Rs 1 Crore Zoom Challenge: All You Need to Know About Govt's Bid to Find Alternative to the Popular Video-Conferencing App
The government has invited startups - as defined under the government guidelines - to register and send their ideas to the I&B Ministry. The last date of registration is April 30 and final day for idea is submission is May 7. A total of 10 teams, with the best ideas, would be selected and provided Rs 5 lakh each for the initial work on their projects.
New Delhi, April 20: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has invited Indian startups to come up with innovative solutions to solve the video-conferencing issues being faced by individuals and companies to virtually connect. Termed as the "Innovation Challenge for Development of Video Conferencing Solution", the invitation was issued shortly after an official Home Ministry Advisory barred government employees from using the Zoom app.
Developed by a Chinese engineer based in California, Zoom is the market leader in this segment. However, several government and multinational organisations have red-flagged the issues linked to the application, particularly pertaining to unethical third-person access, data theft and privacy breaches.
'Rs 1 Crore Zoom Challenge': All You Need to Know
The government has invited startups - as defined under the government guidelines - to register and send their ideas to the I&B Ministry. The last date of registration is April 30 and final day for idea is submission is May 7. A total of 10 teams, with the best ideas, would be selected and provided Rs 5 lakh each for the initial work on their projects.
Based on the progress made by them, three teams would be selected and given Rs 20 lakh each to work on the final execution of their projects. The team with the best product would be declared winner, and rewarded with an amount of Rs 1 crore.
An additional Rs 10 lakh would also be provided to the winning start-up for the annual maintenance of their product. The app designed by them should be viable in low internet network areas as well. It should include the facilities of online sharing of files, and must be equipped with a browser interface.
The final results would be declared by the I&B Ministry on July 29, 2020. The winner will be chosen based on the inputs received from a panel of jury members. The government is hopeful of finding an alternative to Zoom with this innovative challenge thrown to the Indian startups.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 20, 2020 09:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).