The three tracks of this year’s challenge are water and sanitation, clean technology, and smart mobility.
Developing deployable technologies in these emerging areas would lead to considerable benefits for India.
According to the World Bank, although India has 18% of the world’s population, it has only 4% of the world’s water resources, which makes it among the most water-stressed countries worldwide. As regards clean technology, a sunrise sector for the Indian economy, efforts to achieve India’s target of producing 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030 could open up investment opportunities to the tune of $221 billion, according to Shri Bhagwanth Khuba, Union Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy, and reaching net zero emissions by 2070 could create $11 trillion in economic value in India, according to Deloitte.
In March 2023, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia revealed that India’s drone market will reach Rs 3 lakh crore in value by 2030 and employ 3–4 lakh people.
Ravi Mariwala, Advisor, Board of Members, Maker Bhavan Foundation, and Founder, Promoter, and CEO, of Smaart Water, said in a statement, “The world molded by population growth, urbanisation, digitisation and climate change has created its own sets of issues. Maker Bhavan Foundation recognises these and believes that the thinking which created the issues can not solve the issues. I look forward to seeing the rich depth and breadth of ideas and innovations to address the pressing problems of the world in practice.”
The Vishwakarma Awards was launched in 2022 by Maker Bhavan Foundation, a California-based public charity that works with science and engineering colleges in India. Maker Bhavan Foundation has partnered with Wheels India Niswarth (WIN) Foundation, Addverb Technologies, and the Indian Institute of Technology – Delhi (IIT-Delhi) for this year’s awards. IIT-Delhi will also be the host for the Vishwakarma Awards 2023.
Paresh Vora, Director of WIN India Programs, said in a statement, “The second year of Vishwakarma Awards brings new opportunity for young student innovators to bring even more innovative ideas to solve India’s water and allied challenges, and create new business and livelihood opportunities. We are glad to partner with Maker Bhavan Foundation for these awards.”
