National: Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister of Law & Justice, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, on Tuesday, launched the “Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge- Innovate Solutions for Aatmanirbhar Bharat” to provide further impetus to the strong ecosystem of Start-up, innovation, and research in the country.
IIT Madras and Center for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) have developed two microprocessors named SHAKTI (32 bit) and VEGA (64 bit) respectively using Open Source Architecture under the aegis of Microprocessor Development Programme of Ministry of Electronics and IT. “Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge- Innovate Solutions for Aatmanirbhar Bharat” seeks to invite innovators, startups, and students to use these microprocessors to develop various technology products.
As one of the concrete steps towards realizing the ambition of self-reliance and a momentous stride towards “Atmanirbhar Bharat”, this initiative is aimed at not only meeting India’s future requirements of strategic and industrial sectors but also has the potential to mitigate the issues of security, licensing, technology obsolescence and most crucially cutting dependency on imports. The design, development & fabrication of these state-of-the-art processor variants at a foundry in the country and abroad, is the successful step to leapfrog to the ultimate goal of a vibrant ecosystem of Electronic System Design & Manufacturing in the country.
The “Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge” is part of the series of proactive, preemptive, and graded measures taken by the Ministry of Electronics and IT to spur the technology-led innovation ecosystem in the country and staying at the forefront of digital adoption. Open to students at all levels and startups, the Challenge demands contestants to not only tinker with these Swadeshi Processor IPs & facilitate them with innovating the frugal solutions for societal needs but also make available the entire home-grown ecosystem around Swadeshi Processors to develop the complex designs for catering to both global and domestic requirements in near future.
The Challenge spread over 10 months, kick-starts with the registration process at https://innovate.mygov.in on 18th August 2020 and culminates in June 2021, with an opportunity for 100 Semi-finalists to win total Rs. 1.00 Crore of Award, 25 Finalists to win total Rs. 1.00 Crore of Award and top 10 teams entering the finale, will get the seed fund of total Rs 2.30 Crore and 12 months incubation support. Above all, participants will get an opportunity to translate their innovations around Swadeshi Processors, showcase them at a higher viewership platform and facilitate them to scale from ideation to marketplace, thereby standing a chance to contribute to the overall mission of #AtmaNirbharta of Government.
