Sustainability startups: IIT Kanpur’s incubation arm Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC) has announced its partnership with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to support sustainability startups through its programme Startup Gateway for Garbage Free Cities 2.0. The one-year programme, for which the incubator has invited applications till November 19, will provide funding support of Rs 20 lakhs to selected startups.
Moreover, the startups will receive technical and business mentoring and access to advanced research and development facilities along with investor connections. In addition, the startups will be enabled for direct contact with Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and corporations to deploy their solutions, the institute said in a statement.
Prof S Ganesh, Officiating Director, IIT Kanpur said, “With increasing population and urbanization, waste management has emerged as one of the increasingly difficult challenges of our times. I am confident that our collaboration with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) for the Startup Gateway for Garbage Free Cities 2.0 program will be a huge success. We invite a large number of startups to come forward with their novel ideas and participate”.
The programme aims to support the government’s Swachh Bharat campaign by offering critical support to businesses across areas viz., zero dump, reduce, reuse and recycle, plastic waste management, waste segregation, innovative waste cleaning, real-time waste monitoring and social innovation for waste management.
Prof. Ankush Sharma, Head SIIC, said, “The collaboration with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) for the Startup Gateway for Garbage Free Cities 2.0 program is part of our commitment to positively impacting society and the planet.”
According to the think tank Mordor Intelligence, waste management industry in India is valued at $32.09 billion, which will go up to $35.87 billion by 2028. As per the report, only 30 per cent of the 75 per cent recyclable waste is recycled in India.
The figures of Mordor Intelligence shows that 50 per cent of the total solid waste generated is untreated and dumped into landfills, causing a major concern of rising landfills in the cities.
