Infosys Foundation announces winners of Aarohan Social Innovation Awards

Bengaluru, Aug 23 (PTI) Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of IT major Infosys, on Wednesday announced the winners of the third edition of the Aarohan Social Innovation Awards.

These awards, established in 2018, aim to recognise and reward individuals, teams, and NGOs for creating pathbreaking solutions for social good, benefiting the underprivileged in India, according to an Infosys Foundation statement.

This year, Infosys Foundation recognised winners across three categories: healthcare, education, and women empowerment.

The winners were shortlisted from a pool of over 2,400 submissions and evaluated by an esteemed jury, it said.

Awarded Rs 50 lakh each in prize money, the winners, across categories, are: Healthcare – Subrahmanyam Prasad Muddam and Akitha Kolloju from Hyderabad who developed 'nLite 360' – an advanced, portable, standalone, and battery-powered smart phototherapy device that provides customised treatment for severe and dynamic jaundice conditions.

Education – Seetharam Muthangi from Bengaluru who developed 'Smart Vision Glasses' – an artificial intelligence-enriched assistive device that helps people with visual disabilities identify objects and people, gauge distance, detect currency, read books and manuscripts in Indian regional languages, among other things.

Women Empowerment – Shelter Associates, an NGO from Pune that created 'One Home One Toilet' – a data-driven model focused on facilitating sanitised household toilets for the underprivileged urban women.

In addition to the category winners, the jury recognised five exciting social innovations and awarded their creators prize money of Rs 10 lakh each. The Jury's Special Award-winning innovations are: Swaasa – An artificial intelligence platform that can be used for the screening and diagnosis of respiratory diseases, created by Narayana Rao Sripada, Manmohan Jain and Venkat Yechuri in Hyderabad.

SickleCert – A cost-effective and accurate point-of-care test for sickle-cell anemia that can also be used in prognosis and treatment setup, developed by Prof Sai Siva Gorthi, Arun Balasubramanian, Rajesh Srinivasan, and Yatish Prasad Dasari in Bengaluru.

Portia – A self-contained portable oxygen generator providing a continuous, uninterrupted supply of medical-grade oxygen during pre-hospital or pre-ambulatory medical emergencies without any reliance on electricity, batteries, or a skilled healthcare resource, developed by John Joy and Sanjay K Pillai in Bengaluru.

Emvólio – A portable, battery-powered refrigeration device for last-mile transport of vaccines, developed by Mayur U Shetty in Manipal.

Modha Pedal Operating Machine – It aims to eradicate chronic knee pain and lower back pain issues faced by women handloom weavers, empowering the longevity of their weaving careers, developed by Sivakumar Modha in Hyderabad. PTI RS KH