Groundbreaking Innovations Honored at the Honey Bee Network Creativity and Inclusive Innovation Awards 2024

The highly anticipated Honey Bee Network Creativity and Inclusive Innovation Awards 2024 took place on 29th November 2024 from 11:00 AM onwards at the India International Centre, New Delhi. This special event is an integral part of the People's Festival of Innovations (PFoI)2024, which celebrates and recognizes creative, inclusive, and impactful innovations aimed at addressing pressing societal challenges. The awards honors innovations from and for grassroots who have demonstrated the potential to make a positive difference in their communities and beyond.

In partnership with Amazon, GIAN (Gujarat Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network) launched a nationwide campaign to gather innovative ideas from across India. The initiative received an overwhelming response, with 2500entries submitted from various regions of the country 2923-24. After a careful and thorough review process, 120 ideas were shortlisted in the first round based on their creativity, feasibility, and impact. Subsequently, 33 ideas were selected following regional meetings and further evaluations. 15finalists were recognized for their ingenuity and contributions during the award ceremony. The Jury, headed by Dr. R A Mashekar, included eminent persons including Prof. Bharat Bhaskar, Director IIIMA, Prof Dhar, Director AcSir, Dr. M.N. Patel, Prof. Udai Desai, Former director IIT-H and many other faculty members from premiere institutions like IIMA, IITs, IISc as well as investors and practitioners.

The First award of Rs 5 lakh went to Shri. Suneel Singh from Kistwar the UT of J&K, a former soldier, now a farmer, who has developed a new variety of walnut with reduced tree height of about 25 ft as against 50 ft traditionally, thus reducing the chances of death from falling while harvesting. Suneel SI variety bears fruits in cluster and gives more yield. The yield starts from the third year against 8 years traditionally. The walnuts are soft shelled and hence donotsuffer from breakage, getting a premium for whole kernels.

The Second Award of Rs. 3 lakh went to Shri Samirbhai Ghani, a grassroots innovator, from Banaskatha, Gujarat who made a farmyard manure spreader. The manure spreader is one of its kind as it evenly spreads even wet and dry manure. It reduces the drudgery and help in uniformly increasing soil fertility.

The third prize of Rs 1 lakh, went to Md. Ishfaq Ahmed Wani from Anantnag, the UT of J&K for making the clipper which helps to bind branches of apple/fruit trees and protect them from bending downwards and getting damaged due to hail storms, snow fall etc. Twelve innovators received appreciation awards of Rs. 50000 each, amongst which were innovation for grassroots like golden feathers, Fasal amrit and also innovations from grassroots like the automatic feed machine for differently abled person made by Nabajit Bharali, etc. Detailed list is shared in annexure1.

The Honey Bee Network Creativity and Inclusive Innovation Awards aim to not only acknowledge the creativity of grassroots innovators but also create a platform for these innovators to connect with investors, policymakers, and technical experts. The event  featured insightful sessions where participants learned about funding, investment opportunities, IPR support, and policy support that can help them scale their innovations.

Thw awards were given by eminent Agriculture scientist, Dr R S Paroda, Fomer DG ICAR, in the august presence of Dr.Renu Swaroop. Former Secretary DBT, GOI, Dr Swati Basu. Former scientific advisor, office of the PSA, GOI and Prof Anil  Gupta, VF IIMA, IIT-B and founder Honey Bee Network, GIAN, SRISTI and NIF. Dr. Swaroop said that the HBNCRIIA awards were the best way to conclude the people festival of innovations where the innovators are recognised and are given opportunity to network within themselves, bringing in deeptech innovators and grassroots innovators together like two rivers coming together to merge into the sea of knowledge and innovation. Dr. Paroda, recalled how the country has come a long way from food deficient to food exporter owing to the emphasis on innovation and creativity of not only scientist but also farmer innovators and breeders. He spoke of specialised policy tools like PPFVRA which was set up to stop biopiracy. They said that now time is apt  tomake a network of networks bringing in different partners together. 

Anita Kumar, Amazon Community Impact, APAC, said,“Amazon is committed to supporting innovation on a global scale. The Honey Bee Network Awards provide a platform for brilliant minds from around the world to share their ideas and inspire action. By empowering grassroot innovators we are contributing to a more sustainable and equitable future for all.”

Congratulating the winners, Prof Anil K Gupta narrated how a rigorous review process was set up to bring in the best innovations to this state of hbncriia awards and showcase. He recalled that function is not termination of the network’s responsibility but the beginning. 

Dr. Anamika Dey, CEO, GIAN, informed that the entries were received from 28 states and 4 Union territories, including 226 districts country wide.   The honey bee network and GIAN will provide voice, visibility and velocity to all the inclusive and extremely affordable  solutions. 

GIAN (Gujarat Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network) is one of the key organizations behind this initiative. It was established in 1997 as the first incubator for grassroots innovations in collaboration with the Gujarat government and supported by institutions like SRISTI and the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), in addition to the Honey Bee Network. Over the years, GIAN has been instrumental in promoting and nurturing hundreds of grassroots innovations across India. The spirit of innovation, creativity, and inclusion was celebrated at HBNCRIIA awards ceremony. The entries are open for 2024-26 awards and entries may be sent at hbncriia@gian.org