We are delighted to announce the teams selected to advance to the final round of the 2015 ZHCET-NA Product Development and Innovation Award (PDIA) Program. ZHCET-NA judges were so impressed by the passion, innovation and hard work each of the team put forth in their projects. In the end, following eight teams were selected to advance to the 2015 PDIA program final round.

1. Team Vision
2. Team Zfyr
3. Team Baja
4. Team Green Warriors
5. Team Safina-e-aabdoz
6. Team Blitzkrieg
7. Team Changineers
8. Team Forgetive

These top eight teams were selected by an elite panel of judges, consisting of industry experts, leading entrepreneurs, and scientists from US and Canada. The judges critiqued each team’s product based on following criteria:
 

• Technical Innovation
• Industry Relevance
• Benefits to AMU and ZHCET
• Relevance to VC Vision Plan 2017
• Video/Presentation Skills
• Initial Results or Prototyping
• Implementation Steps
• Humanitarian aspect Bonus Points

 

As Sir Syed Ahmad Khan said, "Ijtihad (Innovation) is the need of the hour, Give up Taqlid (Copying and following old values)", we are so very proud of each team that participated in first round of the PDIA program and tried to come up with new products for benefit of humanity and mankind. 

In the next phase of this program, selected teams will be invited to set up a crowdsourced fundraising campaign with the help of ZHCET-NA. All funds raised through ZHCET-NA by the deadline will be given to the respective teams to use towards development of the product. During this phase, teams will demonstrate product implementation by reporting their progress to potential donors via reports and videos.