Samsung India has revealed the top 30 teams participating in its youth education and innovation competition, known as ‘Solve for Tomorrow’. The primary objective of this competition is to cultivate a culture of inventive thinking and effective problem-solving among the country’s youth. Participants in the 16-22 age bracket were encouraged to propose solutions related to four key themes: Education and Learning, Health and Wellness, Environment and Sustainability, and Diversity and Inclusion, according to an official release.
The competition received 70,000 registrations from young individuals residing in 500 cities, towns, and villages. For the second consecutive year, Samsung India has joined forces with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s (MeitY’s) Startup Hub and the Foundation for Innovation & Technology Transfer (FITT) at IIT Delhi for this Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, the release mentioned.
Out of the top 30 teams, the breakdown of ideas by theme is as follows: 44% focused on Education and Learning, 23% on Environment and Sustainability, 20% on Diversity and Inclusion, and 13% on Health and Wellness. These teams hail from 15 states and one union territory in India, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Assam, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Delhi, as per the release.
“Our flagship CSR program Samsung Solve for Tomorrow taps into the spirit of innovation in the minds of the country’s youth. The top 30 teams we have selected will move to the next phase of the competition and we are keen to see how their ideas shape up going forward, contributing to Powering Digital India,” Hyun Kim, corporate vice president, Samsung Southwest Asia, said.
The youth participating in these teams have put forth innovative ideas to address real-world challenges. Some of the problem areas they tackled include converting sea water into potable water, combating drinking and driving, enhancing the skills of the youth, improving the efficiency of solar panels, and finding missing children. Their ideas also encompass various other issues such as early detection of diseases in women using menstrual blood samples, promoting mental health, reducing food wastage, identifying crop diseases, safeguarding teenagers from inappropriate content, and tackling gender bias in STEM fields, among others, it added.
“The top 30 teams and their ideas really have the potential to transform the lives of people. It is exciting to see youths from non-metro cities come up with such innovative ideas. With Samsung and the Solve for Tomorrow program, we are positive that we will be able to give them proper guidance and skills to make their ideas a reality and build a new India,” Jeet Vijay, CEO, MeitY Startup Hub, said.