🌟 SPARKLAB 1.0 Inaugural Ceremony | May 5, 6:00 PM IST
We warmly welcome you to the Inaugural Ceremony of #Sparklab – 2025 Cohort One, a unique initiative by the Institution’s Innovation Council at SSSIHL to be held on Monday, 5th May 2025. Join us Live on 5th May 2025 at 6:00 PM IST
This 8-week program brings together students, alumni, Sai Youth, and mentors from across the nation on a journey of purpose-driven innovation, entrepreneurship, and self-discovery.
We look forward to your presence as we embark on this transformative journey.
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🌟 SPARKLAB 1.0 – Mentors Meetup: Igniting the Spirit of Innovation
On a spirited evening, 30th April 2025, 9PM, filled with purpose and passion, mentors and trainers of SPARKLAB 2025 came together virtually in a vibrant “President’s Interaction” session hosted by the SSSIHL Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC). The gathering marked an important milestone in the university’s innovation journey, bringing together thought leaders, faculty experts, entrepreneurs, and professionals aligned by a shared mission — to nurture self-reliant, socially conscious innovators.
The session was graced by the presence of the President of SSSIHL, who shared words of wisdom and encouragement, emphasizing the university’s commitment to value-driven innovation and holistic mentorship. The President’s address served as a powerful reminder of the vision of Revered Founder Chancellor Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who envisioned youth as heroes of action dedicated to self-sacrifice and service to humanity.
📸 “The energy was palpable even in a virtual room. Smiles, nods, and shared excitement echoed the start of something transformative.”
🧭 Program Overview: SPARKLAB 1.0
SPARKLAB 1.0 is the flagship innovation development lab initiated under IIC@SSSIHL. With a mission to transform ideas into impact, it provides structured guidance, hands-on mentoring, and strategic training to selected student innovators.
The program Team IIC:
💡 The Mentorship Experience
Mentors are the backbone of SPARKLAB. During the session, key mentorship guidelines were discussed to ensure clarity of roles and effectiveness:
- Mentors are paired with 1–2 teams and are expected to meet weekly (virtually).
- Emphasis is placed on strategic thinking, early-stage validation, clarity in problem statements, and lean execution.
- The IIC will support scheduling, coordination, and documentation, allowing mentors to focus on coaching and collaboration.
An NDA-based mentorship agreement ensures intellectual property integrity and long-term engagement with SSSIHL’s innovation ecosystem.
🌐 A Dynamic Community
The session was a wonderful opportunity to interact with an impressive lineup of mentors including:
- Industry leaders and startup founders
- Academic experts and technologists
- Entrepreneurial visionaries committed to guiding the next generation
more mentors are in the process of onboarding. Interested? Get in Touch: [email protected]
🚀 What’s Next
As SPARKLAB 1.0 gears up for its May–June execution phase, mentors and trainers are ready to steer their assigned teams toward structured experimentation and impactful prototypes. The culminating Final Pitch Week in June will be a celebration of creativity, collaboration, and courage.
We extend our deepest gratitude to each mentor who has joined hands with the IIC. Your time, insight, and empathy will shape not just projects, but people.
Stay tuned for more updates from the SPARKLAB 1.0 journey.
Let’s build the future — together, with values and vision.
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One-Day Hands-on Workshop : Attracting Investments for Research and Innovation
25th April 2025 | 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
The Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC), SSSIHL, is organizing a one-day hands-on workshop on “Attracting Investments for Research and Innovation” on Friday, 25th April 2025, at the Multimedia Learning Centre, Prasanthi Nilayam.
The workshop will be led by Dr. Anand Govindaluri, Founder & CEO of Govin Capital, Singapore, and aims to provide valuable insights into securing venture capital funding and engaging with investors for research-driven innovations.
Schedule Highlights:
Session I (9:00 AM – 10:00 AM): Inaugural Session
Keynote Address: Attracting Venture Capital Funding to Scientific Research and Innovations
Session II (10:00 AM – 01:00 PM): Exclusive Hands-on Session
“One-slide presentations” by faculty researchers
Session III (03:00 PM – 04:00 PM): Concluding Session
Talk on Social and Scientific Innovations and Investors’ Dilemma, followed by an Open House
The workshop is open to all faculty members and research scholars of SSSIHL. Students are also welcome to attend.
Join us Live:
- Morning Session (9-10 a.m.): https://youtube.com/live/p-Um1VMFpvc?feature=share
- Evening Session (3-4 p.m.): https://youtube.com/live/-KPq8k3at9g?feature=share
Event Report
Cardiovascular Disease : Clogged Arteries could be Debilitating and Fatal
Uday Saxena | PhD (The author has spent the last 25 years researching cardiovascular and metabolic disease therapies. He was associated with the Team at Pfizer which discovered “Lipitor/Atorvastatin” the largest selling statin with peak sales of over seventeen billion dollars annually)
Introduction
Cardiovascular disease, which is manifested as a collection of outcomes such as heart attack, stroke and hypertension, is still the world’s largest killer of humans – twice as many people die of this disease relative to cancer. Several effective drugs in the late 1980s and early 1990 called statins were introduced. The statins did dramatically reduce death due to this disease by lowering blood cholesterol levels. But we still need newer therapies.
