The Center for Emerging Markets (CEM) was proud to support the fifth edition of SmartIDEAthon, one of India's largest social innovation pitchfests, held on December 13, 2024, at GITAM University's Bangalore campus. This year's event drew over 4,000 participants from across the country, with 2,000 submissions focused on tackling real-world challenges focused on AI and its applications, health and assistive tech, agritech and food, tech for social good, and gaming and gamification. This event was supported by the Vivek and Vandana Sharma India Initiative at CEM, an endowed initiative aimed at expanding and deepening engagement with economic and business issues in India.
Organized by GITAM University's Venture Development Centre (VDC) under the guidance of Professor Krish Nangegadda, Chief Innovation Officer at GITAM University and NU-IDEA program India Liason at Northeastern, SmartIDEAthon was also co-sponsored by the Northeastern University Center for Entrepreneurship Education (NUCEE). Ravi Ramamurti, Founding Director of the Center for Emerging Markets and University Distinguished Professor of International Business and Strategy; and Greg Collier, Professor of Practice, Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business, were judges for the final round and attended the event in Bangalore.
Arpit Kumar and Abhijeet Kumar from Manipal Academy of Higher Education in Karnataka, won the overall competition for their clean-tech startup designed to address arsenic contamination in groundwater, scalable to address other chemical contamination hazards faced by millions in rural India.
Susobhan Ghosh and Nakkah Radha Madhu Sunanda from GITAM University in Andhra Pradesh received the Runner-Up Award for creating a specially designed speculum to improve medical diagnostics and reduce patient pain.
Malatesh Naharaj Jadar from the College of Agriculture Sciences in Dharwad, Karnataka, won Best Social Impact Idea for their soil-less farming innovation aimed at increasing farmer incomes and fighting soil-born diseases.
Atharva Mundke and Shweta Nagapure from Shri Vile Parle Kelavani Mandal's Institute of Technology won Best Woman-led Entrepreneurship Idea: for their AI-driven speech therapy platform that uses Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) to identify and address speech issues through tailored programs and convenient access.
SmartIDEAthon 2024 featured thought-provoking discussions, including a keynote address by Hariharan Bojan, Founder and CEO of Sirena Technologies, and a session on leveraging AI for startups by Sai Krishna V K, Co-Founder of House of Models. Panelists like Pradeep Rao of Kyndryl and Srinivas Raju of Pi Square Technologies also shared insights into innovation and impact.
The winners of SmartIDEAthon 2024 will have the opportunity to travel to Boston for two weeks to immerse themselves in the city's entrepreneurship ecosystem and receive venture development coaching from Northeastern University's IDEA Ready-Set-Go Structured Venture Development Program.
The members of the Best Women-led Team and Best Social Impact team will also enjoy a fully sponsored two-week trip to Boston and receive one-on-one coaching from the IDEA Ready-Set-Go Program, thanks to a generous gift from Vivek and Vandana Sharma to CEM.
CEM is excited to continue supporting India's entrepreneurial ecosystem and looks forward to seeing these ideas come to life.
About the Vivek and Vandana Sharma India Initiative
The Vivek and Vandana Sharma India Initiative is an endowed initiative at the Center for Emerging Markets with an aim to expand and deepen engagement with economic and business issues in India. It supports CEM's India Lecture series; enables scholars, students, and practitioners from India to complete visiting terms at the CEM; encourages D'Amore-McKim and CEM faculty to conduct use-inspired research in India; and creates a community of business leaders in the U.S. and India with a special interest in American-Indian economic ties.
