NASSCOM Foundation announces Genpact NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours 2011 and calls for entries to the 3rd edition of the biggest industry recognition for social innovation. The last date for entries to Genpact NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours 2011 (GNSIH 2011) is October 1, 2010.

New Delhi, September 1 , 2010: NASSCOM Foundation, the leading Indian development organization that works towards galvanizing the corporate social responsibility (CSR) space in the IT industry in India; and the social development arm of NASSCOM, announces Genpact NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours - 2011 (GNSIH 2011), its annual Honours with Genpact as its Title Sponsor.

Now in its 3rd edition, NASSCOM Foundation (NF) pioneered the NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours in 2008, to recognize innovation in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for social development. The annual Honours aim to showcase projects that demonstrate best practices through exemplary use of ICT in areas of social transformation. It aims to identify projects where innovation could be in the form of a process or an application or product. In looking at the process, NF aims to understand systems based on transfer and sharing of knowledge across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. For NF, a social innovation can be a product, process, or technology as also a principle, an idea, an intervention, or some combination of these using ICT.

The winners will receive their Honours at NASSCOM’s biggest event – NASSCOM India Leadership Forum to be held in Mumbai in early 2011. The deadline for submitting entries is October 1, 2010.

The last two years have been an exciting experience both for NASSCOM Foundation and the recipients’ of these Honours. The Honours have received much appreciation and media coverage with one of the highlights being Shri Ashok Chavan, Hon. Chief Minister of Maharashtra, honouring the Awardees at the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum 2010.

“The power of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has been discussed widely by media, academics and practitioners alike. NASSCOM Foundation instituted the NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours (NSIH) in 2008 with the objective of nurturing and showcasing innovation in the use of technology that brings about positive and sustainable social change. We are expecting an even higher number of entries this year”, said Jerry Rao, Chairman, NASSCOM Foundation while talking about the Honours.

Pramod Bhasin, President & CEO, Genpact said, “NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours (NSIH) is a unique platform that aims to foster innovation in social development within organizations and individuals. The objective of our collaboration with NSIH is to act as a catalyst to drive growth and prosperity in the not so privileged sections of society. Through our association with NSIH, we aim to highlight the significant changes that technological innovations can bring about in improving the social landscape.”

CALL FOR ENTRIES:

Genpact NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours 2011, a NASSCOM Foundation initiative, is now open for entries for NGOs, NPOs, Corporate, Students, Government/PSUs, Individuals /Groups, across the following seven categories:

·          ICT led Innovation by Non – Profit Organisation
·          ICT led Innovation as a Business Model
·          ICT led Innovation through Corporate Social Responsibility
·          ICT led Innovation by Government Department/Body
·          Multi Stakeholder Partnership
·          ICT led Innovation by Individual/Group
·          ICT led Innovative Student Concept

This year, the GNSIH categories have been expanded to include ICT innovations by Students and Individuals/Groups. By broadening the scope, NF intends to encourage technology efforts through which social change can be accelerated and scaled up nationally.

BENEFITS:
Potential applicants should note that the GNSIH winners get national and international recognition for their innovative projects. Past winners have been able to draw attention to their organizations and generated much awareness in the media as is evident from their testimonials below. In addition, the GNSIH is a unique platform to share best practices with the relevant stakeholders such as industry, government and civil society bodies.
Amongst our partners Ernst & Young continues to be this year’s Process Partner as well. CNBC TV-18, as Media Partner will not only reach out to a larger and wider audience, but also highlight the urgency and need of creating sustainable businesses, programs and projects for social change in India. The Indian Angel Network (IAN) has joined the GNSIH initiative as Knowledge Partner this year and will be mentoring winners in the Student and Individual/Group categories.

HOW TO APPLY:
The application form can be either downloaded or filled online on our website www.nasscomfoundation.org.

LAST DATE to receive the filled application form is OCTOBER 01, 2010

JURY:
The grand jury this year comprises of stalwarts namely:
·         Narayana Murthy, Founder-Chairman, Infosys Technologies Limited
·         Jaithirth Rao, Chairman, NASSCOM Foundation
·         Kiran Karnik, Former President, NASSCOM
·         Rama Bijapurkar, Independent Market Strategy Consultant
·         T N Ninan, Chairman and Editorial Director, Business Standard Ltd.