What causes cardiovascular disease?
Simply put, it is the clogging of critical arteries which stops blood supply to the organs such as heart, brain or kidneys which results in devastating outcomes. Let us understand how the arteries get clogged. The artery can get blocked due to build-up of fat and cholesterol in the form of a plaque, a physical lump, which then can block blood supply (see picture below of an artery which is clogged). Imagine a waterpipe supplying water in your home, and the pipe gets choked, then water supply is stopped. This is pretty much what happens when the artery clogs. If the artery supplying blood to the heart is blocked, it can cause a heart attack, if it is in the brain, it results in stroke, or if in the kidney artery, then it may cause high blood pressure or hypertension.
Causes
There are several risk factors for the build-up of plaque in your arteries. Let us split them into two buckets
Non-Modifiable
- Age – The clogging increases dramatically in later ages after about 40 years.
- Male gender is more prone than female although after menopause the risk is similar for females.
- Family history, meaning if your grandparents, parents, siblings or uncle or aunts had premature cardiovascular disease before 50 years, the risk is more.
Modifiable
- Smoking
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- High fat and cholesterol diet
Obviously, nothing can be done about non-modifiable risk factors, but the focus of treatment is on modifiable factors.
Treatment
Low cholesterol, low-fat diet, and physical exercise are the first set of interventions for people at risk. The main preventive focus is on lowering your blood cholesterol levels. This is done using statins which are quite powerful at lowering your cholesterol. This alone can cut your risk of cardiovascular disease by 50%. Besides cholesterol, blood triglyceride (fat) levels and blood pressure are also lowered which cuts the risk even more. Similarly, diabetes is also controlled. To treat existing clogged arteries, interventional cardiology is used in the form of balloon angioplasty. In this, a fine tubing attached to an inflatable balloon, is inserted into the artery and then the balloon is inflated which literally blows the block away.
What’s coming?
Statins predispose patients to type 2 diabetes; so, a new set of non-statin drugs are being introduced called PCSK9 inhibitors. These are injectable drugs that lower cholesterol through a new mechanism of action and may not promote diabetes. From interventional cardiology perspective, robotic angioplasty is being used for precision; biodegradable and drug coated inert stents (tiny pieces of thimble-like structures) that keep arteries open and free of plaque build-up are also being used. 3D bioprinted lab grown patches of heart muscles are being tested to replace dead heart tissue and improve blood flow. An individual above 50 should get their blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels tested annually and take a tread mill test (TMT) to stay on top of cardiovascular disease, especially if there is family history.
Read MoreDemocratising Healthcare with Innovative Solutions in India
Dr Anand Govindaluri | Founding Director & CEO Govin Capital, Singapore
The healthcare market globally is a massive and rapidly growing sector of the economy. The global healthcare market size was valued at USD 8.45 trillion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.5 per cent from 2021 to 2028 (Grand View Research, 2020). The healthcare industry in India is projected to reach $372 Bn by 2022, at a compound annual growth rate of 39 per cent. The healthcare industry in India comprises hospitals, medical devices, clinical trials, telemedicine, medical tourism, health insurance, and medical equipment (Investindia, 2022). One of the key challenges in the Indian healthcare market is that the doctor-to-patient ratio in India is relatively low compared to many other countries. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of 2021, the doctor-to-patient ratio in India was approximately 1:1456, which is below the global average of 1:1000. This problem can be addressed through public-private partnerships and the adoption of various digital technologies to deliver proper medical services to the patients in a distributed care model.
Rise of Artificial Intelligence and IOT: According to a report by Accenture, the AI healthcare market is projected to reach USD 6.6 billion by 2021 and grow at a CAGR of 40 per cent. AI helps to expedite medical imaging analysis, drug discovery, clinical decision support, patient monitoring, and virtual care. Since the pandemic, it has become abundantly clear how technology has the potential to significantly influence how healthcare facilities are designed, improved, and brought into the new digital era. This foretells us on how people manage their health will change as a result of telemedicine, predictive diagnostics, wearable sensors, and a plethora of new applications. It is heartening to hear that Amazon’s Echo, a voice-activated computer can respond to the name “Alexa” which is trained by the American Heart Association to recite life-saving instructions about cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In addition, Alexa is learning other healthcare abilities, such as being a senior citizen’s companion and responding to queries about pediatric illnesses. It will soon assist doctors in taking notes, requesting scans, and reminding patients to take their medications. It is clearly evident that telemedicine, predictive diagnostics, wearable sensors, and a host of new apps will transform how people manage their health from here after.
