All Posts in Technology

|In: Funding|Last Updated:

iDreamCareer [iDC], a Delhi based Ed-tech startup, has raised an undisclosed sum as angel capital through ah! Ventures, a startup focused growth catalyst bridging ideas and money. The angels from ah! Ventures together with angel investors Vivek Joshi, Mohit Satyanand, Indian Designs Group & others partnered to fund the startup. The deal was solely advised and syndicated by ah! Ventures and led to closure on its private equity investment platform, CLUBah.

iDreamCareer

Founded in late 2013, iDreamCareer has grown to become India’s leading EdTech brand in the space of career & higher education planning for students and it is being promoted by IIT/IBS alumnus. Understanding the growing problem for students in deciding a career for themselves, iDC developed a 3S framework program – “Structured, Scientific & Scalable”, which is currently being used by students in India, Middle East & East Africa.

iDC Career planning Program empower students to take informed career decisions through its proprietary Career Assessment tool and one-on-one career mentoring. iDC package plans ranges from one time engagement session to two year plans with multiple engagements with experts mentors, delivered over combination of face to face, Skype and phone sessions.

Speaking about the funding, Ayush Bansal, co-founder of iDreamCareer.com said

Our vision is to build future proof career for students through unbiased and credible career planning programs. In the business where trust is the key element, our focus has been on providing quality career planning service to students and parents that empowers them for taking informed career decisions. Over the last year and a half, more than 55,000 students have benefited through iDreamcareer.

This was achievable purely because of the trust the student and parent community have reposed in us. Over 40% of the students on the platform come through referrals, which is an indicator of the trust they have on the brand. We are happy to have angels on board who understand our vision.

Pravesh Dudani, an alumnus from IIT Kharagpur & co-founder of iDreamCareer.com adds

Given the complex structure of our higher education system, choosing a career path as well as process of applying to colleges is one of the most daunting task for students and parents. New age parents, consider a career choice as most important and life altering decision for their children and hence they are willing to pay for availing professional guidance from trusted and reliable advisors.

The current investment round will be utilized to upgrade our product line with addition of information alert tools, college application system, content up-gradation etc. Additionally funds will be utilized in sales & marketing to grow our business in new geographies across India & Middle East & also to improve our service delivery system.

Vivek Joshi, lead investor said

iDreamCareer is rightly placed in the current educational context where plethora of courses are available to students, making it difficult for them to choose the right course and hence a career. Ayush and Pravesh are very committed towards making a difference by helping students make better career decisions. I am excited to be part of the journey at iDreamCareer.com

Abhijeet Kumar, Co-founder of ah! Ventures said

EdTech has always been an interesting area for us and iDreamCareer is really disrupting the space of career and higher education planning through a combination of a hard working team, innovative & proven business model, strong revenue pipeline and usage of next generation technology. Their global footprint makes them a leader in this space. This deal was concluded through the private equity investment platform, CLUB ah!

CLUB ah! is India’s first full-spectrum startup investment network and platform comprising of over 475 plus investors, including some of the renowned angels and early-stage VC’s. CLUB ah! platform today has over 2500+ startups, 425+ seed/angel investors and over 60 VCs & intuitional investors, Making it one of the largest platform of investors and startups.

The network also recently secured its first profitable exit from Harness Handitouch within 2 years of its investment. CLUB ah! has till date invested close to INR 30 crores in over 13 startups spread across varied industries and domains.

Giving an investors’ perspective, Harshad Lahoti, Founder & CEO of ah! Ventures said

iDreamCareer has demonstrated their ability to disrupt the market using their unique customized career planning program rather than competitors’ plain vanilla assessment reports created using online aptitude tests. Tech is undoubtedly used as an enabler for automation of content and the assessment process – but iDC’s mix of online and offline models of career planning through 1-on-1 sessions using their retail offices and telephonic interviews, gives a more holistic approach.

