In an effort to empower deep tech and deep science innovation in India, Honeywell Hometown Solutions India Foundation (HHSIF) has collaborated with the Foundation for Science, Innovation, and Development (FSID) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). This partnership has enabled HHSIF to support over 40 start-ups in the past four years, with a focus on addressing environmental, agricultural, and health challenges.
Read the full interview here:
TimesTech: How does the collaboration between Honeywell Hometown Solutions India Foundation (HHSIF) and the Foundation for Science, Innovation, and Development (FSID) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) drive deep tech and deep science innovation in India?
Pooja: At Honeywell Hometown Solutions India Foundation, we have been committed towards bolstering local innovation and empowering emerging businesses in India. Our collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a step forward in that direction. Under this collaboration, we have extended seed funding, research support, technology, human capital, sophisticated tools, world-class laboratories, state-of-the-art facilities, and crucial infrastructure – all in an attempt to augment deep science and deep tech for battling environmental, agricultural and health challenges. We have worked with over 40+ start-ups over the last four years and plan to add another 10 in FY 2024-25.
TimesTech: What criteria does Honeywell use to select start-ups for financial and research support, and what sectors do these start-ups primarily operate in?
Pooja: Majority of the start-ups supported by us operate in areas like health, med-tech, clean-tech and agri-tech. With these collaborations, we are aiming to influence strategic progressions in areas of sustainability, healthcare, agriculture and environmental concerns. We are guided by the IISc-FSID leadership, who have a well-structured process of shortlisting the starts ups in the deep tech domain to be taken up.
As we beef up the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem in India under our corporate responsibility portfolio, we are also aiming to make this more inclusive and egalitarian by ensuring certain guidelines are followed while identifying the start-up in addition to its merit and brilliance. In this context, we prioritise start-ups that have innovations in the field of health, sustainability and environment and that are led by women or persons hailing from underserved communities, who face difficulties in accessing the mainstream support.
TimesTech: Can you highlight a few impactful ventures supported by Honeywell and IISc, addressing critical challenges across various sectors, such as AI Highway’s cardiac disease screening systems and OpenWater.in’s wastewater treatment solutions?
Pooja: Our collaboration with ‘AI Highway’ and ‘OpenWater.in’ are two of the many associations we are extremely optimistic about. AI Highway is a start-up offering cost-effective cardiac disease screening systems by leveraging advanced signal processing and AI capabilities, that can screen, detect and predict cardio-respiratory disorders with ease. In a country like India–which faces a significant shortage of medical professionals–the innovation presents a huge potential to alleviate the treatment process.
When it comes to OpenWater.in, it is a start-up aimed at effectively dealing with the issue of groundwater contamination. The visionary company deployed our grant to design and deploy 25000 litres/day system at Mavallipura, which is a village about 20kms north of Bengaluru city and suffers with severe groundwater issues. Openwater.in’s interventions in the village are successfully curbing the problem and is helping increase accessibility to clean and pure water.
Both of these start-ups are revolutionary in their own unique ways and we are very happy to be a part of their journeys in driving positive transformation.
TimesTech: How does Honeywell plan to continue its long-term commitment to local innovation in India, and what future collaborations and initiatives are envisioned to empower emerging businesses in deep tech and deep science sectors?
Pooja: With innovation at our heart, we are always on the lookout for ways and measures to augment sustainability and local innovation in India. Along the lines of the same, we have granted support to 8 new start-ups and 5 entrepreneurship-in-residence programs (EIRs) in FY23-24 and have further plans to support 10 new start-ups in the current fiscal. Most of these start-ups are playing a crucial role in tacking pressing challenges in our economic engine.
TimesTech: Could you discuss Honeywell’s role in providing start-ups with access to a global network of investors, venture capitalists, and industry experts, and how this support contributes to their growth?
Pooja: In collaboration with IISc, Honeywell has not only extended seed funding to start -ups but also enable mentorship by promoting interactions with leaders and senior management at Honeywell. The collaboration helps the start-ups to gain knowledge by interacting with the subject experts and establish connects with relevant network to ace up their innovation. These networking opportunities have enabled startups in identifying key opportunities, gaining industry insights and trends and even in accessing investments.
TimesTech: In what ways does Honeywell foster an ecosystem conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship within India, particularly in sectors like agri-tech and clean-tech?
Pooja: HHSIF has been driving technological and social innovation across key sectors in India through various initiatives and partnerships, promoting sustainable practices, and empowering communities.
In agri-tech, Honeywell is supporting Kaiza Health Tech, which utilizes novel methods for extracting active ingredients from traditional Indian herbal plants. This approach enhances microbial balance and boosts natural defenses in animal husbandry, poultry, and fisheries, leading to better overall health and productivity. Additionally, Honeywell supports Green Collar Agritech Solutions, which focuses on improving the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers, especially women, by providing advanced farming tools and improved post-harvest processing techniques.
In the clean-tech domain, HHSIF is supporting Mushloop, a startup that replaces styrofoam with sustainable packaging made from agricultural waste and fungus. This eco-friendly solution addresses agricultural waste management while providing a green alternative for packaging. Moreover, HHSIF supports various Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) in green-tech and agri-tech, further promoting innovation in these fields.
TimesTech: Can you share some notable success stories or milestones achieved by the start-ups who have been supported by Honeywell?
Pooja: Azooka is an innovative and award-winning IISc invested startup that has patented technology in the US and Korea to create the world’s only food graded DNA and nucleic stains used for experiments in Biotech, Lifesciences, and Diagnostics. Their product line expands from DNA dyes, protein, chromosome, and cell stains to the recently launched RNA WRAPR. Their molecular transport medium for COVD-19, requires NO dry ice or cold chain for transportation of the samples. In addition to this, samples in RNAWRAPR can be processed at a later time. Made in India, for the world, Azooka ships across the world within 14 days. Azooka was recently awarded the “Best Women-Led Enterprise” at StartUp India 2021 and was covered by the DD Startup Champions program in March 2021.
An exemplary startup supported by Honeywell and IISc is ‘AI Highway,’ offering cost-effective cardiac disease screening systems leveraging advanced signal processing and AI capabilities that can screen, detect and predict cardio-respiratory disorders. This innovation holds the potential to alleviate the burden on cardiologists and address the significant shortage of professionals in India, estimated at over 84,000.
Additionally, support to OpenWater.in, a startup that provides wastewater treatment, used the grant to design and deploy a 25000 litres/day system at Mavallipura, a village about 20kms north of Bengaluru city. The quality of groundwater here is extremely poor due to solid waste on the landfill close to the village that led to contamination of the water sources. OpenWater has deployed a solution that treats contamination in ground water.
Dfine Bio Innovations Pvt ltd is a Medtech startup supported by Honeywell grant. The startup has developed an indigenously built hemostatis system named FibriTimer Zeta-1 (a first by any Indian Company). Zeta – 1 uses the patented dual technology and helps clinicians in understanding the defects in humans for bleeding and thrombosis events. Zeta 1 is designed for professional use in clinical laboratory setup. The product is ISO certified and approved by CDSCO and is a life-saving device. The product is priced significantly below available products in the market.