Genomic Testing: The implementation of numerous preventative healthcare strategies is in high demand on a global scale. Advances in genomic biology are enabling doctors to provide personalised medicine tailored to a patient’s unique genetic makeup, especially in cancer and other chronic diseases. There is a growing demand for personalised, and precision medicine. Genetic tests would eventually become as cheap as standard blood tests with the reliance on technology and digital tools. This area can actas a viable tool in understanding drug sensitivity, multifactorial or any kind of medical conditions, and pharmacogenomics. Such a discovery will only further provide support to genome sequencing and allow specialists to get more insights into nutrition, genomics, and dietetics.
The global healthcare market size was valued at USD 8.45 trillion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.5 per cent from 2021 to 2028
Skilling: While there is a paradigm shift in the curricula all across the globe, with the fast transforming world of technology, Universities, and Colleges are offering many courses like EHealth Management, for students to enhance their skills and competencies to learn, manage, understand, and apply advanced techniques in the healthcare industry. These futuristic programs combine electronic processes and communication strategies, bridging the gap between computers, health, and communications and enabling one to become specialist in the health and management sector.
Mental Health: The healthcare industry is constantly evolving, creating new opportunities and trends. The most fascinating trend is that there is a sizeable cost reduction while providing improved healthcare facilities. Post Covid health scenario has observed a massive rise in mental health issues. Therefore, organisations are gearing up to spread awareness and provide necessary support to the growing demand for mental health services. Healthcare providers offer services for mental health, such as telepsychiatry, counselling, and therapy. There is a dearth shortage and hence demands more mental health professionals, caregivers, and nursing resources to tackle the mental health challenges. The pandemic has disrupted daily life, led to social isolation, increased stress, & anxiety, and caused significant economic hardship, all of which have contributed to mental health issues. Governments, healthcare organisations, and mental health professionals around the world have recognised the need to prioritise mental health in the wake of the pandemic. Many countries have launched mental health campaigns and initiatives to raise awareness of the importance of mental health and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.
Metaverse in Healthcare: Metaverse has the potential to transform healthcare by enabling virtual healthcare services, improving medical training and education, and providing new opportunities for remote patients or seekers of medical facilities. It is so heartening to see remote monitoring, providing health support, and clinical research becoming a reality. Though in its early stages, metaverse has the potential to revolutionise healthcare in several ways making life easier and affordable to all.
Robotics in Healthcare: Robots are used for surgical procedures, and also assist nurses in moving elderly patients and those with spinal cord diseases, among many other applications. Robotic companions benefit elderly people, lonely people, and even children with chronic ailments in the coming years. As technology advances, robotics in medicine will be used in more practical ways. Robotic systems are being developed using AI and Machine Learning in the performance of routine tasks which are now being done by skilled healthcare practitioners. This will free doctors to treat more patients with less time pressure, promoting a favorable outcome. Another medical model is the ability to pair objects in a computer-generated virtual world which can help to manipulate both objects at the same time – digital twins, the medical gadgets currently on the market, which are basically developed with the expectation that the final product is reliable for testing, and the results are generally trustworthy.
The healthcare industry is constantly evolving, creating new opportunities and trends. The most fascinating trend is that there is a sizeable cost reduction while providing improved healthcare facilities.
Conclusion
While there may be a whole lot of issues to tackle, one can easily know that the future of healthcare and wellness industry is progressing in the right direction where remote care is being delivered efficiently. In parts of North-East India, drones have made a way to deliver lifesaving medicines to the poorest of the poor in a timely manner. This transformation in rural healthcare serves as a powerful example of using technology for making healthcare accessible and affordable to the bottom of the population pyramid.
Read MoreInnovations for Sustainable and Resilient Societal-Scale Infrastructure Systems
Saurabh Amin
Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Infrastructure systems are essentially physical structures (facilities and networks), organizational setups and services that a society relies on for daily needs such as electricity, transportation, water, and food. Safe, reliable, and efficient infrastructure systems are crucial for advancing the socioeconomic development of any country. This is especially important for India as more than 40% of the country’s population is expected
to reside in urban areas by 2030 and the rate of urbanization in next several decades is projected to be much higher than in the developed countries. Today, many urban centers are already witnessing the stress from multi-fold increase in the demand for infrastructure and services but face severe limitations for capacity expansion and organizational restructuring. As a result, our streets get routinely congested, electricity supply is often unreliable, water and air quality are hard to maintain, waste spills into the environment, and prices of essential food items and medical supplies tend to be volatile. Addressing these systematic issues will require bold new innovations and a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem to support and implement government policies and programs on infrastructure.
The key question is: How can we sustainably develop our infrastructure systems to support the needs of steadily expanding urban centers while achieving overall socioeconomic growth for everyone and protecting the natural environment? Addressing this question is important as India is making major efforts to chart the future of its 1.4 billion people by making significant investments in non-fossil energy generation, high-
capacity transport corridors, domestic manufacturing in critical sectors, and massive construction projects for provisioning public services. The ways in which India’s infrastructure will grow in the coming decades will also have far reaching implications on the global energy trends and humanity’s efforts to meet ambitious emission reduction goals. Here, we argue that recent technological advances in sensing, communication, data analytics, and emerging platforms and services driven by Artificial intelligence (AI) can play a significant role in shaping how we use, operate, and manage our critical infrastructure systems and plan for a sustainable future.
