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It is Samsung’s flagship youth innovation programme, which gives young people an opportunity to identify problems around them and turn their ideas into solutions through mentorship, technology, prototyping and hands-on learning.
Having entered its fifth edition in India, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow is open to young people aged 14 to 22 years. This year, the selected Top 40 Teams represent 15 states and 26 cities. More than half of the teams are from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Young innovators from cities such as Varanasi, Coimbatore, Guntur, Amritsar, Sundargarh and Rajkot have secured a place in the national semi-finals.
Ten teams have been selected from each of the four themes - AI Living for India, Health and Education, Environmental Sustainability and Sport & Tech.
Solutions Being Developed Across Diverse Areas
Samsung Southwest Asia Corporate Vice President S.P. Chun said that this year’s Top 40 Teams are understanding problems around them and exploring solutions through technology. He said that the strong participation from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities demonstrates that innovation can emerge from any part of the country.
The Top 40 Teams are working across areas such as AI Tools for small businesses, accessible education, agricultural residue management, assistive technologies, affordable healthcare and inclusive sports.
AIRMED from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, is working to make India a global healthcare destination through AI and connect overseas patients with Indian hospitals. Code Blooded from Sundargarh, Odisha, is using specialised AI to identify sports talent among para-athletes in small cities and rural areas.
AcoustiNode Systems from Thrissur is working to improve dam management through hydrological intelligence, while QuantHunt from Raebareli is developing a solution to address emerging cybersecurity threats.
Other teams are working on training technology for visually impaired swimmers, an AI companion for visually impaired students, solutions that transform classroom projectors into interactive learning platforms, and technology that converts biomass into clean energy.
Experience of the Samsung Ecosystem at Innovation Bootcamp
The Top 40 innovators gained an in-depth understanding of Samsung’s innovation ecosystem during an immersive Innovation Bootcamp. The participants visited Samsung’s head office, Samsung Design Delhi, Samsung R&D Institute India-Noida (SRI-Noida) and Samsung R&D Institute India-Bengaluru (SRI-B) in Gurugram, Delhi, Noida and Bengaluru.
Samsung South West Asia President and CEO J.B. Park said that great ideas can come from anywhere, whether it is a small city, classroom, college or community.
At Samsung Design Delhi, the innovators learned that innovation does not begin only with technology but with understanding people’s needs. At the Colour, Material and Finish (CMF) Lab, they explored the impact of product design, colour, material, texture and form on the user experience.
At SRI-Noida, they explored areas such as PCB design, sensory equipment and AI applications. They learned that testing, feedback and continuous improvement are essential to turning an idea into a real-world solution.
At SRI-B, participants gained insights into research across areas such as AI, multimedia and camera technology, advanced communications, IoT and services.
Mentoring and Financial Support
The Bootcamp, organised in collaboration with FITT-IIT Delhi, provided teams with mentoring and prototyping support. FITT, IIT Delhi Managing Director Dr. Nikhil Agrawal said that 25 of the Top 40 teams have already started building prototypes. He said that in the next stage, the teams will test their assumptions, gather feedback from users and work towards scaling their solutions.
The Top 40 Teams will receive a total of ₹8 lakh for prototype development, and each team member will receive a Samsung laptop. The Top 20 Teams will receive a total of ₹20 lakh for prototype enhancement and each member will receive a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip smartphone.
In the final stage, the Top 4 winning teams will receive a total grant of ₹2 crore from Samsung for incubation at IIT Delhi. The programme will also offer a Digital Impact Award of ₹50,000 and two Community Choice Awards carrying ₹1 lakh each.
Growing Reach Over Five Years
Samsung Solve for Tomorrow was launched in India in 2022. Over the past four years, Samsung has invested ₹2 crore in incubation grants at IIT Delhi, along with more than ₹3 crore in cash prizes and technology products.
Before this year’s Top 100 selection, Samsung conducted 184 Design Thinking Workshops across 135 cities. Globally, the programme has reached 68 countries and connected with more than 3 million young people. For the Top 40 innovators, the next stage will be to test their ideas, learn from the process and transform them into solutions that can create a real impact on people’s lives in the real world.
