Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh kicked off the National Innovation Challenge on October 5. It hunts for grassroots solutions from young Indians to fix local issues. The government wants participants to develop practical, scalable fixes for problems in districts, cities, or villages. This program celebrates 25 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in public service.
Applications remain open through the Arunachal Pradesh State Startup Portal. Interested parties must file inquiries by October 25 and submit final entries by October 30. The competition spans five cities: Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Kolkata. The Kolkata round covers the Northeast, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Bihar.
School students, college attendees, polytechnic trainees, and young professionals can enter. Groups and independent innovators are also eligible. The contest splits into two tiers: Junior and Open. Junior participants focus on clarity and insight. Open category entrants must show a working prototype or pilot. The government stated: "The objective was to honour 25 years of Modi's public service by creating a platform where young Indians could focus on solving real-world problems rather than merely commemorating the milestone."
Selected innovators head to Itanagar first for a jury presentation. Winners move to Kolkata and eventually New Delhi. The state government covers all travel costs. The Arunachal Pradesh Innovation and Investment Park serves as the lead institution for this project. The state previously earned "Best Performer" status under the National Startup Ranking Framework, partly due to the success of its Entrepreneurship Development Programme. That program has already supported 156 startups with another 100 currently in the pipeline.
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