In the last 15 years, AI has influenced just about every aspect of our lives, from enabling friendships and social connections, to AI-assisted route guidance, to sensing and controlling our energy grids, to digital platforms creating sharing economy for transport, housing, and food delivery, to using data-driven approaches to monitor infrastructure assets and repair them. Notably, all these capabilities were enabled by innovations in
sensing, control, communication, and data analytics. The ongoing digital transformation of transportation, energy, water, food, and other infrastructures will continue to shape the existing services and create new opportunities to make these systems “smarter” – that
is, more responsive to changes in supply and demand, more interactive for users, and easier to manage for operators. Below we highlight opportunities for innovation in two major sectors: transportation and energy.
Multimodal Transportation Systems
Our urban mobility in the last 15 years has been shaped by the widespread adoption of smartphones. This made personal navigation much easier, facilitated traffic congestion monitoring at-scale, and gave rise to ride-hailing services such as Uber, Ola Cabs, Savaari, etc. While travelers are well-connected and more informed via smartphone technology, much needs to be done to better operate and coordinate mobility solutions, utilize
available transportation capacity, and reduce traffic incidents and safety risks. Next-generation transportation systems and mobility solutions are primed for disruptive innovations in how we build and configure our infrastructure (road capacity, fueling stations, parking lots); how travelers receive information on traffic congestion and navigate through the transportation system (via apps for routing, ride-hailing, and carpooling); how public transportation is reshaped to provide multi-modal and micromobility options; how traffic signals are coordinated to reduce wait times at intersections; how electrified scooters, cars, trucks are deployed to achieve reduction emissions and costs; and how commercially available automation technologies are introduced to improve overall transportation efficiency while reducing safety risks.
Especially important in the context of mobility for Indian travelers is to decongest recurrent hotspots in busy corridors, provide equitable and safe access to transportation for marginalized socioeconomic groups, improve emergency response services, and efficiently manage heterogeneous mix of newly built and old infrastructure. Mobility tech startups can help address these challenges by leveraging communication and automation technologies to provide innovative services to plan, coordinate, and improve accessibility and overall travel experience. Such startups can also help in improving data sharing and coordination between transportation operators, urban planners, and government agencies.
Low-Carbon Energy Systems
Decarbonization of the energy sector is one of the major requirements for reducing global warming beyond the 1.5 °C threshold and mitigating and adapting to the negative impacts of climate change. Our main challenge is to reliably meet increasing energy demand while systematically reducing the environmental impact of energy generation infrastructure. In the last 10 years, electric power systems have witnessed sustained innovations in solar and wind renewable energy generation and energy storage technologies. Simultaneously, innovations in advanced communications, the industrial Internet-of-Things (IoT), AI, and data analytics have improved our ability to monitor and control the electric power grid and created new opportunities for integration of power generation from renewable sources
To address the unique and multi-dimensional challenges faced by emerging markets and developing sectors in India, we need innovations that can leverage fast-moving improvements in clean-energy technology. These innovations must advance our ability to sustainably meet growing energy demand while simultaneously electrifying and decarbonizing energy systems. Also important is to ensure that large unmet energy
needs of vulnerable and socio-economically marginalized communities are addressed in the face of disruptive effects of accelerating climate change.
Specific opportunities for innovation in the energy sector include: analytical and datadriven tools to facilitate climate-resilient energy system planning; development of comprehensive databases and information systems to characterize available energy resources and technologies; tools to reliably operate energy systems under large-scale integration of renewable energy generation; new economic models (pricing and other
incentive schemes) to manage demand in both residential and commercial sectors; and technologies to facilitate coordination of distributed energy generation, storage and demand management. India is making significant investments in renewable energy and has set ambitious emissions reduction targets, with the eventual goal of net-zero emissions by 2070. Few imperatives over the next few decades are more necessary than developing an innovation pipeline that can produce measurable impact across the whole energy supply chain.
Closing Thoughts
Fortunately, Indian youth is increasingly understanding the urgency of research-based innovation. Government agencies are receptive to impactful ideas and technologies.Startup and big corporates are interested to accelerate real-world transition in socially impactful areas. Universities and innovation hubs realize the urgency to take up projects at the interface of fundamental research and technology transition. The business case
for sustained investments in new technologies that support digital transformation of critical infrastructure sectors is becoming clear. And closer ties between private industry, nonprofits, policy makers, and infrastructure agencies are gradually developing. All-in-all, we can look forward to an exciting new era for infrastructure systems and services in India.
