Mumbai,11th August 2020: Pune-based KPIT Technologies Limited has emerged as the winner of this year’s ‘FICCI Corporate Social Responsibility Awards’ for incubating path-breaking innovations by young entrepreneurs from across the country which addresses the challenges of ‘Real India.’
FICCI Corporate Social Responsibility Awards – India’s first CSR award – was instituted in 1999 by FICCI. The aim of the award is to identify and recognize the efforts of companies in integrating and internalizing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
The award to KPIT recognised its unique initiative ‘KPIT Sparkle’ which is unlocking the power of IPR in India by connecting thousands of budding entrepreneurs to the incubation ecosystem every year, especially those from small towns and rural areas. It helps them converge on the final objective of bringing innovative solutions to the society.
Every year, faculty and students of undergraduate, post-graduate and PhD courses, from the Science, Engineering, Design and Management streams of colleges and universities across India get this opportunity to turn their ideas into working prototypes for industrial production. In the last 5 years, 22000 ideas from 1500 institutions in T1 and T2 cities have been supported by KPIT Sparkle.
KPIT won the award in the category of ‘Exemplary Innovation (irrespective of the turnover of the company)’ after a stringent evaluation process an independent panel consisting of eminent experts and industry leaders. This year’s jury was chaired by Mr. Amit Chandra, Chairman, Bain Capital-India, and Jury Members comprised Ms. Nishi Vasudeva, former CMD, HPCL, Ms. Ranjana Agarwal, founder Vaish Associates, Mr. Pranjal Sharma, Economic Analyst and Writer & Mr. Arumugam Kalimuthu, Director, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Institute.
Elaborating about the achievement, Mr. Kedar Sapre, Senior Marketing Specialist, of KPIT, said: “I’m grateful to FICCI’s eminent panel of juries who have understood and recognised the value that KPIT Sparkle is creating by promoting the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship right at the grassroots level. India is a land of brilliant ideas and many often the best ideas come not from top-notch institutions from big cities but from students of smaller towns and rural areas. KPIT Sparkle nurtures such innovations from idea generation to product manufacture with a supportive incubation process.”
Prose Integrated, a new age communication firm specialising in digital outreach, has been trusted by KPIT with KPIT Sparkle’s brand positioning and visibility. The firm also partnered with the core team of KPIT Sparkle for preparing its nomination for the FICCI CSR Awards.
According to Mr. Setu Shah, Founder & CEO, Prose Integrated, “While working on the KPIT’s entry for the FICCI CSR Award-2020, the challenge was to drive home the message that even IPR can be part of social projects if innovations are around solving the problems of Real India. We managed to successfully convey to the juries how and why KPIT Sparkle was about Innovation, IPR & Entrepreneurship for and by ‘Bharat’. KPIT winning this award, thus, is a proud moment for even us at Prose Integrated as we helped in nurturing and shaping ‘KPIT Sparkle’ and saw it grow year on year. I congratulate KPIT’s entire team for this huge win.”
The winners of the 18th FICCI CSR Awards-2020 were announced on the July 27th, 2020. In the previous years, a number of companies including HPCL, ITC Limited, Mahindra & Mahindra, Cairn India, SAIL, Tata Tea, Infosys, Tata Chemicals, HINDALCO, TISCO, TELCO, Lupin, Gujarat Ambuja Cement, etc. have been recognised by the FICCI CSR Award for their exemplary work in the area of CSR