This coupled with a strong team of senior people like Punam Kashyap, Rahul Parmar & others on their advisory board and their ability to successfully penetrate the international markets like Middle Eastern countries, made iDC a very attractive investment opportunities for ah! Ventures’ investors. The career planning sector for high school students in India is estimated to be over USD 1.5 billion and iDC is perfectly positioned to target and dominate a majority of it. We at ah! look forward to partnering iDC in their next growth phase

For more information, please visit iDreamCareer, ah! Ventures & CLUB ah! Deals

|In: Android|Last Updated:

HeyBiz-logoHeyBiz Messenger, a mobile application that connects both customers and businesses on mobile with real time chat; has added an exclusive feature in the app called Expert Advice.

HeyBiz has grouped a team of experts from different niches on a mobile platform. These experts are from vastly varied domains that include health care, dental care, fitness, career experts, astrologers, makeup artists, gadget and gizmos, gift options, jobs & real estate consultants. Not just that, it allows the users to chat directly with the experts in a real time conversation, ask questions, and get opinions and advice.

Adding further about the exclusive feature, Bhartesh Chhibbar, Founder, HeyBiz said

“Chat with Experts” is a feature that will help you get a second opinion on anything and everything, making sure you take the right decisions; whether you are booking a vacation or purchasing a house, contemplating a job switch or looking for a “Shubh Mahurat” for a family function.

HeyBiz Experts are also taking care of best deals for the users, Bhartesh adds on

When a business or service provider register with HeyBiz, we make sure he brings the quality as well as good price for our users. Based on the service provider’s best bargain, we suggest the deal to our users and connect them with those service providers. It is real time right on the Chat.

Rewards is another interesting feature that has now been added to the app. The users can earn reward points by sharing the app with friends and family, by following their nearby businesses on HeyBiz, by doing a deal with any business on HeyBiz and by referring their favorite local business to HeyBiz.

The users can redeem the accumulated reward points with HeyBiz directly against a wide array of options available like iPhone 6, Power Bank, Selfie Stick, Philips Trimmer, Mobile recharge, etc.

Within 3 months of its launch, HeyBiz application has acquired 3000 SMB’s & 12,000 users .Already several Brands like Axis Dental, Tansen Sangeet Mahavidhayala, Bonton Holidays, Snap Fitness, Little Millennium, Eco Rent a Car etc and many of the local businesses have been attached to the HeyBiz and enjoying the benefit of digital presence and reaching out to customers.

HeyBiz is also looking to extend its Platform and bringing Local online Shopping [L-commerce] together in its platform.

About HeyBiz Messenger

HeyBiz Messenger is a mobile application that connects both customers and businesses on mobile with real time chat. With HeyBiz, customers can do one click search, find the relevant business and can initiate a real time chat without disclosing personal contact details. They can enquire about services, product or support related to the business. They can upload pictures, videos and detailed description of service and can update it on regular basis. Potential customer will simply search and initiate a chat about the business.

HeyBiz for Android & iOS can be downloaded from here & here respectively. Do give HeyBiz a spin & share your experiences…

|In: Android|Last Updated:

Body Mind Me Inc, has launched Jiyo – a well-being platform that has been co-founded by Deepak Chopra, M.D world-renowned physician, bestselling author & Poonacha Machaiah, entrepreneur and technology expert.

Jiyo acts as a personal well-being companion by using intuitive technology to analyze users’ daily activities and offer insights and tiny habits to nudge them on their path to well-being. Aggregate data from trackers, sensors, public databases & apps is analyzed into meaningful information and users can engage, learn, and interact with a diverse range of curated content and connect with experts on the platform.

Talking about Jiyo, Deepak Chopra mentioned

The goal of Jiyo is to help people experience a joyful energetic body, loving compassionate heart, restful alert mind and lightness of being. This is the key to personal and planetary transformation.

Besides providing personalized insights and tiny habits, the Jiyo platform also aims to foster community through a curated network of expert content partners as well as ambassador channels from leading wellbeing experts.  The platform will have a blend of free and premium paid services for enhanced content, products and services.