(The author can be reached at [email protected])
Read MoreViksit Bharat, Innovation and Sustainable Development
Bharat Dahiya
Director, Research Centre for Sustainable Development and Innovation, School of Global Studies,
Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand
Towards Viksit Bharat @2047
On 15 August 2022, from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a clarion call for ‘Viksit Bharat’ or ‘Developed India’ by 2047 CE when the nation will celebrate the first centenary of its Independence. This notion provides a long-term vision for
the holistic and sustainable development in the country during the ‘Amrit Kaal’ or ‘The Era of Elixir’– a 25-year period spanning from 2022 to 2047.
The idea of Viksit Bharat by 2047 presents a vast canvas on which every Indian could paint the picture of their dreams. To every citizen – and particularly to the youth, this long-term vision provides much needed inspiration for developing new innovations and multi-dimensional
pathways towards sustainable development, as called for by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and beyond.
Innovation and Sustainable Development
Innovations are understood as new ideas, knowledge, products, methods, applications, behaviours, strategies, processes, and more. Innovations may either be totally novel globally, or the introduction of existing ideas as ‘new’ to a particular geographical context. Sustainable
development is a multifaceted process that could help with (a) meeting the needs of both the current and the future generations, and (b) conserving the life-supporting ecological systems that Mother Earth has provided us. Innovation and sustainable development are twin processes that have an almost inexhaustive potential to propel a country to new levels of holistic progress and quality of life. Innovations are an expression of a society’s ingenuity in head-on tackling contemporaneous problems and challenges. They provide a much-needed spurt of creative energy to advance economic and societal progress. Thus, innovations empower countries with the prerequisite self-confidence to work towards a brighter future. This is particularly significant for a civilisation like India, which in 1750 CE ‘produced about 25 percent of the world industrial output’ that declined to two percent by 1900 CE (Clingingsmith and Williamson, 2004).
The Independent Group of Scientists appointed by the Secretary-General (2023) has identified six entry points and levers regarding sustainable development worldwide:
- (i) Human well-being and capabilities
- (ii) Sustainable and just economies
- (iii) Sustainable food systems and healthy nutrition
- (iv) Energy decarbonization with universal access
- (v) Urban and peri-urban development
- (vi) Global environmental commons
Working towards sustainable development requires contextually suited policies, strategies, plans, investments, multi-stakeholder partnerships, accountability mechanisms, technological advancement, digitalisation, and innovation systems.
Holistic and Sustainable Development in India In an ancient and living civilisation that India is, the idea of holistic and sustainable development
will inevitably include spiritual, cultural, social, environmental and economic dimensions. This is because, since time immemorial, Bharatiya Sanskriti, or Indian Culture, is soaked in spirituality. Mother India has given birth to several spiritual traditions, which have nourished the
souls of the people of India and beyond. Such spiritual traditions have also orchestrated time and place specific frameworks and models of holistic progress and sustainable development.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba (1926-2011 CE), considered as the ‘Avatar’ of Kali Yuga, called for and assiduously worked on such a holistic and comprehensive idea of development. Throughout His divine mission, Sri Sathya Sai Baba efficiently and effectively led the creation, design and implementation of innovative and pioneering sustainable development projects even before the term ‘sustainable development’ was formally used by the United Nations in 1980.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s holistic and sustainable development work focused on ‘Educare’, ‘Medicare’, ‘Sociocare’, and ‘Spirituality and Service’.
- Educare: Provision of ‘Value-based Integral Education’ through the establishment of Sri Sathya Sai Arts and Science College (for Women), Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh (1968); Sri Sathya Sai Arts, Science and Commerce College (for Men), Whitefield, Karnataka
(1969); Sri Sathya Sai College of Arts, Science and Commerce College (for Men), Prasanthi Nilayam, Andhra Pradesh; Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (deemed university, 1981); and multiple schools with pro bono education services (SDGs 3, 4, 5
and 11). - Medicare: A General Hospital in Puttaparthi (1956); a General Hospital in Whitefield (1976); two Super Speciality Hospitals, one each in Andhra Pradesh (1991) and Karnataka (2001); a Mobile Hospital for remote areas (2006); and Telehealth facility for patients living far from the facilities (2007), where medical services are provided free of cost (SDGs 3, 9, 16 and 17).
- Sociocare: Water Supply Project for 1.25 million people of Anantapur district (1995), for one million people in 320 villages in Medak and Mahabubnagar districts (2001), and for 690,000 people in East Godavari and West Godavari districts (2007). These projects
continue to serve people and meet targets under SDGs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 11 - Spirituality and Service: Sri Sathya Sai Baba elaborated the five human values of Sathya (Truth), Dharma (Righteousness), Shanti (Peace), Prema (Love), and Ahimsa (Non-violence). He rejuvenated the old concepts and traditions of spirituality (Adhyatmikta) and service (Seva) and developed their new forms adapted to the contemporary context, such as Sai Bhajans, Gram Seva, and Sevadal.
These ground-breaking projects continue to act as ‘lighthouses of inspiration’ for Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust and various Sai organisations to develop innovative programmes and projects for sustainable development.
