MoS Jitendra Singh Presents INSPIRE Awards To 60 Indian Startups For Innovations

Minister of State (MoS) for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh presented INSPIRE awards to 60 Indian startups on Friday (16th September).

Besides, Singh also offered financial assistance of INR 10K apiece to 53K+ students during the award ceremony. The Department of Science & Technology (DST), which led the INSPIRE award ceremony, will be offering incubation support to awardees throughout their entrepreneurial journeys.

Addressing the INSPIRE award ceremony, Singh said, during 2020 and 2021, the annual INSPIRE Awards – MANAK competition received 6.53 Lakh ideas and innovations from all states and union territories of India.

“The MANAK scheme touched an unparalleled level of inclusivity by representing ideas and innovations of 702 districts of India. Of this, 51% of districts were represented by girls. Meanwhile, 84% of schools that participated in the scheme were based in rural areas of the country and 71% of the schools were led by the state government and union territories,” the minister said. 

He further said that out of 6.53 Lakhs participants, 53,021 students have been offered financial assistance to support them in developing prototypes of business ideas that they presented in MANAK scheme. 

The said 53,021 students were later narrowed down to 556 students after competing at district-level exhibition and project competition (DLEPC) and state-level exhibition and project competition (SLEPC). These 556 students will now be presenting themselves at the 9th National Level Exhibition and Project Competition (NLEPC), the minister said explaining the rigorous selection process.

Praising the selected students, the minister said, “Their innovations (of 556 students) have a societal focus which gives India an opportunity to solve the problems by application of science and technology.” 

These students will receive mentoring workshops from the country’s recognised tech institutes such as IITs, BITS, NITs that will widen exposure in the industry and help them make apt decisions while building their tech innovations, according to the statement.

The development has come at a time when the Indian tech sector is witnessing immense growth in the past few years. Taking into account the first half of 2022, the tech sector recorded 900 funding deals thereby, raising an all-time high fundraising of $19 Bn in aggregate, as per Inc42 report.

Notably, a total of 73,205 startups are currently working in the Indian business ecosystem, according to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). The industry body further stated that these startups are also generating 11 jobs on an average for the country’s youth.

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