Marico Innovation Foundation Initiative Innovate2Beat COVID for Ingenious PPE Solutions

Mumbai: Marico Innovation Foundation initiative ‘Innovate2Beat COVID’ is a nationwide grand challenge to find innovations that can combat the short-supply of Personal Protective Gear (PPE) and Ventilators. The Foundation along with A.T.E. Chandra Foundation and Harsh Mariwala in his personal capacity have come together to offer total grants of INR 2.5 crores of which INR 1.57 crores has been offered to selected PPE solutions.

The challenge received over 1500 interests from across the country during the 20 days period from 29th March to 18th April 2020. Detailed evaluation and due diligence of entries by Advisors Praxis Global Alliance, technical scrutiny by a Technical Panel, followed by intense deliberations by a Jury Panel led to 3 innovations that emerged as frontrunners with their ingenious PPE solutions.

The winning organisations created sustainable, cost effective and ‘built-for-India’ innovations. They began working on their solutions to support the COVID-19 crisis using quick thinking and agility to deliver solutions for emerging problems. By innovating within their business areas and modifying their existing devices to deliver PPE equipment at a fraction of the cost, they show potential to create large scale positive impact.

In the post-COVID world, innovations such as these will be the biggest driving factor for building the new-world ‘normal’, helping India survive and thrive. Marico Innovation Foundation aims to lay the foundation of a strong support system that will continue to mitigate the challenges we stand to face as a nation now and in the future.

The selected innovations are unique, affordable and can be rapidly manufactured and deployed; thereby easing the already strained medical infrastructure.

• CREA Worldwide | Grant offered INR 41,00,000

One of the few players in the market offering a breathable yet hydrophobic PPE kit, CREA relieves COVID-warriors — medical practitioners and frontline workers – of dehydration from commonly-used laminated PPE kits.

• Log 9 Materials Scientific Pvt. Ltd.| Grant offered INR 76,00,000

A unique multi-focal UV disinfection chamber (called CoronaOven) that can sanitize any surface of all pathogens in only 10 minutes; thus permitting hospitals to re-use masks, gloves and other PPE.

• Saral Design Solutions | Grant offered INR 40,00,000

Saral has promptly innovated to adapt, cost-effectively, its patented sanitary pads producing machine to manufacture higher quality 3-ply surgical masks (as opposed to commonly available 2-ply masks which do not protect against the COVID virus).

Harsh Mariwala, Founder of Marico Innovation Foundation & Chairman of Marico Ltd said, “These 3 organisations have created products that are innovative, are of superior quality, can be procured at very affordable price and have the potential to achieve significant impact – and this is exactly the need of the hour. Speed to scale is even more crucial and therefore our role in MIF is not just limited to identifying these innovations but to also help deploy at a large scale to ultimately impact the end-consumers. This initiative was launched with this very aim.”