Innovation and Sustainable Development for Viksit Bharat @2047
The large population (1.4 billion), the diverse geography, and the urgent need to provide livelihoods to and improve the quality of life for each and every citizen pose unique challenges of sustainable development in India. Nevertheless, the country has a young workforce, and its
demographic dividend will reach its peak in 2041.
What India needs now is innovation systems that can work on (a) understanding the problems in the local, sub-national and national contexts, (b) developing appropriate innovations, and (c) tackling the multifarious development challenges. Such innovations systems are essential not
only at the national and state (i.e., sub-national) levels, but also at the local (e.g., urban and regional) level.
While national and state (sub-national) level innovation systems may be led by designated agencies, local innovation systems may be led by universities in partnership with (pro)active stakeholders from the public sector, businesses, non-profit sector, and the communities. Such
local innovation systems may harness traditional wisdom, local knowledge and creativity, and local resources to develop innovations that are rooted in Indian culture and spirituality. For example, Tarun Bharat Sangh, a non-governmental organisation founded in 1975 and led by Rajendra Singh, helped build 8,600 village ‘johads’ (water tanks) and other water conservation structures to recharge groundwater. Rooted in traditional wisdom and local culture, this programme has revived five rivers (viz., Arvari, Bhagani, Jahajwali, Ruparel, and Sarsa) in Rajasthan and brought water back to over 1,000 villages. The people of India urgently need to develop and implement such innovations for achieving sustainable development outcomes and building Viksit Bharat by 2047.
References:
Clingingsmith, David and Williamson, Jeffrey G. (2004) India’s De-Industrialization Under British Rule: New Ideas, New Evidence. Discussion Paper Number 2039. Harvard Institute of Economic Research. Available at SSRN.Independent Group of Scientists appointed by the Secretary-General (2023) Global Sustainable Development Report 2023: Times of crisis, times of change: Science for accelerating transformations to sustainable development. United Nations, New York
SSSIHL Celebrates National Start-up Day 2025 – A Report
Introduction
The Institution’s Innovation Council, SSSIHL hosted the National Startup Day celebration event on 15 January 2025 at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prashanthi Nilayam Campus, bringing together entrepreneurs, researchers, students, teachers, and industry leaders. The event aimed to foster innovation and collaboration across various sectors.
The program commenced with an invocatory Vedam, followed by the inaugural address by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. B. Raghavendra Prasad. In his speech, he emphasized the importance of health, education, and innovation, while commending the institution’s efforts in advancing research and entrepreneurship.
Key Highlights
1. Insights from Entrepreneurs
Prominent entrepreneurs delivered inspiring 10-minute talks, offering valuable insights into their entrepreneurial journeys and key lessons for success:
- Sujatha Raju, Founder of Sai Seva Business Pvt. Ltd., shared her 35 years of experience in startups, emphasizing honesty, opportunity, and team building as the three pillars of a successful business. Notably, she is the first woman in South India to obtain a license for franking mail.
- Arun Babu, Managing Director at Accenture, highlighted the critical steps to establishing a successful business, stressing the importance of clearly defining problems and diligently exploring solutions.
- Alex Abraham, a healthcare entrepreneur with 30 years of experience, addressed India’s healthcare infrastructure challenges. He underscored the transformative role of data analysis in reducing costs by up to 50% and emphasized prioritizing health over monetary gains.
- Ganesh Kumar, CEO, discussed the significance of adaptability in a rapidly evolving world. He highlighted the increasing competition between humans and machines, reinforcing the irreplaceable value of human values.
- Sudipta Paul Choudhury, Chief Marketing Officer, presented on startup challenges, citing examples like Stayzilla and Google Glass. She emphasized the importance of learning from failures, customer feedback, and robust cash flow management.
Each speaker provided unique perspectives on entrepreneurship, stressing the importance of integrity, adaptability, human values, data-driven decision-making, and financial prudence in building successful and sustainable businesses.
2. Research Achievements in Health and Energy
The event showcased groundbreaking research efforts led by various departments at the institute, highlighting advancements in health, energy, and environmental sustainability:
- Health Sector Innovations: Dr. Sripada Lakshminath, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, praised the interdisciplinary efforts that led the institute to become the first academic institution to receive approval for a COVID detection kit. He also highlighted the Department of Physics’ development of the SAIGC Torch, a gamma camera for detecting cancer cells.
- Energy Sector Advancements: Kumar Sai Swaran, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, elaborated on ongoing research in energy storage, harvesting, and electrocatalysis, aimed at improving efficiency and sustainability.
- Environmental Research Innovations: Dr. V. Pratyusha commended faculty-led interdisciplinary research in nanotechnology, hydrogen storage, water purification, and environmental sustainability, demonstrating the institute’s commitment to addressing global challenges.
These research presentations underscored the institution’s pioneering role in developing innovative solutions with potential industry-wide impact.
3. Panel Discussion
A panel discussion featuring six distinguished leaders from the startup ecosystem was the centerpiece of the event. Moderated by [Moderator’s Name], the discussion provided valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of scaling startups.
