On July 4, 2020, the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, launched the “Digital India AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge” intending to create a self-reliant App ecosystem – Apps for Indians by Indians. PM Modi spoke about how “India has a very vibrant tech and startup ecosystem that has done India proud globally as well. Youngsters have excelled in providing tech solutions across the sector. Covid-19 Pandemic has also brought about a big disruption, which is being tackled through the use of technology to aid our day to day lives. We all know the huge potential of our market and the scale products can achieve if they can satisfy the demands of the market. We are seeing huge interest and enthusiasm among the start-up and tech ecosystem to innovate, develop, and promote homegrown Apps”.
The challenge was run in 2 tracks, namely, Promotion of Existing Apps, and Development of New Apps
The 8 broad categories for entries were:
- Office Productivity and Work from Home
- Social Networking
- E-learning
- Entertainment
- Health and Wellness
- Business including AgriTech and FinTech
- News
- Games
Each of these categories may have other innovative sub-categories incorporating innovative and cutting-edge technology solutions to these App implementations.
The monetary awards for each category and applicable subcategories were
Category
| First Prize | 20 Lakhs |
| Second Prize | 15 Lakhs |
| Third Prize | 10 Lakhs |
Subcategories:
| First prize | 5 lakhs |
| Second Prize | 3 lakhs |
| Third Prize | 2 lakhs |
There were 6,940 entries in the innovation challenge. The entries were screened and selected participants in each category were evaluated by a Jury. A total of 24 Apps were awarded while another 20 apps were identified for special mention which might be apps of the future. The finals were streamed live on the MyGov India app and Digital India app.
Here is a final list of winners in different categories:-
| Category | Winners |
| Entertainment |
|
| News |
|
| Games |
|
| Office |
|
| Health |
|
| E-learning |
|
| Business |
|
| Social |
|
| Others |
|
An initiative like this was refreshing to see in the gloomy COVID days. It would not only inspire the winners but also other app developers to keep creating and contributing to a self-reliant app ecosystem.
