MeitY calls for innovators to apply under Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge to help India realise Atmanirbhar Bharat plans

To prove that India is very serious about being self-reliant or AtmaNirbhar and at the same time Make for World, Union Minister of Law & Justice, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad has introduced the “Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge- Innovate Solutions for Aatmanirbhar Bharat”.

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.

Christened as SHAKTI and VEGA a power-pack duo of indigenously developed 32-bit/ 64-bit Microprocessors has been rolled out by IIT Madras and CDAC respectively using Open Source Architecture under the aegis of Microprocessor Development Programme of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY).

The design, development & fabrication of these state-of-the-art processor variants at 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 MeitY to spur the technology-led innovation ecosystem in the country and staying at the forefront of digital adoption.

About the Challenge

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 contestants of the challenge are offered by MeitY a slew of benefits and technology resources that include not only the internship opportunities & regular technical guidance from the best VLSI & Electronics System Design Experts in the country but also the business mentorship & funding support, facilitated by the Incubation Center, to the tune of Rs. 4.30 Crore at various stages of the Challenge for developing the hardware prototype and incubating a start-up.

The Challenge spread over 10 months, kickstarts 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, winning the finale, will get the seed fund of total Rs 2.30 Crore and 12 months incubation support.

Participants also 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.