iCreate (International Centre for Technology and Entrepreneurship), India's leading innovation-based start-up incubator today announced that it has on-boarded industry leaders and government organisations from across the country to support their maiden Electric Vehicle challenge, EVangelise.
EVangelise is a first-of-its-kind grand challenge aimed at identifying the next generation of innovators in the electric vehicle sub-components segment.
The partners who have joined hands with iCreate include AGNIi, the National Technology Commercialization Program under the Prime Minister's (PM-STIAC) mission, MeitY Startup Hub, StartUp Nation Central, Israel, Mathworks India Pvt. Ltd., Altair Engineering India Pvt. Ltd., Gujarat Corporate Social Responsibility Authority, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles, VJTI and TiE Angel, a network of Angel investors at all the 24 TiE Chapters in India which evaluates start-ups for funding through a regular calendar of pitch sessions.
Commenting on the partnerships, Anupam Jalote, CEO, iCreate said, "We are delighted and privileged to have the support of some of the most distinguished organizations in the country, for EVangelise. With this initiative, our intent is to connect leading industry partners with individual innovators to collectively contribute to the strategic growth of the EV industry. What India achieved in 30 years in the automobile industry, we want to achieve in EV's in 5 years. Having the endorsement of these leading institutions strengthens our mission towards identifying and nurturing some of the brightest innovators and entrepreneurs who have the potential of creating breakthrough innovations to disrupt this segment."
Over the next 6 months, the leadership team of the respective partners will be a part of the jury to shortlist participants at each stage of the challenge. They will also provide their mentorship and expertise during each stage to ensure that participants can navigate their challenges effectively and validate their ideas and POCs. These distinguished partners will also provide participants access to a global network of industry stalwarts who will nurture their ideas and help them take their product to the market.
"How India chooses to develop will be crucial to the fight for ecological sustainability, and against climate change. The AGNIi Mission looks forward to collaborating with iCreate, to unleash Indian technological creativity in that fight," said Rahul Nayar, Head, AGNIi Mission and VP, Invest India.
"I express my heartfelt appreciation to iCreate for organizing and conducting an event of this stature which shall present a single platform to all relevant ecosystem partners and stakeholders to facilitate acceleration in the EV domain. The Government has made concerted efforts to boost, streamline and strengthen the start-up ecosystem and MeitY has always offered necessary support to such activities to further channelize the ecosystem in consonance with the objectives of the Start up India Programme," said Dr. AK Garg, Senior Director, Innovation and IPR Division, MeitY.
"EVangelise by iCreate is an innovative program launched to promote EV ecosystem across India. This program will accelerate and enable the young innovative start-ups working in this domain. An event of this stature presents a unique opportunity and an able platform for people to bring forth their ideas and innovation and harness their creativity to create impactful solutions. MeitY Startup Hub (MSH) shall seek to support start-ups using its various programs and initiatives," said Jitendra Vijayvargiya, CEO, MeitY Startup Hub.
"The partnership with iCreate on the EVangelise Challenge aligns with Start-up Nation Central's goal to leverage state-of-the-art Israeli technology to overcome global sustainability challenges. Our objective for India and Israel's sustainability ecosystem collaboration is for both countries to gain a global competitive advantage and obtain a leadership position in the electric vehicles industry. As a result, Indian companies will be able to create and own futuristic technological solutions instead of merely licensing and manufacturing them and Israel will be able to harness the power of Indian manufacturing and capture new markets," said Vered Mivtzari, Strategic Countries Director, Emerging Markets, StartUp Nation Central. "A good example of the collaboration is the deal between Israeli startup IRP and Indian corporate Sona Comstar, a direct result of the India Israel Innovation Accelerator (i3A) program jointly organized by iCreate and StartUp Nation Central. This collaboration gives both Sona Comstar and IRP Systems a global competitive advantage," she mentioned.
"We convey our best wishes to the iCreate team for conceptualizing the one-of-its-kind Electric Vehicle Innovation Challenge- EVangelise. We truly hope this partnership between iCreate & GCSRA will lead to path-breaking innovations in EV space," said M. Thennarasan, IAS, Chairman & CEO GCSRA.
"The electric vehicle market is growing rapidly in India, especially the 2/3 wheeler segment. Platforms like EVangelise that brings various ecosystem partners together will help accelerate innovation in this field. MathWorks has been working with several organizations - OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, Technology providers and start-ups in their electrification journeys. It is our pleasure to partner with iCreate and contribute to the success of Evangelise," said Sunil Motwani, Country Manager, Sales and Service, MathWorks India Pvt. Ltd.
"Altair has been at the forefront of providing technology solutions in the areas of physics based simulation and AI/ML to design the next generation of electric vehicles. Our partnership with iCreate will enable aspiring start-ups to build better vehicles in the E-Mobility space through Altair Simulation Driven design tools and solutions," said Vishwanath Rao, Managing Director - Altair Engineering India Private Limited.
"TiE's philosophy to work at the bottom of the pyramid is what leads us to work very closely with colleges, incubators and accelerators. Whether it is mentoring or investing or providing opportunities to network and have access to global markets, TiE India Angels (TIA) is the right program to work with for anyone trying to work with start-ups. This synergy and mutual support leads us to work with Evangelise and seek the right & filtered start-ups from this domain to be mentored and invested in," said Mahavir Sharma, Chair, TiE India Angels (TIA).
EVangelise is a three-stage, international challenge open to start-ups, college students, research institutions, independent innovators and EV enthusiasts with innovations pertaining to 2 & 3-wheeler electric vehicle sub-components. A total of INR 88.5 lakh will be given as assured cash prizes to winners across four innovation categories and three stages. The top 3 winners will get INR 10 lakh, INR 7.5 lakh and INR 5 lakh cash prizes respectively, besides assured incubation support of INR 50 lakh each, market connections and industry mentorship.
Participants can get more details and register by visiting (https://www.evangelise.org.in) or emailing at [email protected].
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 389 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.
