UGC directs colleges to attend virtual meeting on onion processing hackathon

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has directed its affiliated higher education institutes to participate in a virtual meeting on the onion processing technology hackathon launched by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (MoCAFPD). The virtual meeting will be held at 11 AM on August 5. The grand challenge or hackathon initiated by the MoCAFPD is seeking ideas and solutions for the development of technologies for process storage and valorisation of onions. The application for the challenge can be sent online through https://doca.gov.in/goc/ on or before October 15. . Starting from July 20, the challenge will go on for three months till October 20. To participate, students, research scholars, scientists, private organisations and startups from across the country have to pitch their ideas on four broad verticals:

-Improvement of storage designs for traditional onion storage facilities in the country.

- Improvement in pre-harvesting stage technologies.

- Improvement in technologies and processes for primary processing and harvesting onions.

- Dehydration, valorisation, and processing of onions.

Participants would be required to come up with ideas and develop cost-effective, commercially replicable solutions in the four verticals mentioned above.

In the first of the three stages of the challenge, participating teams will be required to present their idea to a jury following which 40 proposals from 40 teams will be shortlisted. In this round called the ‘Ideation to PoC’, the teams will then be provided with Rs 75,000 as financial assistance for developing a proof of concept (PoC) and a working prototype of the proposed solution within 3-4 months. The winners of Stage I will be eligible for Rs 25,000 prize money.

In stage two, “PoC to product development,” 20 teams will be selected and given Rs 5 lakh for developing their idea. The winner of this round will get Rs 50,000 prize money.

The final stage called the Field implementation will select one winner and two/four runners-up in each vertical. The selected teams will then be supported appropriately for the field deployment of their solution.

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