ASHOKA UNIVERSITY LOOKING FOR EMPOWERMENT OF SMART CITY ACCELERATOR PROGRAMME
In a bid to translate the government’s focus on smart cities into action, Ashoka University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship in association with the Dalmia Bharat Group and Microsoft Accelerator announced application calls for the second cohort of its AIM Smart City Accelerator programme. The joint initiative is aimed at nurturing innovative and committed early-stage startups with unique solutions focused on building a smarter and sustainable India. “At Ashoka, it is our constant endeavour to foster critical thinking and entrepreneurship spirit among students and hence, this idea resonates with our core values. It further advocates government’s focus on developing smart cities and gives bright minds a platform to nurture their ideas under the finest academic and industry networks and resources,” said Priyank Narayan, Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship, Ashoka University.
Following the success of last year, the five-month long programme will also focus on startups in the areas of education, healthcare, transport and logistics, and infrastructure. Apart from calling out entries for this year, the event showcased the finalists from last year who have been able to scale-up with funding and mentoring provided with the help of AIM programme. In addition to this, six startups from Ashoka University’s Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) programme were also showcased at the event. “Startups that have a focus on building Smart Cities will play an important role to digitally transform India. We look forward to continue working with AIM Smart City Accelerator and empower startups working on smart cities solutions,” added Naveen Asrani, Director, Microsoft India. Applications for this programme will be shortlisted by 12 April, 2016 on the basis of financial viability, technology feasibility, desirability to target audience, sustainability of the solution and track record of the team.
Smart City Key Focus Areas
The goal of the AIM Smart City Accelerator Program is to find partners and cohorts that have the same mindset and enthusiasm for building a better future. It doesn’t matter what kind of industry you are in, tech, finance, or you take one of the online casino content positions from thunderstruck.media or other digital marketing agency, you can still contribute. There are three key areas that the AIM Smart City Accelerator Program focuses on, including Health, EdTech, and CleanTech. In the Health area, the main focuses are on providing infrastructure, telemedicine, e-Healthcare, preventive healthcare, and improving emergency response time and patient care through technology. In the EdTech area, the program focuses on building online platforms, service aggregation, and using and taking advantage of new-age techs like VR, AR, mixed reality, and AI/ML. There are also strides in using learning sciences and implementing customized learning. The final key area is CleanTech, which focuses on improving the efficiency and sustainability of present systems and on coming up with and implementing new solutions for water, sanitation, hygiene, and waste management. An added plus will be contributing to recycling, green energy, and promoting awareness for combating Climate Change through Technology and Business Systems.
