Empowering India’s brightest water innovators

In February 2023 we were proud to announce the seven finalists selected for the Ashirvad Water Challenge, a prize set up in 2022 by The/Nudge Institute and Ashirvad Pipes to find and empower India’s leading water innovators.

The finalists were drawn from 25 semi-finalists, short-listed from some 140 start-ups that applied for the prize when it was launched last year.

Run in partnership with the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Indian government, the prize is about encouraging promising entrepreneurs to come up with ground-breaking ideas to tackle India’s significant water challenges.

Innovations included solutions to water leakage and distribution, wastewater treatment, water purification, atmospheric water generation and enabling water ecosystems.

Several of the innovations use deep tech interventions such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, while still aiming to be cost effective and easily scalable for deployment in water-stressed households across the nation.

Generous prize money is on offer for successful candidates, with a jury of leading experts evaluating the projects and choosing the ultimate winners. The criteria they used included scalability and replicability, economic viability, social outcomes, business readiness, environmental impact, and sustainability.

Deepak Mehrotra, our Divisional CEO for Asia, said: “Water security is a major challenge for our country and Aliaxis in India is committed to finding sustainable solutions. These start-ups are addressing pressing water challenges and will inspire others to tackle these issues.”

Working with The/Nudge Institute we’ve launched the Ashirvad Water Challenge to empower India’s promising water innovators.