Anjani Mashelkar, Dr R. A. Mashelkar´s mother brought him up by facing all the odds that a poor widowed uneducated mother, moving to Mumbai with her only child, a six year old boy would face. And this she did with courage and dignity. She was all along concerned about the poor old people and always wanted him to do something about them.
The Anjani Mashelkar Inclusive Innovation Award fulfills this wish. It will be an annual award of Rs 1 lakh given to an Indian innovator (individual or organization). The award will be given from the benefits accrued from a corpus donated to the International Longevity Centre by Dr R A Mashelkar.
Inclusive innovation is about solving problems that NEED to be solved as opposed to problems that CAN be solved. Instead of just recognizing successful innovations, the award will focus on galvanizing the best minds to generate breakthrough, new and original ideas that will solve the problems of the old- especially who are economically disadvantaged- hence ‘Inclusive Innovation!’
There is an opportunity to spur and fuel innovation in an inclusive way for the benefit of the resource poor old. There is also an opportunity to sensitize the young about the challenges of this vulnerable section of the society and make them do something about that!
This award will endeavour to leverage other support from various other organizations from the private and public sectors as it grows in stature and gains a national recognition.