Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 100th edition of the quiz, we present issues tackled by real-life entrepreneurs in their startup journeys.
What would you do if you were in their shoes? At the end of the quiz, you will find out what the entrepreneurs and innovators themselves actually did. Would you do things differently?
Check out YourStory’s Book Review section as well, with takeaways from over 355 titles on creativity and entrepreneurship, and our weekend PhotoSparks section on creativity in the arts.
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Q1: Plastic waste
Plastic waste is leading to enormous challenges of pollution and environmental hazards. Individual recycling and refusal of single-use plastic bottles can help tackle the challenge. How can waste segregation be scaled up, in a sustainable way?
Q2: The AI advantage
Creating AI applications for local needs requires skills in data science and development infrastructure for ML. Government and academics can play a supportive role here. How can private players collaborate to create such AI and ML infrastructure?
Q3: Solutions for reading
Visually impaired people face huge challenges in accessing reading materials in Braille. Printing Braille books is expensive, and the books are voluminous since one page of text converts to five to six pages in Braille. How can digital technology help here?
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Q4: Movies and language
Movies have fans around the world, but many movies are dubbed or sub-titled for only a few major languages. What can be done to make movies more accessible to viewers across languages, and where is the entrepreneurial opportunity?
Q5: Urban water management
Many cities are facing challenges of water management – they either have too much during the rains, or too little after. What can be done to collectively manage such precious water resources in a sustainable manner?
Answers!
Congratulations on having come this far! But there’s more to come – answers to these five questions (below), as well as links to articles with more details on the entrepreneurs’ solutions. Happy reading, happy learning – and happy creating!
A1: Plastic waste
Founded by Bhagyashree Bhansali in 2020, The Disposal Company helps brands neutralise their plastic waste by recycling an equal amount from the Ghazipur landfill. It collaborates with rag pickers and waste segregators to retrieve the plastic waste, for over 65 client brands such as Slurrp Farm, The Souled Store, and Blue Tokai Coffee.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) maintains a record of the amount of waste that undergoes recycling. Read more here about how an average of 45,000 kgs of plastic is recycled every month.
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A2: The AI advantage
Jio Platforms, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has partnered with chipmaker NVIDIA to build cloud-based AI computing infrastructure to drive AI growth. Developers, startups, scientists, and enthusiasts can speed up projects such as AI chatbots, drug discovery, and climate research.
This will provide the catalytic growth for AI just as Jio spurred smartphone growth in India, according to Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries. Read more here about how such infrastructure can help build large language models for domestic applications.
A3: Solutions for reading
Smart Vision Glasses, developed by Seetharam Muthangi, is an assistive device for visually impaired users. It is attached to the side of a pair of eye glasses, and uses a camera, Lidar tech, a Bluetooth microphone, and a speaker to help blind users.
The company has partnered with blind schools, Rotary Clubs, Vision Aid, Help the Blind Foundation, and CSR grands from companies like Cognizant and Wipro. Read more about the company’s award-winning innovation and inspiring journey here.
A4: Movies and language
Gurugram-based Cinedubs, founded by brothers Aditya and Vineet Kashyap, helps moviegoers watch movies in languages of their preference. Over 80,000 film soundtracks have been downloaded by 35,000 users around the world.
The soundtrack is downloaded using Digital Rights Management (DRM) and the audio is synchronised when viewers are seated in the theatre. Read more here about the startup’s patent-pending technology and its partnership with production companies like Tricolour Films, Shalini Arts, and Mythri Movies.
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A5: Urban water management
The Netherlands government and its international partners have developed a methodology called Water as Leverage (WaL) to manage water resources in a distributed manner. It is used in countries like India by The City of 1000 Tanks, a Chennai initiative which has already treated over 27,000 litres of water.
The process involves harvesting rainwater and treating wastewater before releasing it into an underground aquifer through infiltration gardens. Read more here about the projects and its assessment by Jayashree Vencatesan, Managing Trustee of Care Earth Trust, and Eva Pfannes, Director of Ooze Architects and Urbanists.
YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).
