Are you working on an innovative solution to tackle air, water or land pollution? The Zero Prize is a national environmental innovation challenge that aims to identify and reward solutions that can create measurable and independently verified improvements in India's environment.
The challenge has a total prize pool of ₹5 crore and is open to innovators, startups, researchers, civic organisations, youth groups, school and college teams, and other India-based teams capable of delivering measurable environmental impact.
🌱 About the Zero Prize
The Zero Prize is India's first results-based environmental prize, focused on rewarding demonstrated environmental impact rather than simply promising results.
Solutions are evaluated on their ability to produce measurable and independently verified reductions in pollution. The challenge covers three major areas:
- Air Pollution
- Water Pollution
- Land Pollution
Winning solutions will undergo independent scientific validation.
🏆 Prize Categories
The prize structure includes:
- Air Quality Challenge – ₹1 crore
- Water Pollution Challenge – ₹1 crore
- Land Pollution Challenge – ₹1 crore
There are also special categories including Youth Innovation, Civic Innovation and Popular Vote.
The overall prize pool is ₹5 crore.
👥 Who Can Apply?
The Zero Prize is open to a wide range of applicants, including:
- Innovators and entrepreneurs
- Startups
- Research labs and universities
- Technical institutions
- Government bodies and civic agencies
- NGOs and community organisations
- Youth groups
- School and college teams
- Industry innovators
Applicants should have a solution capable of demonstrating measurable environmental impact.
🔬 How Does It Work?
The Zero Prize follows a results-based process:
- Open Call – Applications are invited from teams with environmental solutions.
- Independent Verification – Real-world performance and impact are scientifically validated.
- Expert Evaluation – Solutions are assessed based on factors such as verified outcomes, innovation, scalability and sustainability.
- Awards & Scale-Up – Winners receive prize funding along with opportunities for visibility, mentorship, partnerships and potential scale-up.
Eligible solutions can include technologies, engineering solutions, process improvements, community initiatives, nature-based solutions, waste-management models and digital or AI-enabled systems, provided they can demonstrate measurable pollution reduction.
📅 Important Date
Application Deadline: 13 September 2026
The official website states that the application deadline has been extended to 24:00 hrs on 13 September 2026.
📌 Quick Details
| Particular | Details |
|---|---|
| Competition | Zero Prize |
| Theme | Environmental Innovation |
| Focus Areas | Air, Water & Land Pollution |
| Total Prize Pool | ₹5 Crore |
| Air Quality Challenge | ₹1 Crore |
| Water Pollution Challenge | ₹1 Crore |
| Land Pollution Challenge | ₹1 Crore |
| Eligibility | Innovators, startups, researchers, civic organisations, youth and student teams, etc. |
| Application Deadline | 13 September 2026 |
| Organiser/Convenor | School of Policy and Governance |
🚀 How to Apply?
Interested applicants can submit their applications through the official Zero Prize website.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for leaving your comment. Your comment will appear here after moderated by the administrator. Only comments having proper names of the person with a genuine content will be considered for publishing.