Adding about Jiyo, Poonacha Machaiah said

Jiyo aims to democratize well-being by leveraging mobile technology, devices/sensors and predictive analytics to provide contextual services [content + services] to the user that will enable them to make positive Behavioral changes

Jiyo’s platform provides users with the right content or service in the right context using the mobile phone as the primary medium to start the user on the journey of transforming their personal well-being.

About Jiyo

Jiyo is a US based startup founded by world renowned physician, bestselling author and wellness expert Deepak Chopra, M.D. & Poonacha Machaiah, entrepreneur, technology and trans-media expert in 2015.

For more information & to sign up for the Jiyo beta platform, please visit www.jiyo.com. Connect with Jiyo on social media, Twitter- @jiyo4life & Instagram – @jiyo4life

[Image Credit – Jiyo]

|In: Interviews|Last Updated:

There has been a buzz around e-commerce, Hyper-local Commerce etc. More & more SME’s are joining the bandwagon & trying to take advantage of this Online Revolution by setting up their e-commerce stores [or becoming a seller on reputed online e-commerce sites]. “Setting up an e-commerce store” is a daunting task & this is where e-commerce enabler(s) pitch in and help you to scale your business.

Today, we have a chat with Namrata Soni, Founder & CEO of Twikster, a startup based in Bengaluru. In few words, Twikster is primarily into e-commerce enable-ment & want more SME’s to come online !!

Can you give a small background about you, your start-up and it’s founders ?

Co-founded by Priya & Namrata, two digital product managers, Twikster is an e-commerce enable-ment platform for SMB’s in India & appeared on the e-commerce scene in 2014. Facing boldly the challenges of setting up an e-commerce business in India, Namrata, after having lived in the US for nearly a decade, along with Priya [who continues to live in the US], jumped head-on into working on Twikster.

Creating Twikster wasn’t easy, but the vision was simple and sufficient – to make e-commerce accessible and affordable for SMB’s in India. What started off as a basic platform for small businesses to create their e-stores, has evolved into a sophisticated, solution-driven and user-friendly path to setting up, managing and growing an online business for anyone who is interested in doing so.

What was the trigger for starting Twikster ?

Some very simple questions – Why are such few retailers selling online? How do retailers expect to compete with the marketplaces ? Why is it so expensive to create an e-commerce store? Why are the existing pricing models making it hard for small and medium players to compete fairly?

How does Twikster stack up against the other competitor’s that are also in the e-commerce enabler space [e.g. Zepo, BuildABazaar] ?

Most popular e-commerce enable-ment solutions in India follow a pricing model that forces users to choose a plan & pay a monthly subscription fee for a set of pre-defined features. Often, users have to move to a higher, more expensive plan to get basic support or for just a few features that they may need on their store. And these plans don’t come cheap; some painfully costing as much as Rs.60,000/- to 84,000/- annually.

Consequently, this model results in alienating a large section of people and makes it harder for small and medium players to compete fairly. This is where Twikster’s new pricing model is set to give users an edge. Users are liberated from forced monthly subscription fees and bundled features. With ‘Twikster GO’ anyone can create a ‘Forever-Free’, feature-packed, mobile-friendly online store at ‘Zero’ monthly subscription fee. From there on, users may choose to pay for specific support, services and features when their business demands it or their pocket allows it. It provides a wholesome package in the absence of forced pricing plans and monthly subscription fees.

Should the user decide to upgrade to the Twikster ‘Preferred’ plan, a nominal one-time set up fee of Rs.6999/- and a small annual maintenance fee of Rs.2399/- kicks in. The Preferred user is empowered with end-to-end support to create an e-commerce store, set up on multiple marketplaces, tie up with logistic providers, open merchant accounts with payment gateways and access a host of add-ons that may be purchased as and when required.

What is the revenue model of Twikster ?

Our sources of revenue are set up fee, annual maintenance fee, transaction fee and commissions in certain cases, and annual fees for use of add-ons.

What are the other areas [e.g. Product Portfolio development etc.] that your startup plans to venture into in future ?

Plan to keep this question for future 🙂

Can you please explain about ‘Art Space’, the latest offering by Twikster? [you can also touch upon features as compared to Postergully etc.]