Key Discussion Points:
- Strategies for securing funding and building investor confidence.
- The importance of innovation and identifying opportunities in a competitive market.
- Insights into product manufacturing, scaling production, and maintaining quality.
- Navigating regulatory hurdles, particularly for health and energy startups.
The session concluded with the key takeaway that “Swami is more outcome-based, not output-based,” emphasizing that success should be measured by impact and results rather than volume alone.
Additionally, two parallel sessions were conducted that covered:
- Fire-Aid Chat with founders, innovators, and investors.
- Learning to Pitch, where students presented ideas to founders.
- Ideas to Maturity, covering startup growth, intellectual property, and investment.
- Emerging Trends in Electronics Manufacturing.
Conclusion
The National Startup Day celebration event successfully brought together entrepreneurs, researchers, and academic leaders, fostering meaningful discussions and collaborations. The speeches, panel discussions, and research presentations reinforced the crucial role of startups and academic institutions in driving innovation and sustainability.
The event concluded with a heartfelt Vote of Thanks by the faculty, recognizing the contributions of all participants and emphasizing the importance of continued collaboration. The ceremony ended with the Mangala Aarati, invoking blessings for the success of the initiatives discussed.
Read MoreLessons from India’s Digital Public Infrastructure Journey
NS Ramnath
Business Journalist, Author & Alumnus of SSSIHL
India’s journey in harnessing digital technology to tackle complex societal challenges at an unprecedented scale has captured the attention of the world, notably in the G20 Summit in New Delhi last year. Its unique approach, epitomized by the creation of digital public infrastructure offers useful lessons for countries grappling with similar issues of inclusion, empowerment,
and service delivery.
At the heart of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) lies a group of technology platforms and protocols that facilitate essential functions such as identity authentication (Aadhaar and eKYC), document signing and sharing (eSign and DigiLocker), digital payments (UPI), and
secure data sharing (Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture or DEPA). “No country has built a more comprehensive digital infrastructure than India,” Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, said last year.
The vision behind this infrastructure was to lay a foundation upon which government, businesses and civil society could build innovative solutions to serve the diverse needs of India’s billion-plus population. Its impact has been transformative. Aadhaar, the biometric identity system, now encompasses over 1.25 billion people, making it the largest platform of its kind worldwide. It has played a pivotal role in driving financial inclusion, making it easy for banks to open accounts, and for the government to make direct cash transfers to the needy during critical times, such as the recent coronavirus pandemic. For marginalized communities, such as the homeless, Aadhaar happened to be the first official proof of identity, unlocking access to vital services and benefits. Similarly, UPI, the mobile payments interface, has changed financial transactions. Over 117 billion transactions happened over UPI in 2023, many of them by small vendors who could not have afforded point of sale (PoS) terminals earlier.
However, India’s technological journey has not been smooth; this brings to light the challenges of implementing digital solutions at this scale in a society marked by vast diversity and deep-rooted inequalities. Bringing a billion people into the digital world inevitably exposes them to risks such as fraud, data breaches, privacy infringements, and exclusion due to system failures or inadequate digital literacy. Navigating these challenges has been a constant learning process for India, one that holds valuable lessons for other nations.
India’s approach offers five key and inter-related lessons for those seeking to emulate its model:
- Empower local problem-solvers:
DPI’s philosophy is rooted in the belief that the best solutions emerge from those closest to the problems. Rather than imposing top-down, one-size-fits-all approaches, the focus is on providing a foundational infrastructure enabling local actors – governments, established businesses, startups, or non-profits – to build contextually relevant solutions. Such decentralization fosters innovation, adaptability, and responsiveness to the diverse needs of communities across the country. Dr Pramod Varma, Aadhaar’s architect and one of the key brains behind DPIs, likens it to Lego blocks, using which people who understand the problem build an appropriate solution. Over time, this also builds technological capacity. - Foster multi-stakeholder collaboration:
The development and evolution of DPI have been shaped by the complex interplay of forces across civil society, government and markets, or Samaaj, Sarkar and Bazaar, as Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani terms it. (He was responsible for the rollout of Aadhaar, and kickstarting DPI). Each of these stakeholders brings unique perspectives, capabilities, and incentives to the table. Aligning these diverse interests and fostering collaboration is crucial for the success and sustainability of digital initiatives. Creating platforms for dialogue, coordination, and partnership among these stakeholders is not easy, due to the sometimes conflicting goals of various players. India pulled it off in some areas by starting with a coalition of like-minded people, however small. - Protect core principles:
As the applications built on DPI evolve and expand, it is crucial to ensure that the core principles underlying the platform remain intact. For example, one of the core principles in the digital economy (and digital public infrastructure) is the idea that individuals should have control over their personal data. (Think of it as data capital). It is hard, but staying true to this foundational value is essential to maintain trust and prevent misuse. This will need robust governance frameworks and accountability mechanisms. DPI is not just about building technology, but also about building institutions. - Drive systemic change:
India’s journey has shown that digitalizing isolated elements is insufficient to create lasting impact. True transformation requires a holistic approach that cuts across sectors and silos. The identity, payments, and data-sharing layers of DPI work in unison, complemented by enabling laws and regulations, to drive systemic change. This integrated approach has unlocked new possibilities, such as using digital identity to streamline welfare delivery or leveraging digital payments to expand financial inclusion. Pursuing such systemic change requires a long-term vision, sustained commitment, and the ability to navigate complex ecosystems. - Balance long-term vision with immediate needs:
India’s approach to digital transformation is guided by a vision of an inclusive, empowered, and digitally enabled future. However, this long-term aspiration needs to be balanced with a pragmatic focus on solving real problems for real people today. DPI’s design is modular and incrementally expandable, allowing for the creation of value-adding applications even as the larger vision unfolds, dictated by evolving societal needs and technology. For example, in the light of recent developments in Artificial Intelligence, India can use the tech capabilities from the innovations on the top of DPI to create use cases for India, which inturn could contribute to the data capital, a key element in DPIs. The additional layers of technology, such as AI, can potentially reinforce the benefits of DPI, by building on it. Nandan Nilekani calls this phenomenon “digital public intelligence”.
