabling environment for company development under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, in keeping with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ (SBM-U 2.0).
The Challenge was launched by Shri Manoj Joshi, Secretary, MoHUA along with H.E. Emmanuel Lenain, Ambassador of France to India and H.E. Ugo Astuto, Ambassador of the European Union to India and Bhutan, in the presence of Ms. Roopa Mishra, Joint Secretary & National Mission Director, SBM-U, Government of India and Bruno Bosle, Country Director, AFD India.
A variety of innovations have contributed to the success of the first phase of SBM-U. Taking this spirit forward, SBM-U 2.0is focused on encouraging cutting-edge solutions from small scale and private entrepreneurs and start-ups, through investments in R&D, technology challenges, and facilitation for inclusion in the Government E-Marketplace (GeM) portal.
A step in this direction was taken earlier in December 2021 with the Swachh Technology Challenge, a first-time initiative by SBM-U 2.0to encourage start-ups, individual entrepreneurs, educational institutions, local businesses, research and development organisations, NGOs, and other citizen groups to help city administration efficiently manage Mission operations through technology driven operations.
The Technology Challenge received wholehearted participation from States/ Union Territories and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), with over 2,500 entries received from across urban India. Winning solutions from start-ups under Swachh Technology Challenge which are presently being reviewed, will nowget direct entry into the Swachhata Start-Up Challenge launched today by MoHUA.
The virtual event, which was attended by senior government representatives including Principal Secretaries, Mission Directors and Municipal Commissioners from States and cities, also saw a panel discussion on the ‘Role of Technology and Business Innovation to Reinforce Indian Waste Sector’.
Participants included senior bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh and Odisha along with representatives from organisations such as Saahas Zero Waste and Green Artha.
Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, launched on 1st October 2021, aims to achieve the vision of ‘Garbage Free Cities’ over the next five years through remediation of legacy dumpsites, construction and demolition waste and plastic waste management. Additionally, sustainable sanitation through faecal sludge and used water management will be a key focus under SBM-U 2.0.
Over the years, SBM-U has been encouraging innovations and best practices particularly through Swachh Survekshan, the annual cleanliness survey conducted by MoHUA. This trend has been rising over the years with over 4,000 innovations and best practices having been identified since 2018.
Moreover, innovative technological solutions have played a critical role in achieving the outcomes under SBM-U’s journey with several key initiatives such as Swachhata App, SBM Toilets on Google Maps, etc in collaboration with partners such as Janaagraha and Google.
The Swachhata Start-Up Challenge is another step towards smart and sustainable urban development by incentivizing the innovations’ ecosystem through strategic collaborationsthus helping realize the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Garbage Free Cities’ under SBM-U 2.0
Applications for the Swachhata Start-Up Challenge are open on www.swachhatastartupchallenge.com