When we started out with Twikster, both Priya and I hoped that small, upcoming yet talented artists in India would take to selling online if we made the platform simple and affordable. We learnt quickly that their challenge lies in marketing the online stores – so we decided to create ArtSpace by Twikster, a marketplace on which we would showcase and market the artwork of these artists. Our goal with this marketplace is to make art accessible outside India [starting off with the US] by the end of this year.

What are the major changes that you experienced when you moved from an Employee to an Employer ?

Its a mindset change. For one, it meant putting in more hours of work than I had ever before. It meant having to make decisions for the business and everyone involved in it. It meant always always being willing to learn. Becoming an employer brings with it a lot of responsibility and at some level, even though I did not know what exactly it would entail, I was ready for it.

What are your key advice(s) to people who want to start-up ?

Get started. It is important to get started. Its ok to make mistakes, learn from them, and keep forging ahead. There will never be a time as good as now to pursue your dreams.

What are your views about the start-up landscape in India?

It has a very promising future. See the support structure that is slowly becoming available, start-up events that are helping address questions/ concerns of new and old entrepreneurs, the maturing trends in funding and investment. There really hasn’t been a better time for start-ups.

You have a decade long experience in US, what made you shift to India & why you chose Bangalore for your startup ?

I always knew that I would return to India someday. It did not matter how long I had stayed away – India was always “home” 🙂 I chose Bangalore, not for the obvious reason that it is the start up hub of the country, but because my family lives here and being close to them was just as important to me as starting up!

What are your thoughts on the “Digital” movement of the BJP Government & how much it would help SME’s in India ?

There is no denying that this government has taken to the internet/technology & understands its importance better than any govt has in the past. But I think will be a little more while before we can conclusively state whether the Digital movement started by this govt is actually helping start-ups and SME’s in India.

With this we conclude our Q&A with Namrata !! We hope that our reader’s would have got some useful tips on starting up.

If you have any questions for Namrata or are an SME planning to setup an e-commerce store, please leave a comment & we would get back to you on the same.

For more information, please visit Twikster

|In: Android|Last Updated:

Trend Micro is a company with a simple, yet ambitious goal, to protect their users from cyber-criminal activity. Everyday, thousands of people browsing the internet are in danger of being digitally assaulted. While there is no way to be one hundred percent safe from malware attacks; there are certainly, numerous ways to avoid them. The first step to being safe, is to be informed, for which Trend Micro has launched its first quarterly Security Roundup. In this report, the most present threats up to this month are explicitly detailed and advice is given to both companies and customers on how to avoid said malware threats.

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Dhanya Thakkar, Managing Director, APAC, Trend Micro adds

Cyber threats are exponentially growing with every passing second, and Trend Micro in the hopes to better inform and prevent cyber attacks, has released in its first quarterly security roundup of the year, the main security risks that users have faced since the beginning of the year. This first quarter’s threats range from the exploits that Adobe Flash faced back in February, to applications ridden with Adware in Google Play, to point-of-sale malware attacks in retail stores.

In only three months, there have been some serious incidents that have put the user’s information and security at risk. Trend Micro states that the people behind malware, will “not hesitate to take advantage of even the slightest security loophole to get what they want”, and in today’s digitized world, there should not be any room for this kind of errors.

Malvertisements are not in any way new, in fact, many internet users have already become accustomed to them. Trend Micro, in this round-up report has revealed that how a business model based on web advertising is, and always will be putting the user at risk; this is because site owners cannot control the ads that are being seen by users.

A major company was recently the target of this zero-day exploit, in which malvertising was sent out through Adobe software, so victims of this kind of attacks were no longer required to visit a specific website to infect their computers.

