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The winners of the 6th Year Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2017-18 (Tata SE Challenge), a joint initiative of the Tata group and Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC), were announced during the summit held on January 6, 2018, at the IIM Calcutta campus. The Elbow Engineers from Chennai (Winner), Chakr Innovation from New Delhi (1st Runners-up) and JK Nano solutions from Bangaluru (2nd Runners-up) emerged as the top three most promising social ventures, winning prize money of Rs. 2.5 lakhs, Rs. 2 lakhs and Rs. 1.50 lakhs, respectively. This year a total of 800+ applications flooded in, showcasing a substantial increase compared to previous years.
The Elbow Engineers, the winner of the challenge, is a Chennai-based startup that has developed a device to provide a comprehensive water generation solution. The device generates water by condensing water vapour from the atmosphere, it purifies the generated water through an Ultra Violet Light sterilizer providing clean drinking water at less than 84 paise per litre, and in the process cleans the air that we breathe of harmful substances.
Chakr Innovation, which was announced as the first runners-up, is a New Delhi-based startup that has developed Chakr Shield, a device that can capture 90% of particulate matter emission from diesel generators. The device controls pollution without causing any adverse impact on the engine’s performance or the environment, and at the same time converts the collected particulate matter into raw material for inks and paints.
JK Nanosolutions, the second runners-up, is a Bengaluru-based startup. It has developed a cost effective rapid solution for complete treatment of waste water and textile effluent using nanotechnology. By this method, 98 percent of treated water can be reused.
