BENGALURU: Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of Infosys, today announced the launch of the Aarohan Social Innovation Awards, to catalyze social innovation in India. The objective of these awards is to accelerate innovation in the social sector, and provide a platform to help these solutions scale.

The Aarohan Social Innovation Awards seek to recognize and reward individuals, teams or NGOs that are developing unique solutions for the social sector that have the potential to positively impact the underprivileged in India, at scale.

Speaking at the launch of the awards, Infosys Foundation Chairperson, Sudha Murty said, “The Infosys Foundation constantly looks at addressing challenges people face in the farthest corners of this great nation, and it is our endeavor to support individuals and NGOs to act on their good intentions towards society and help them turn ideas into action. Through the Aarohan Social Innovation Awards, we aim to nurture a culture of innovation in the social sector so that positive change can be scaled. As part of this endeavor we are setting aside a sum of INR 1.5 crore this year from which we will reward deserving social innovators in India whose solutions have the potential to make a difference.”

The awards will accept submissions across six categories:

1. Healthcare
2. Rural Development
3. Destitute Care
4. Women’s Safety & Empowerment
5. Education & Sports
6. Sustainability

• The submission process for the first edition of these awards would commence on October 15, 2018 and will continue up to December 31, 2018
• Entries are open for adults (above 18 years) residing in India
• The project must be a fully functioning prototype, not just a concept, idea or mock up; Additionally, the project must not be an established commercial venture

Aarohan Social Innovation Awards will also offer winners an opportunity for residential technical mentorship at IIT Hyderabad for up to 12 weeks at its campus to help them further develop their solutions and rapidly scale these for social impact.

A panel of distinguished judges will evaluate and select the winners whose submissions will be assessed on four broad criteria – application to real world problems, innovative use of technology, originality of ideas and ease of use. The jury will comprise Prof. Trilochan Sastry, Professor and former Dean, IIM Bangalore; Padma Shree Arvind Gupta, an Indian toy inventor and science expert; Prof. GVV Sharma, Faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Coordinator, Teaching Learning Centre, IIT Hyderabad; Prof. Anil Gupta, visiting faculty, IIM Ahmedabad, a globally renowned scholar of grassroots innovations and founder of the Honey Bee Network, and Infosys Foundation Chairperson and noted author Sudha Murty.