With an idea to develop a video conferencing solution in India which is at par with the popular global products, the government has announced an Innovation Challenge under the Digital India Initiative.
Initiated by the Ministry of Electronics and IT, the Innovation Challenge is open for participation from industry, startups and individual experts.
The idea is to build a made-in-India tool that is as good as foreign apps and has the highest standards of data security and privacy built-in. With the country under a lockdown, both government and corporates are currently relying on video conferencing tools built mostly by foreign companies to run their business.
The government has said that the end product which will be an Indian software product should be at par with international products in terms of audio and video quality, and should work in low and high network scenarios. The initiative is an attempt to promote the country’s software products as envisaged under the National Policy on Software Products.
“Announcing Innovation Challenge for Indian startups and innovators for developing a world-class video conferencing solution. Urge the innovators, software product startups to come forward and take part in this effort. #DigitalIndia,” union minister for electronics and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a tweet.
Announcing Innovation Challenge for Indian startups and innovators for developing a world class video conferencing… https://t.co/9rV2fDHNEr
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) 1586782767000
The challenge will operate in three rounds. In the first round, ten companies or startups will be selected and will be given Rs 5 lakhs each to build the prototypes. In the second round, three out of the shortlisted companies will be asked to build the complete solution and will be given Rs 20 lakhs each.
Of these three companies, the best one will be selected and given a contract to deploy their solution for use by Government of India and State Government entities for a period of four years. They will also be given Rs 1 crore in the first year and an additional 10 lakhs per year for three years after the first year for operations and maintenance of the solution for the Government.
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