iCreate, India's leading startup incubator concluded a 3-day bootcamp today at its campus as part of the Build Stage of its flagship event EVangelise'21, a grand innovation challenge aimed at identifying next generation innovators in the electric vehicle sub-components segment in India.

The bootcamp had the participation of 37 participants from 21 teams who have moved to the final evaluation stage of the build stage and results will be declared post intensive testing by iCreate.

Participants for the Build Stage were shortlisted from a total of 388 applicants from across the country, based on prototypes which demonstrated real-world engineering and implementation skills.

The Build Stage bootcamp included a series of master classes and expert mentoring sessions, besides individual interactions with all participants and testing of their prototypes to evaluate technical viability. The teams were shortlisted, with projects ranging from Electric Powertrain (motor + controller), battery management systems (BMS), to Battery cooler and controller.

The bootcamp also saw industry leaders like Dr. Rahul Walwalkar, IESA; Hiten Pal, Micelio and Deepty Chopra from India biz to interact with the participants.

Speaking about the culmination of the Build Stage, Anupam Jalote, CEO, iCreate said, "iCreate has been at the forefront at giving life to revolutionary ideas across sectors and with EVangelise, we aim is to bring those ideas to the mainstream so that we can make India a truly self-reliant nation and a leader in the global EV ecosystem. We have received an overwhelming response from innovators from across the country for our maiden EV challenge and it has been heartening to see several disruptive next-gen ideas take life in the journey of EVangelise. We are confident that the best of these ideas will be taken up by the leading EV industry for commercialization and we look forward to working with these entrepreneurs to help them in their journey."

The participants were also mentored by experts and were supported with state-of-the-art infrastructure at the iCreate labs to help them further build their prototypes.

In the next stage, top 15 finalists will receive a cash prize of INR 3 lakh each and the best of these will get the opportunity to pitch to a jury comprising EV industry leaders and domain experts as part of the EVangelise Innovation Showcase which is to be held as a precursor to the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January 2022. The top 3 winners will be awarded Rs. 10 lakh, Rs. 7.5 lakh and Rs. 5 lakh cash prizes along with an assured incubation support of Rs 50 lakh each, in addition to industry connections and mentorship.

In addition to this, the participants were also introduced to the Micelio Fund, India's first seed fund focused solely on clean mobility. The fund invests in exceptional, innovative startups in the EV ecosystem including drivetrain technologies, charging infrastructure, energy management and special purpose electric vehicles. The participants were able to access the mentor network of Micelio alongside attending sessions on Tech Innovation conducted by the leadership team at iCreate.

iCreate launched EVangelise, a grand challenge aimed at identifying the next generation of innovators in the electric vehicle sub-components segment. Planned in three stages over a period of seven months, EVangelise is targeted at startups, college students, research institutions, independent innovators and EV enthusiasts, with revolutionary innovations in sub-components used in 2W & 3W electric vehicles. What makes EVangelise unique is that it covers the complete innovation journey for electric 2 & 3 wheelers - Idea, Design and Build stages - with deep learning and exciting rewards at every stage.

Innovation Categories include Electric Powertrain (motor + controller), Battery, BMS & Hybrid Energy Storage Systems, Regenerative Braking System and Intelligent Vehicle Management Systems. This event has been conceptualised to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in the country with sophisticated, energy-efficient and sustainable transportation solutions for the Indian market, thus aligning with India's 2030 EV ambitions of having 80% of two- and three-wheeler sales as electric vehicles.

iCreate (International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology) is an autonomous centre of excellence of the Government of Gujarat and is India's largest institution for transforming startups based on tech innovation into successful businesses. Located in a state-of-the-art 40-acre campus at Dev Dholera in Ahmedabad, till date it has supported over 412 innovations and 30+ patents with a 'high-touch, entrepreneur-first' model, connecting them with mentors, markets and money.

Embedded systems and IoT are a focus area for iCreate, in domains like electric vehicles, agritech, smart cities, healthtech, industrial automation, renewable energy, among others. It is home to Cisco's largest Innovation Lab in India, and has partnerships with leading institutions in the US, Israel and other countries.