Highlights of the report

  • In the first quarter of 2015, Adobe suffered from three different exploits that targeted each new release of Adobe Flash; in total, over 10,000 computers were infected with BEDEP malware. All the issues were quickly addressed by Trend Micro’s Deep Security Rule and removed traces of the malvertisement found in Adobe Flash.
  • But, not only computers were targeted by these malicious attacks based on advertising, mobile devices were also affected. Adware was also found on several apps inside Google Play, these apps all used MDash software development kit; this made harmful apps present on all mobile devices that had any of these apps installed. According to the report, millions of devices were infected before Google took responsibility and removed over 2,000 malicious apps.
  • Crypto-ransomware is another kind of malware that was greatly present during the year’s first quarter. The goal of this type of malware is to hold the user’s computer “hostage” and restrict all access to it, until a ransom has been paid. Crypto-ransomware, not only targets the average consumer, it also takes aim at companies and their interactions, meaning that anyone that shared a link with the already infected computer, now has possibly became ill with crypto-ransomware.
  • In order to avoid Crypto-ransomware, users can download and install specialized software that can stop a crypto-ransomware attack before it lock down your computer. It is uncertain the amount of malware that is released each month or quarters, as it is evolving at a similar pace.

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in security software, strives to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Trend Micro enables the smart protection of information, with innovative security technology that is simple to deploy and manage, and fits an evolving ecosystem. Their solutions are powered by cloud-based global threat intelligence, the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network infrastructure & are supported by more than 1,200 threat experts around the globe.  For more information, visit TrendMicro

[Image Credit – TrendMicro]

|In: Blogging|Last Updated:

Has the “Youtube Offline” advertisement caught your attention? But with the improving internet speed & increasing broadband penetration, “Buffering” would sooner/later be history 🙂 With Telecom companies entering into tug-of-war over “Pricing” in order to woo customers, it is definitely happy time for us !!!

This would also mean that in future, customers can view their favorite videos without/with least amount of buffering [contrast to this advertisement :)]. This would definitely give a huge boost to companies or start-ups that provide On-Demand TV.

Few weeks back, we had a meetup with start-up named Lukup that wants to create a dent in the “On Demand TV” market that is still at a very nascent stage in India but the points discussed above could definitely turn out to be a winner for Lukup. It is a video streaming service offering licensed Indian & international content

Today, we do a walk-through of Lukup’s product called Lukup Player which we personally experienced during the “Blogger’s brain-storming” session.

Click on Image to enlarge

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Lukup Player

Lukup Player is a connected device from Bengaluru based start-up Lukup Media that aims to provide India’s first On-Demand TV service. Using the Lukup Player, consumers will also be able to stream content on more than one screen or devices like TV, tablets, phones etc. The best part is that the “Synchronization” is maintained between the connected devices to ensure better viewing experience.

Setting up the Lukup Player was a very easy task. The player supports multiple options for connectivity i.e. Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth that ensures that consumers can view high-quality videos using HDMI input & at the same time, broadcast content using WiFi/Bluetooth.

Features of the Lukup Player

  1. The Lukup Player is easy to set up. Works with your home broadband or WiFi connection.
  2. Personalize your TV experience by creating your profile. You have the option of linking your social network to your profile.
  3. Swipe on the Lukup Player’s touch screen to navigate content on the TV.
  4. Use applications on the Lukup Player to search for content, browse the TV guide and much more.
  5. With the TV guide, choose from a list of on-demand video, audio and broadcast TV channels.

  6. From the context menu for any content title, you can select a screen or device to stream to.
  7. Content is available as pay per view titles or as monthly subscription channels. Subscribe from the context menu.
  8. Stream content to TVs using WiFi and to music systems and headsets using Bluetooth, all at the same time.
  9. Record live TV channels on your unlimited cloud storage drive which starts with 500 GB free storage.
  10. Use the media Storage application to browse and view recorded content anywhere, on any device.

  11. Use the Planning application to view reminders, recording schedules and receive notifications.
  12. Social Integration & Screen synchronization.
  13. Use the Lukup Player as a WiFi hotspot that you can connect your mobile phones, tablets and PC to access the internet.
  14. Play Interactive Games.

