IIT-Madras launches contest to identify and support eco-innovations                                                                 

      

The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-Madras), has launched the third edition of Carbon Zero Challenge (CZC), focused on ‘Resource Depletion and Pollution’ accelerated by climate change, pollution, and biodiversity losses.

CZC is an all-India eco-innovation and entrepreneurship competition that aims to accelerate the lab-to-market transition of eco-innovations in India by funding their development from proof-of-concept, lab-scale solutions to working prototypes or pilots.

Shortlisted teams get funding and mentorship support to establish start-ups and take their idea to the market through commercialization. Winners will get Rs. 10 lakh as a start-up seed grant and assistance such as access to incubation resources and angel and venture capital aid. The last date to apply is 24th September 2022. The details of the competition and application procedure can be obtained from the web portal - https://czeroc.in .


The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-Madras), has launched the third edition of Carbon Zero Challenge (CZC), focused on ‘Resource Depletion and Pollution’ accelerated by climate change, pollution, and biodiversity losses.


Launching the contest at an event on Wednesday, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, that based on the experiences gained from previous editions of CZCs and other research initiatives, IIT Madras has planned to establish a ‘School of Sustainability’ that will work towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). He also announced that IIT Madras would open up its patenting mechanism to the participants of the contest. “The Institute has a robust incubation ecosystem that can help start-ups mature and convert their ideas into a viable business”, he added.

The Theme for CZC 2022 is `CZC for ‘CRC’. CRC stands for Circularity in Resource Conservation. The idea is to highlight the need to balance demand and earth’s supply and rethink design and materials to enable resource reduction, recycling, recovery, and reuse.

Highlighting the key focus areas of CZC 2022, its Principal Coordinator, Prof. Indumathi M. Nambi said, “The competition will focus its target applicant pool on teams that have already demonstrated and validated lab-scale proof of concept, with a clear technological advancement.”

An IIT Madras press release noted that around 100 teams are expected to be shortlisted, and of them, 25 will be given prototype funding up to Rs 5 lakh per team. The teams will, among other things, be trained to sharpen their market orientation and entrepreneurial quotient and develop the sustainability report for their product to market it as a clean-tech company. The teams will be connected to experts in industry and academia to hone their technical and business skills.


India Science Wire

ISW/SP/IIT/CLIMATECHANGE/24/08/2022