Innovate for an Accessible India – A NASSCOM Foundation and Microsoft India initiative in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) invites ideas from across India for workable solutions that can address problems faced by persons with disabilities. India is home to 26.8 million persons with disability (Source: 2011 Census). With the new broadened definition of what constitutes a disability, this number stands to grow.

With a large chunk of the population unable to fully participate in the economy and society, it has never been more important to renew focus on inclusion of persons with disability as a national priority. Information Communication Technology (ICT) is now being widely adopted to provide affordable, scalable solutions in the area of Assistive Technologies (ATs). However, often, due to prohibitive costs, these are rendered inaccessible for a large section of the population.

Due to a growing need for low cost and localised solutions, there has been a new wave and call for innovation within the space of disability focused solutions. Innovators are now leveraging ubiquitous and pervasive nature ICTs to create low cost, high impact solutions that deliver services to the last mile. It is this space that the Innovate for Accessible India (IAI) aims to contribute towards.

The last date to apply is 10th May,2020.