PAST WINNERS OF NSIH (not an exhaustive list)
Business and CSR category: Geodesic, TCS, Educomp, Iris Business Services, Multi Commodity Exchange of India, Steria & ITC.
NGOs: Health Management and Research Institute (HMRI).
Government organizations:District Administration, Kolhapur, District Health Society, Baghpat and JP Nagar – U.P, Information and Public Relations Department, Orissa and Jhansi Jan Suvidha Kendra, Jhansi, UP.

The winning projects ranged from Swanchetan Society for Mental Health a 24-hour counseling service run by psychologists that reaches out to victims and their families to provide support in the worst hours of their lives to GeoAmida, the Perfect Last Mile that enables service providers to biometrically identify customers, deliver multiple services remotely and securely, and functions most reliably in every nook and corner of the world. The multilingual, graphical interface (display, print and speak) is designed to address low IT literacy of users and fundamentally improve ease of use.

Another winning project included IRIS which succeeded in generating interest and debate amongst students by creating a mock Internet based voting mechanism through which children in schools of Navi Mumbai who could vote for candidates of their choice.

For complete list and details on past winners, please visit: www.nasscomfoundation.org

WINNERS SPEAK:

“For SMSONE, as a Start-up, NSIH proved to be a stepping stone into the world of ICT for Development. With NSIH endorsement on your visiting card or profile, no one, whether Indian or Global, suspects your innovation’s trustworthiness, reliability or social relevance. NSIH means the last word in the country. From ‘a mere start-up in Pune’ to ‘Forbes – Hot 5 Start-ups in India’ All thanks to NSIH!” Ravi Ghate, Social Entrepreneur & Director, SMSONE, Pune

“The detailed evaluation done by NASSCOM Foundation while selecting us for the Social Innovation Honors 2010 helped us relook at our work more objectively and made us realize that the systems and processes followed by us to leverage information technology in education for sustainable social development could become industry’s best practice and help in furthering developmental work in this sector” Soumya Kanti, President, Educomp Solutions Limited

“The NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours 2010 gave us industry recognition nationally as well as internationally. Impact of our work in social development is widely known and acknowledged. However, recognition by an industry association helped us get more acknowledgement as a serious player within the information technology world as well. We entered into an African partnership after the local partner in the country came to know about us through the award information.” Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya, Chief Executive Officer, ekgaon technologies

“By recognizing this very innovative project in the field of Public Grievance Redressal, NASSCOM Foundation has strengthened our commitment for bringing-in Good-Governance (with Efficiency, Transparency & Accountability as Base) for the Common man. It has given us a very strong public appearance and much required recognition for making the system better and to reach out to more and more people. Jhansi Jan Suvidha Kendra (JJSK) which was started as a small local initiative of Jhansi district on 10th June 2009 is now being replicated in all 71 Districts of Uttar Pradesh by the State Government. All thanks to NASSCOM Foundation.” Raj Shekhar, DM, Jhansi

“Winning Nasscom Social Innovation Honours 2010 from NASSCOM Foundation, a premier IT trade body, has increased visibility for Mkrishi. This has lent greater credence to TCS’s innovative concept that hopes to effect social change through a mobile advisory platform.” K. Ananth Krishnan, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.

“The Nasscom Social innovation Honours is a very important award for Steria. NSIH has considerably enhanced our image with, most importantly with our clients and helped reinforce our basic and vital business tenet of being a socially responsible corporate citizen. Internally too it has had a very positive impact, inspiring more and more of our younger colleagues to join the CSR volunteer force.” Gayathri Mohan, Vice President – CSR India, Steria

For more information on GNSIH, please contact:
Rajesh Laikh, Vice President at M: +91 9810001974, T: 011 40755731, Email: rajesh@nasscomfoundation.org
Gouri Raverkar, Senior Manager at M: +91 9324902310, T: 022 25190072/73, Email: gouri@nasscomfoundation.org
Or write to nsih@nasscomfoundation.org

About NASSCOM Foundation
NASSCOM Foundation (NF) aims to channelize the potential of the IT-BPO industry towards inclusive development of India. It is the social development arm of NASSCOM, the internationally recognized trade body of the Indian IT-BPO industry. NF was established to transform the lives of the underserved by leveraging the resources of the IT-BPO industry. NASSCOM Foundation is a charity registered under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 and under Section 12A of the Income Tax Act.