Grants & Funded Projects

Topic: A Framework for Optimising Information Flows in Modular Digital Twins of Hospital Processes

Award: USD 5000 (as Cloud credits) for 1 year

Duration: 1 year 

About:

This project does not aim to remodel hospital workflows that are already well-understood or to develop production-ready software. Rather, it seeks to identify the platform requirements -- covering data handling, event-driven updates, and user-facing analytics -- that enable a truly modular DT ecosystem. By focusing on preventing information silos and establishing templates and best practices, the framework will accommodate a centralized, distributed, or federated coordination system for seamlessly integrating both existing and future DTs. Ultimately, such a modular platform can also host broader digital solutions or simulations, driving collaborative innovation while ensuring consistent system-wide knowledge sharing.

Topic: Batteryless IoT sensing Nodes for Affordable Agricultural Monitoring

Award: INR 50,000 for commercialisation of prototype

Duration: 1 year 

About:

India, with its predominantly agrarian economy, continues to rely heavily on agriculture for livelihood. However, changing climate patterns are disrupting traditional, intuition-based farming methods. Although scientific farming technologies are available, their widespread adoption is hindered by high upfront and maintenance costs. Addressing this challenge, the proposed innovation introduces a battery-less, maintenance-free sensor node designed for long-term deployment in agricultural fields. By eliminating the need for batteries—one of the most failure-prone and costly components—the solution significantly reduces the overall cost per sensor, making it affordable and scalable for widespread rural use. The sensor system requires only minimal recurring costs, such as basic mobile data for connectivity and nominal subscription fees for cloud-based analytics. This approach not only extends the operational lifespan of sensor nodes well beyond the typical 1–2 years but also delivers tangible benefits including enhanced water efficiency, increased crop yield, and reduced power consumption. As a plug-and-play solution, it can be easily deployed by farmers without technical training, making it a practical and impactful step toward sustainable smart agriculture.