Archive · 31 Dec 2025
Innovation Summits Highlight Grassroots Solutions
Two big events happened in Vijayawada to encourage new ideas.
The first, called the Jal Shakti Hackathon 2025, asked young people and experts to come up with solutions to water problems like pollution and flooding.
The best ideas could win money prizes.
The second event, the Grassroots Innovators’ Summit, brought together people from different regions who have come up with practical solutions to everyday problems.
The summit talked about how important it is to support these local ideas and help them grow.
Both events show that innovation can come from anywhere, not just big labs or companies.
Jal Shakti Hackathon 2025 aims to find innovative and cost-effective solutions to water-related challenges.
Grassroots Innovators’ Summit highlighted the importance of building an inclusive innovation ecosystem.
RTIH CEO P. Dhatri Reddy outlined the Hub’s vision of fostering innovation at every level of society.
Brig. Pogula Ganeshan (Retd.) stressed the importance of sustained awareness-building and nurturing rural innovators.
Both events emphasized the need for practical, context-specific solutions to real-world problems.
- Who
- Youth, students, engineers, academicians, grassroots innovators, RTIH CEO P. Dhatri Reddy, Brig. Pogula Ganeshan (Retd.)
- What
- Jal Shakti Hackathon 2025 and Grassroots Innovators’ Summit
- When
- Announced on Monday, held on Tuesday
- Where
- VR Siddhartha Engineering College, Kanuru, Vijayawada and Ratan Tata Innovation Hub (RTIH), Vijayawada
- Why
- To find innovative and cost-effective solutions to water-related challenges and to build an inclusive innovation ecosystem
- Event 1
- Jal Shakti Hackathon 2025
- Event 2
- Grassroots Innovators’ Summit
- Organizer 1
- Ministry of Jal Shakti
- Organizer 2
- Ratan Tata Innovation Hub (RTIH)
- Objective 1
- Innovative and cost-effective water management solutions
- Objective 2
- Building an inclusive innovation ecosystem
- Prize Range
- Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1 crore
- Duration 1
- 5 years
- Duration 2
- Single day event
- Focus Areas 1
- Water quality, pollution, microplastics, urban flooding, human-animal conflict
- Focus Areas 2
- Social and economic challenges, rural innovations
- Location 1
- VR Siddhartha Engineering College, Kanuru
- Location 2
- Ratan Tata Innovation Hub (RTIH), Vijayawada
- Participants
- Nearly 250 grassroots innovators
- Support Mechanisms
- Access to markets, ecosystem partnerships, Innovation Clinics
- Innovators Supported
- More than 800 grassroots innovators