NIC organises Felicitation Ceremony of Innovation Challenge for Cloud-based Web Accessibility Reporting Solution

National informatics Centre (NIC), Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology organized the felicitation ceremony of the Innovation Challenge for the Development of Cloud-based Web Accessibility Reporting Solution, held under the Digital India Initiative.

The event was graced by Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities along with Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & IT, Shri Amit Agrawal, Addl. Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & IT, Shri Rajesh Gera, Director General NIC and  Shri Sushil Pal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & IT and Smt. Alka Misra Deputy Director General NIC.

Senior Government Officers from Ministries/Departments, mentors, esteemed jury members, participant startups and stakeholders from the industry participated in the event.

Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & IT, said that such initiatives using Emerging Technologies by young teams of startups will help to tackle the challenges being faced.

Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, applauded the sincere efforts of all the participants and added that these types of innovation challenges will help in the development of indigenous digital tools and solutions for the differently abled. These challenges will also help India to create a global impact with home-grown Intellectual Property (IP) that will serve and benefit a vast and growing market.

Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, along with Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary, of the Ministry of Electronics & IT, felicitated the winners and encouraged the shortlisted start-ups for their exemplary and innovative efforts.

An eminent selection panel shortlisted five startups based on their innovative ideas after multiple stages of the challenge and then a Grand Jury finally selected the Winner.

5 teams were shortlisted at the Ideation Stage, to develop the MVP (Minimum Viable Product), and 2 teams were selected to build the Functional Product.

The Shortlisted teams are:

• Sumatak Technologies LLP
• UIAI Technologies LLP
• SAIV Business Solutions Private Limited
• ISTEM Private Limited
• Instantpost Printers and Scanners Private Limited

In the spirit of encouraging the startup ecosystem, the Jury has also decided to allow the runner-up, access, to further refine their solution in six months and present it again to be considered for adoption.

The challenge was in line with the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan), which is a nationwide campaign to achieve universal accessibility for differently-abled people.

Details can be seen at https://guidelines.india.gov.in.

Sumatak Technologies LLP is the winner of this Innovation Challenge. The team has developed ‘Sugamya Web’, the web Accessibility Reporting Solution which empowers Government entities to check the accessibility status of their web presence, through testing & reporting. The Solution is developed on the basis of International and National standards like GIGW and provides an accurate report on the accessibility status of the website. It can accurately pinpoint the code snippets wherever any accessibility issues are detected on web pages.

Sugamya Web also shares recommendations on how to fix any accessibility issue detected. It also compares the scores of accessibility of all government websites and mobile apps. Speed, automation and accuracy of accessibility reporting are potentially enhanced by using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Thus, it is a powerful solution that aims to empower each and every public entity to join hands to realize the dream of providing a seamless digital experience to all.

This Web Accessibility Reporting solution is deployed on the NextGen NIC National Cloud in a software-defined infrastructure. Web Information Managers and Nodal Officers for Accessibility from all government entities would have to register to be able to check the accessibility status of their websites. The solution is not meant to be a certification tool, however, the certifying bodies (like STQC) can perform the automated reporting phase of the certification process using this solution.

The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Ms Alka Misra, DDG, NIC who thanked the dignitaries and the gathering for making the event special and memorable.

Disclaimer: This is an official press release by PIB.