Encouraging innovative solutions in IoT, healthcare and agriculture - Eight finalists shortlisted for Qualcomm Design in India Challenge II

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Qualcomm has announced the names of the top eight finalists for the first cycle of the Qualcomm® Design in India Challenge II, which kicked off in in January this year.

Launched in association with NASSCOM, QDIC is now a part of a larger initiative called the Qualcomm Design in India Program (QDIP). The program encourages Indian product companies working in the areas of Smart Infrastructure, Biometric Devices, Payment Terminals, Agricultural Technology, Medical Technology and Rural IoT to create innovative hardware product designs that incorporate Qualcomm technologies and platforms.

As part of this initiative, Qualcomm had also announced an investment of USD $8.5 million for expansion of its design initiatives in India through two key initiatives: Partnership with T-Hub, India’s fastest growing start-up engine and expansion of its current Innovation Lab in Bangalore to grow the mobile and IoT ecosystem in India. As part of T-Hub agreement, Qualcomm will give startups ups working in the areas of financial technologies and Smart Cities access to design, development, and testing facilities, while T-Hub will pitch in with mentorship and logistics support from in-house experts.

Acknowledging the continued momentum of QDIC II in enabling innovation, Ms. Aruna Sundararajan, secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, said, “We are happy to support and encourage industry initiatives like the Qualcomm Design in India Program that drives technological innovation and aligns well with the mission of Digital India. Emerging technologies, such as IoT and big data, will sit at the heart of an empowered India that we envision. Programs like these can play a critical role in evangelising the digital opportunity and spurring invention. By engaging with smaller companies, this initiative helps them scale faster and enables young entrepreneurs in becoming problem solvers and solution builders.”

Speaking on the occasion, Jim Cathey, senior vice president and president, Asia Pacific & India, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc, said, “Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at Qualcomm. We’ve set out to accelerate growth in the digital ecosystem and we are thrilled to see an overwhelming response for QDIC in its second consecutive year, with eight select technopreneurs ready to transform their ideas from concept to product stage at our Qualcomm Innovation Labs.”

The challenge is conducted in two annual cycles, one in January and the second in May. (The application process for the May 2017 cycle will commence shortly, so watch this space for more details.)

The eight finalists of the January 2017 cycle, who made it to the final round went through a rigorous selection process and an extensive pitch session in March 2017, where they presented their concepts to a jury of experts. The jury picked the following startups:

iSquare Mobility Pvt. Ltd: This startup has a solution in the concept stage for a portable wireless tele-medical device to pre-screen for breast cancer.

Avanijal Agri Automation Pvt. Ltd: Their concept is to use Bluetooth and smartphones to manage smart irrigation controllers for sensor data collection and control of irrigation motors and valves.

Alexapath Private Limited: This startup has conceptualised smart accessories for microscopes that enhance the functionality of any conventional microscope and enable them to produce digital scans of slides, share them with peers, and facilitate live consultation and archival of slides.

iBot Control Systems India Pvt. Ltd: This startup envisages making a single board that can be used by industry and academia to build IoT apps with iBot Toolsets.

Hug Innovations LLP: A first-of-its-kind device developer platform, “Hug Gestures SDK” enables the integration and extension of a proprietary gesture control technology with smart devices, mobile apps and PC software. This solution is in the concept stage.

Steradian Semiconductors Private Limited: This startup is working to build a high resolution 4D radar that will enable true all-weather vision for autonomous vehicles and drones

Stellapps Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Their concept includes a Wi-Fi sensor module, a wiimote and IoT router that can be used for smart automatic milk collection unit and cold-chain monitoring, as part of Stellapps IoT platform.

Tagbox Solutions Private Ltd: They are working on an ultra-low power wireless platform targeted at improving efficiency of cold storage and logistics by monitoring and controlling key health parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, gas, energy, and others.

Enabled by the Qualcomm Technology Licensing team, these eight companies will now be incubated in the Qualcomm Innovation Lab. At the end of the Cycle I incubation period in August 2017, the top two winners will each receive prize money of USD $75,000.

Do watch this space for more details on when the applications for the second cycle will commence.