WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Government, Government of India, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum today announced the winners of the Millennium Alliance and U.S.-India Science and Technology Endowment Fund awards.

The award ceremony took place in the presence of the Honorable Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Mr. S. Jaipal Reddy; U.S. Ambassador to India Nancy J. Powell; Assistant to the U.S. President for Science and Technology Dr. John Holdren; U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah; Secretary of Department of Science & Technology Dr. T. Ramasami; and FICCI National Executive Committee Member and CA Technologies India Chairman Mr. Saurabh Srivastava.

The Millennium Alliance is a partnership between USAID, FICCI, and India's Technology Development Fund, Department of Science and Technology to support new innovations that strengthen early-grade reading as well as increase access to clean and affordable energy, safe drinking water, quality health care, and a nutritious food supply to those most in need.  Out of over 1,400 applications in the first round, nine awardees were announced with the award amount totaling approximately $1.5 million.  

The winners include:

• Education Initiatives - personalized, engaging, and scalable computer-based audio-visual solutions for strengthening the reading skills of children in grades 1-8.
• Katha - innovative approaches and materials to strengthen the reading and numeracy skills of children in grades 1-5.
• Haldi Tech - a cost-effective, agri-waste-based drying technology that can reduce the processing time of turmeric from 30 days to one day and which costs 50 percent less than traditional processing.
• ZMQ Development - an interactive mobile-based system that provides quality health information and services to underprivileged women.
• Greenway Grameen Infra - low-cost thermoelectric modules that generate electricity from widely used biomass stoves during cooking.
• U Respect Foundation - a confidential toll-free helpline that provides information on reproductive health and family planning.
• Waterlife India - sustainable community water plants to provide safe, clean drinking water in rural areas.
• Rang De - a web-based innovation that supports rural entrepreneurs through the provision of low-cost microcredit for microenterprise development and education.
• CLT e-Patashale - an education program that uses innovative video, distance learning, and other e-learning and teaching tools to strengthen K-12 education.

The U.S.-India Science & Technology Endowment Fund, a bi-national initiative to support commercialization of jointly developed innovative technologies with social impact, awarded eight winners and two young entrepreneurs from its second and third calls for proposals.  The winners will each receive up to $425,000 and the two entrepreneurs will together receive $25,000. The winning technologies include:

• Fecal Incontinence Device - low-cost self-expanding device to manage fecal incontinence in non-ambulatory patients with a unique placement, deployment, and withdrawal mechanism.
• Diabetes Analyzer - low-cost mobile phone platform for diabetes detection that not only provides a blood test strip analysis, but also provides automated decision support and transmits data to health specialists.
• Branchless Banking Solution - provides low-cost smart phone-based payment infrastructure for instant small-value financial transactions by leveraging existing retail shops, teleconnectivity, and banking infrastructure for people without access to banking services.
• Organic Bio-Stimulants - organic bio-stimulants developed from seaweed to boost both crop and animal productivity and provide livelihood opportunities for coastal communities.
• Knee Joints - affordable knee joints to remobilize above-knee amputees in India and globally.
• Clean Cook Stoves - affordable and clean biomass cook stoves coupled with thermoelectric power generation technology that also generates electric power.
• Neonatal Resuscitation Solution - easy-to-use newborn resuscitator that empowers frontline health workers to save babies from birth asphyxia.
• Solar Electric Tractor - electric tractor for agricultural needs that operates with up to five times the efficiency of a diesel tractor and can also be used for portable power, water pumping, and mechanical functions as well as for hauling and transportation needs.
• Blindness Prevention through Integrated Smartphone Technology - Smartphone-based diagnostic technology for cataracts and other eye conditions leading to blindness that collects images of the human eye and transmits them through sophisticated applications to the nearest ophthalmic center.