Pricing, Variants & Availability

The Lukup player is available in two variants – Lukup player S [without WiFi & multi-screen connectivity] and Lukup Player X [with WiFi & multi-screen]. Lukup Player runs on a 1.7 GHz processor & is loaded with 1 GB of RAM. It has a micro USB port for charging. Lukup Player is exclusively available on Amazon where Lukup Player X is available for Rs. 12,660. As stated in Lukup Player Requirements page:

The Lukup Player requires a single connection to bring TV, interactive content and internet access to homes. A minimum of 2 Mbps for a single screen home and a minimum of 4 Mbps for multi-screen home is recommended.

Instead of using a broadband modem, wireless router and set top box separately, you can just use the Lukup Player that combines all the functions.

Some of the content is package-based, so users can subscribe for fixed amounts each month. There is also a pay-per-view model. We tried playing a couple of movies during the meet-up where Lukup Player X was up for display & we were able to watch HD movies [with some hitches due to WiFi issue at the venue]. Lukup Player X is definitely suited when viewers want to view HD content.

Road Ahead

Piracy is one of the major challenges that is creating a huge challenge for digital media companies. How can we forget that we get the pirated CD/DVD’s being sold openly on roadside(s) the very next day after a movie is released !!! However, Lukup’s Pay Per View [PPV] can provide an answer to curb piracy if it is able to provide digital content at reasonable price !!! As per recent report, Lukup Media is looking to expand its Over-The-Top [OTT] services by acquiring Multi-System Operator [MSO] & Internet Service Provider [ISP] licenses.

Lukup Media has also signed a deal with Widevine for integrating DRM solution. Widevine’s DRM solution provides the capability to license, distribute and protect playback of content on any consumer device. Now Lukup can provide access of protected content to its customers. The content including movies, music and television shows can be accessed to any device even in congested networks [Source – CableQuest]

Lukup Media also encourages developers to use their platform to develop apps for Lukup Player & if you are an Android developer, you should not miss this video.

Closing Thoughts

There has been news that many on-demand media streaming companies have announced to enter India which is the fastest growing market [due to increasing broadband & internet penetration].

Lukup Media has a first-mover advantage & given the interesting features in Lukup Player, it would click with cost-sensitive Indian consumers!!!

[Image Source – Lukup]

[Thanks to Neeva Tiwari from Lukup for the Blogger Invite :)]

|In: Events|Last Updated:

3M India announced the launch of the second edition of the Young Innovators Challenge Awards 2015 in association with CII. The platform aims to support and encourage young technical innovators between the age of 18 – 30, across India to come up with inspiring and innovative ideas with a social relevance.

3M_Logo

The various themes are:

  • Productivity – Innovations that improve output or affordability
  • Sustainability – Innovations that leave a positive ecological and environmental impact
  • Disruptive – Innovations that represent breakthrough technology or help create a totally new market or way to deliver the impact

Speaking on the occasion, Amit Laroya, Managing Director, 3M India said

Innovative thinking forms an integral part of the 3M culture. Through this initiative we believe we are taking this belief a notch higher. 3M is looking to promote and invest in young ideas and talent to develop not only socially responsible innovations but ideas which could be prototyped with the capability to address social good at large.

Speaking on the occasion, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Past President, CII and Chairman, India Innovation Summit & Co-Founder, Infosys said

3M-CII Young Innovators Challenge gives an opportunity for youth across India to showcase their innovations and get recognized. This recognition allows winners to get additional funding and scale up their innovations.

Why should you participate

The 10 best ideas will be invited for a pitch session on 23-24 July, based on which a reputed jury will choose 3 winning entries. The winners will then be felicitated at the 11th India Innovation Summit 2015, organized by CII in Bangalore on 6th ~ 7th August, where they will be given an opportunity to present their winning projects.

Contestants can submit the entries here or email their ideas to submissions@3Myounginnovatorschallenge.org

The winners will also receive grants [up to Rs 2 Lakhs] from 3M India to prototype their idea.

|In: Events|Last Updated:

CAMTech India, a United States Agency for International Development [USAID/India] funded public-private partnership which aims to accelerate medical technology innovation for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health [RMNCH] in India. It will hold its second annual hack-a-thon [Jugaad-a-thon] in Bengaluru on June 26-28, 2015.

