A group of young Indian entrepreneurs, inspired to find solutions for women safety following the December 16, 2012 gangrape, have won a million dollar prize by developing a wearable smart device that women can use to send out emergency alerts if threatened or assaulted.
New Delhi-based Leaf Wearables was among the five finalists selected from 85 teams hailing from 18 countries for the million dollar prize instituted by eminent Indian-American philanthropists Anu & Naveen Jain called 'Women's Safety XPRIZE'.
The technology start-up, founded by students of IIT Delhi and Delhi Technological University, won the prize for their project 'Safer Pro', an enhanced new version of their earlier smart safety devices.
The Jains, prominent entrepreneurs and philanthropists, partnered with non-profit organisation XPRIZE to create the Anu & Naveen Jain Women's Safety XPRIZE aimed at addressing the safety of women and girls by leveraging technology.
"Women safety is a global problem, it's a global epidemic. A safe environment for women is a fundamental human right, it should not be considered a luxury and yet in today's world, with so much advancement in technology and innovation, we still haven not been able to solve this problem, Anu Jain, founder of the Women's Safety XPRIZE, told PTI at the award ceremony organised in the UN yesterday.
Teams participating in the challenge had to create a device, costing no more than USD 40 and able to work without internet, that can inconspicuously trigger an emergency alert if a woman is facing a threat and transmit information to a network of community responders, all within 90 seconds.
Leaf Wearables' Manik Mehta, Niharika Rajiv and Avinash Bansal collected the million dollar prize.
"It was in 2012 that the Nirbhaya rape took place in Delhi," Mehta, the start-up's co-founder said, adding that it was then that they decided "enough is enough. Delhi is unsafe and things are not changing at all. We have got to solve this problem."
Niharika said being a women, she understands the need for such solutions but it is "excellent that people understood too that women safety is a global need."
Going forward, the team will continue to work on its product and improve it. Rajiv said so far the product has focused on getting the information out if someone is in a situation where they feel threatened and the next mile is to ensure that help gets to them. She said the prize money will help "jumpstart all our efforts."
Amid growing awareness and activism around women's rights and increasing instances of sexual harassment, the Jains launched the competition in October 2016 with 85 teams competing from 18 countries including
Founder and CEO of XPRIZE Peter Diamandis said implementing this XPRIZE in India helped the organisation to demonstrate that "breakthrough solutions are borderless and exponential technology can help aid humanity in our most challenging global issues like universal safety."
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