The National Institute for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD& PR) is set to host the second edition of Rural Innovators Startup Conclave (RISC) on August 30 and 31, 2018 at NIRD&PR, Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad. The conclave will be inaugurated by vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu.
The themes of the conclave are Agriculture & Allied Activities, Green Energy, Waste to Wealth, Sustainable Housing, Health & Elderly Care, Drinking Water & Sanitation, and Sustainable livelihood. The conclave aims to identify rural innovations and startups, creating a platform for their exposure, education, capacity building, mentoring and incubation to connect national and international networks.
It will witness the participation of rural innovators, startups and funding agencies, young school and college students, giving them the opportunity to leverage each others’ strengths for bringing into the fray, sustainable solutions for rural development.
Winning participants will be provided with awards and fellowships which will give valuable impetus for them to go into communities, identify problems and come up with ideas anchored in innovative and pioneering technologies. Through RISC, the institute intends to offer technical support through optimisation of the rudimentary designs created by select participants, and cash rewards for exceptional innovative solutions.
A fellowship of Rs 1.2 lakh and Rs 2.4 lakh will be provided to innovators and start-ups respectively. NIRD&PR will award a ‘Best Innovator’ award and a ‘Best Startup’ award under each of these categories, and invites applications from Indian and international residents, and from startups no older than five years with an annual turnover not exceeding Rs 50 lakh.
A new platform called ‘Rural Innovation and Design (RIDe)’ Challenge will be organised for school children, college students and the general public, with an aim of finding potential solutions to critical problems of the rural community. These solutions will be represented through poster displays at the conclave.