Kochi: Maker Village, the country’s largest electronic system design and manufacturing facility, has decided to offer incubation support to the 10 winners and 20 other finalists of the Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge held in New Delhi last week.

Maker Village under Digital University Kerala (DUK), formerly known as IIITMK, was the operational partner of the national event that challenged contestants to find innovative solutions using two indigenously developed swadeshi microprocessor – ‘VEGA processor’ developed by C-DAC and ‘SHAKTI processor’ developed by IIT Madras.

The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) launched the Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge as part of the government’s vision of AatmaNirbhar Bharat and Azadi Ka Digital Mahotsav celebrations.

Interestingly, two teams from Kerala – Konni-based AI Drone and Maker Village-incubated HW Design Labs won the first and second positions at the Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge.

A multi-role UAV developed using VEGA processor fetched AI Drone the first prize with a cash prize of Rs 35 lakh, which was awarded by Ajay Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

HW Design Labs’ unique FM Radio Data System Utilities solution won them the second prize of Rs 30 lakh. Cytox was placed in the third position, winning Rs 25 Lakh for their ‘cell count’ project.

The rest of the top-10 teams jointly shared the fourth position and received Rs 20 Lakh cheque each.

Financial support to the tune of Rs. 4.40 Crore was provided at various stages of the challenge for developing the hardware prototype and incubating the participating teams.

The 30 finalists emerged from 6,170 teams, comprising a total of 10,000 participants. A jury consisting of eminent academicians, technologists, and business professionals, including Prof Alex James, Associate Dean of DUK, evaluated the teams on their product innovation and market viability.

Nizam Mohammed, CEO of Maker Village said, “We are extremely honoured to be supporting this national-level challenge organised by MeitY and will continue promoting electronic innovation and commercialisation by offering incubation support to the finalists of the challenge. The 30 finalists will be provided incubation facilities, which include workspace, lab and test facilities, mentorship, networking, investor links and support for manufacturing the products. The finalists will also get academia links and support from Digital University Kerala,” he said.

Maker Village, funded by MeitY and the Government of Kerala, has Digital University Kerala as its implementing agency and Kerala Startup Mission as a supporting partner. Located in the Kerala Technology Innovation Zone, Asia’s largest Integrated Startup Complex, Maker Village has around 70 hardware startups engaged in deep tech and advanced areas such as Automation, AI/ ML, Robotics, Drones, IoT, Autonomous Vehicles, AR/ VR, Biomedical Instrumentation, Additive Manufacturing, and Energy & Utilities.