How the Coronovirus Sparked a Wave of Innovation

                                                     

Kakatiya University Warangal

II Year Sem 6 - Unit 6 Prose

&

Osmania University Degree English Sem 2

                            How the Coronavirus Sparked a Wave of Innovation

                                          Sreevas Sahasranamam

To read the full original text, click the link below.

https://theconversation.com/india-how-coronavirus-sparked-a-wave-of-innovation-135715

About the author

    Sreevas Sahasranamam is a senior lecturer in entrepreneurship and innovation at the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship. He completed his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode. He is a co-lead for the doctoral training centre in socially progressive innovation and entrepreneurship at Strathclyde and is also a member of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) UK team. He also regularly writes blogs for the World Economic Forum and was shortlisted for the Financial Times' McKinsey Bracken Bowen Prize in 2018.

 About the text

    This essay was published in Global edition of theconversation.com on April 30, 2020. It is about the innovations and start-ups by young Indian entrepreneurs to combat the challenges posed by the deadly coronavirus during the COVID-19 period. As India has skilled and trained engineers and entrepreneurs across the country, they responded quickly with their innovations to the problems posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

    The writer has discussed three concepts that sparked the innovation, i.e.,1) Robots, apps, and ventilators, 2) Connecting people. 3) Crowdsourcing ideas.

     Asimov Robotics, a start-up based in Kerala, developed robots that can dispense medication in public places and carry food and medicines in hospitals. The Arogya Setu app was launched by the Indian government and uses GPS to inform people when they are at risk of exposure to COVID-19. Start-ups, including Klinic App and Practo, provided COVID tests at home and online consultations with doctors. Other start-ups developed apps like Droom, Marut Dronetech, and GoK-Kerala Direct, and in response to the shortage of ventilators, some start-ups such as Nocca Robotics and Aerobioys AgVa Healthcare developed low-cost portable ventilators.

    In his conversation with entrepreneurs and innovators from India, the writer has recognised the triple helix model of innovation, which integrates universities, industries, and the government.

    Universities, businesses, and the government have come together through the use of crowdsourced platforms. In an online hackathon, FICC and business worked together to create non-medical COVID-19 solutions. Within two days of its inception, the crowdsourcing website BreakCorona received 1,300 ideas and 180 product proposals.

         According to the author, India must maintain and develop this entrepreneurial spirit in order to inspire the next generation to carry on the fight against COVID-19.