Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) is launching a national level platform for innovators to advance Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) goals in the country.
To be called INK@WASH, it will be a partnership between ASCI's Urban Governance Area, Telangana government and Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH).
INK@WASH (Innovations and New Knowledge in Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) will be a forum for innovators to advance WASH goals in India, say V Srinivas Chary and Malini Reddy. It will help promote ideas, products, technology-enabled solutions, service delivery models and sustainable business models in the areas of solid waste management, plastics, e-waste, C&D, Fecal sludge and septage management (FSSM), toilets, waste water treatment, reuse, recycle and upcycle.
It will bring together and foster partnerships among innovators, city governments, non-profit, philanthropic and academic institutions for achieving implementation at scale.
Incidentally, November 19 is the International Toilet Day.
The Telangana Govt has prioritized WASH and is deeply committed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets well ahead of the globally agreed timelines. It is establishing a Sanitation Innovation Hub (S-Hub) to support and promote start-ups and innovators in WASH. INK@WASH marks the launch of this initiative, they said.
The first activity is planned on December 13-14. It is modeled on TEDTALK and promising initiatives will be recognized for support at different levels. Already more than 100 applications were received with the last date being November 20.