As India’s digital journey continues to unfold, three overarching principles emerge.
● First, technology is merely a tool; it is the choices made by people and institutions in deploying these tools that shape outcomes.
● Second, inclusion is not an afterthought but a central design principle in the creation of digital public infrastructure. Ensuring that the benefits of technology reach the most marginalized is both a moral imperative and a strategic necessity.
● Finally, the process of digital transformation is an iterative one, requiring a willingness to experiment, learn, and adapt continuously.
For nations seeking to harness the potential of digital technologies to address their unique challenges, India’s experience offers many lessons. It highlights the possibilities of innovation and leapfrogging, but also underscores the complex challenges of implementation at scale. As countries chart their digital journeys, they must navigate the tensions between standardization
and customization, between speed and deliberation, and between efficiency and equity.
India’s digital story is still being written, but the lessons it offers are already shaping the global conversation on technology for development. In 2019, speaking at the Centre for Global Development in Washington, Nandan Nilekani offered a succinct piece of advice to the countries that wanted to adopt DPIs. He said: “Start small, start anywhere, start today.” The insights from India’s journey can help illuminate the path for others, making that first step a little less daunting and a little more promising.
(NS Ramnath is a business journalist based in Bangalore. He has written for The Economic Times and Forbes India among others. He is the coauthor of The Aadhaar Effect, published in 2018 by the Oxford University Press. He is currently working on a book on how Sridhar Vembu and his team built Zoho, India’s bootstrapped Unicorn. He is an alumnus of Sri Sathya Institute
of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam.)
SSSIHL Celebrates National Start-up Day 2024 – A Report
National Start-up Day was celebrated on 16th January 2024 at the Sai Hira Global Convention Centre, Prasanthi Nilayam. Organized by the Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC), SSSIHL, the event commenced with Vedam chanting followed by the ceremonial lighting of the lamp and saw several Industry and academic experts on Innovation and Start-ups, alumni entrepreneurs, and seasoned professionals come together to share their thoughts on various topics with the young minds in the audience.
The august gathering was welcomed by Prof. B Raghavendra Prasad, Vice-Chancellor of SSSIHL setting the tone for an insightful day dedicated to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.
Prof. Reddanna, an Emeritus Professor from the University of Hyderabad, captivated the audience with a thought-provoking keynote address on the “Role of University in Promoting Start-ups” Dr. R. Venkataramanan, the Founder and CEO of Karkinos Healthcare, shed light on SSSIHL’s pivotal role in cultivating entrepreneurial skills. Mr. Naveen Lakkur, Chief Innovation Coach, shared profound insights into the inseparable nature of technology and innovation, drawing from his book “The Inseparable Twins”.
The event further featured a dynamic panel discussion moderated by Sri Lakshmikant, Co-Founder of Value Craftz Advisors, with esteemed panelists exploring diverse facets of entrepreneurship. Dr. Anshuman Das, CTO, and Co-founder of Labby Inc., shared his captivating “Startup Journey”. Later the IIC Magazine “SRISHTI”, was released by the Revered Chancellor & Vice-Chancellor.
Two exemplary faculty members of SSSIHL, Dr. Murli Ravi from the Department of Physics and Dr. B. E. Pradeep from the Department of Biosciences, were recognized for their outstanding contributions toward innovation. A panel discussion, skillfully moderated by Mr. M Sainath, Executive Director of ICFAI, delved into crucial topics such as adaptability, innovation, sustainability, and more, featuring insights from industry leaders.
The event drew to a close with a heartfelt vote of thanks delivered by Dr. Swetha T, Assistant Professor in the Department of Management and Commerce, followed by the Maha Mangala Aarati, symbolizing the culmination of a day dedicated to the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurial excellence.
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