Dec 10, 2022
December 10, 2022; Mysuru: The week-long UNLEASH Global Innovation Lab which kick-started on December 3rd at Infosys, Mysuru successfully concluded today. The Closing Ceremony was graced by the presence of dignitaries including the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri Basavaraj Bommai; Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of Infosys, and celebrities like Kalki Koechlin, actress & social activist; Deepa Malik, Paralympic Athlete and Medalist.
The Lab brought together as many as 1000 young innovators from around the world who showcased their solutions to the most pressing issues aligned with 7 SDG tracks. The teams derived their solutions through a design thinking process and presented them before a jury after an intensive, mentor-led series of deliberations.
Flemming Besenbacher, Chairman, UNLEASH remarked “I am impressed by the sheer talent, creativity and determination exhibited by each and every one of our young innovators here today. We at the UNLEASH team are proud to support the youth in identifying scalable solutions to UN SDG implementation and look forward to giving more young innovators around the world a credible platform to showcase their creativity and resourcefulness. We are also grateful to our partners Chemonics, HCL and Infosys for the brilliant support extended to us during the UNLEASH Global Innovation Lab in India.”
Simultaneously the UNLEASH Plus initiative, a 6 month accelerator program co-hosted with Chemonics saw 10 start-ups pitch their solutions to a panel of judges in an exciting ‘Dragons’ Den’ format where they presented their prototypes in a 3 minute pitch to win the over USD 60,000 prize money.“Designing an inclusive, equitable, and sustainable future will only happen when passionate communities of changemakers, like those built at UNLEASH, are supported through collaborative partnerships,” said Lauren Behr, Senior Advisor for Innovation and Investment at Chemonics International. “As UNLEASH’s Lead Scale Partner since 2019, we provide the resources and networks that innovators need to drive meaningful change.”
HCL Group partnered with UNLEASH to support talent and innovation. The year-long collaboration mobilized youth and developed innovative solutions to promote aquatic ecosystem conservation. These solutions aimed to tackle challenges from Source (mountains & glaciers) to Sink (oceans and seas) and their links to terrestrial ecosystems. The program will further provide winners with networking, mentorship and opportunities to access funding to scale up their solutions.
Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, as well as SSN Institution which are part of Shiv Nadar Foundation (philanthropic initiative of Mr. Shiv Nadar, Founder of HCL) will incubate and support the winners with training and outreach through their incubation programs.
Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Infosys, said, “In my view, all the 1,000 participants are winners. They came to Infosys’ Mysuru campus with one purpose: to play a part in helping create a sustainable future. At Infosys, we see the planet’s biggest challenges as opportunities to set new, bolder goals, rethink what we can do for the community, and set the highest standards in compliance and governance by being more transparent and credible. It has been a pleasure for Infosys to collaborate with UNLEASH in enabling global youth to address SDG challenges through cutting-edge digital solutions.”
The participants who took part in this edition of the Global Innovation Lab designed solutions along 7 key SDGs identified, namely: 1) Non-Communicable Diseases , 2) Mental Health, 3) Education and ICT, 4) Clean Water and Sanitation, 5) Clean and affordable energy for poverty alleviation, 6) Climate Action, 7) Aquatic ecosystem conservation from Source (Mountains) to Sink (Oceans).
About UNLEASH
UNLEASH is a global initiative committed to bringing youth together to share ideas, build networks and create innovative and scalable solutions to help reach the Sustainable Development Goals. Our mission is to accelerate positive change towards the SDGs by mobilizing young talented people in community leadership, problem-solving, and launching social and environmental solutions. Every year, we unite young people from across the world for an annual innovation lab, organize dozens of local SDG hackathons and accelerate the implementation of top solutions. UNLEASH has been recognized as one of the world’s most influential sustainability brands, having engaged 5,000 young people from 167 countries and facilitated the development of 700 SDG solutions with almost 1,000 partners. Since 2017, UNLEASH has run three annual Innovation Labs in Denmark, Singapore, and China. Please visit us at www.unleash.org
About Chemonics International
Founded in 1975, Chemonics is an international development consulting firm. In more than 70 countries around the globe, our network of 5,000 specialists share a simple belief: that the challenges we face today are best solved through the right partnerships — sharing knowledge, expertise, and experience to deliver results. Where Chemonics works, development works. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter or visit us at www.chemonics.com.
About HCL Group
Founded in 1976 as one of India’s original IT garage start-ups, HCL is a pioneer of modern computing with many firsts to its credit, including the introduction of the 8-bit microprocessor-based computer in 1978 well before its global peers. Today, the HCL enterprise has a presence across varied sectors that include technology, healthcare and talent management solutions and comprises three companies – HCL Infosystems, HCL Technologies and HCL Healthcare. The enterprise generates annual revenues of over US$12.1 billion with more than 219,000 employees operating across 54 countries. For further information, visit www.hcl.com
About Infosys
Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. Over 300,000 of our people work to amplify human potential and create the next opportunity for people, businesses and communities. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer clients, in more than 50 countries, as they navigate their digital transformation powered by the cloud. We enable them with an AI-powered core, empower the business with agile digital at scale and drive continuous improvement with always-on learning through the transfer of digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. We are deeply committed to being a well-governed, environmentally sustainable organization where diverse talent thrives in an inclusive workplace.
Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.
For further details, please contact:
Tanu Gupta – tanu@onpurposeconsulting.in
Shahina Saran – shahina@onpurposeconsulting.in