Organized in partnership with Lattice Innovations and hosted by GE Healthcare India, the event brings together some of the world’s brightest minds to develop innovative and affordable health technologies that can help save the lives of women and children across India.

Jugaad

Speaking about the event, CAMTech’s Director, Elizabeth Bailey said

We are building on the success of last year’s Jugaad-a-thon by bringing together a highly motivated and diverse group of innovators to tackle important challenges like newborn survival, safe births and family planning,” said  “The CAMTech INDIA platform allows us to harness ground-breaking ideas from a talented community of innovators from all over the country who are united by a common goal of saving lives.

The CAMTech INDIA Jugaad-a-thon [derived from the Hindi word “jugaad” meaning an innovative fix or work-around], invites clinicians, engineers, entrepreneurs & end-users to co-create solutions to identified and pressing clinical challenges through an open innovation platform.

In 48 hours, teams will move from ideas to prototypes with early business models that have the potential to transform RMNCH outcomes in India and around the world.

The event will take place at GE’s John F. Welch Technology Centre in Bengaluru, the company’s largest innovation center. GE Healthcare is at work for a healthier India and is focusing on some of the toughest healthcare challenges faced by India today – lowering maternal and infant mortality rates, enabling early detection of cancer for early treatment and addressing heart diseases.

Speaking about the event, Milan Rao, President & CEO, GE Healthcare South Asia said

We are pleased to partner with CAMTech once again to help spur the innovation of accessible, affordable healthcare solutions for a healthier world. As the leading innovator of healthcare technologies and solutions, we would like to offer our expertise, advanced laboratories and industrial design facilities to these budding innovators for forging a culture of open innovation and co-creation of healthcare technologies.

The Jugaad-a-thon will be directly preceded by a Clinical Summit, which will convene clinicians, healthcare workers, government public health experts and patients from across India to identify the most pressing RMNCH needs and best practices in delivering care.

The Summit will also include a Technology Showcase for early-stage and newly marketed medical technologies that aim to improve quality and access for RMNCH in India.

Highlights of Jugaad-a-thon

  • This year’s event includes monetary prizes of Rs. 9 Lacs for top innovations that focus on specific RMNCH challenges, including a USAID-sponsored award of Rs. 1.5 Lacs for the team that best addresses its challenge in the field of Family Planning and Reproductive Health.
  • Other awards include those sponsored by CAMTech/USAID, GE Healthcare, Merck for Mothers and a special post-Jugaad-a-thon award from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry [FICCI] & Terumo India for the top two innovations that make the most progress 30 days after the event.
  • Teams will be judged by a panel of experts from public health, engineering and business, reflecting CAMTech’s cross-sector approach to innovation.

Neha Kumar, a professor of international development and human-computer interaction at the Georgia Institute of Technology [and winner of last year’s winning team, Baby Steps] speaks about the event

In a world that is witnessing technological advancement take place at breakneck speed, the Jugaad-a-thon creates a space for researchers and practitioners to channel this growth – through exciting ideas and innovations – towards social good.

She’ll return this year not only as a participant, but also as a budding entrepreneur. Since 2012, CAMTech has brought together over 1,500 innovators from more than 300 clinical, academic and commercial organizations to participate in medtech hack-a-thons, award programs and entrepreneurial-building initiatives. These efforts have helped spawn nearly 350 new technologies addressing intractable problems such as newborn asphyxia, post-partum haemorrhage & cervical cancer.

CAMTech’s initiatives, including its newly launched Online Innovation Platform, help connect and support a global community of innovators working to improve health in developing and emerging markets.

About Lattice Innovations

Lattice Innovations offers medical technology design & development services. Their areas of expertise include bedside and wearable monitoring systems, imaging for tele-pathology and mHealth applications. The founding teams brings with it 20 years of sector specific skills in product development, marketing & sales, clinical research and regulatory compliance, complemented by technical and business degrees from Harvard, Wharton, Cornell and IIT. Learn more about Lattice Innovations here

For more information on Jugaad-a-thon, please visit the following link

[Image Credit – Manu-Sharma]