Pitch to Policy India Competition: GBPN announces 3 Exciting Innovations

At the first national Pitch to Policy (P>P) Competition in India, organized by the Global Building Performance Network (GBPN) in partnership with Monash University, and with the support of ps Collective, three winning teams were selected by a national expert jury on January 31, 2021. The purpose of the competition was to identify new technical solutions that can accelerate the application of the Energy Conservation Code for Residential Buildings (EcoNiwasSamhita) in India. A national Pitch to Policy competition was also organized by GBPN in Indonesia in 2020.

Paris (February, 2021) — In the first edition of the Pitch to Policy Competition in India, organized by Global Building Performance Network (GBPN) with academic partner Monash University and national partner, ps Collective, three winning teams were selected by the jury from fifteen finalist teams. The fifteen teams had all participated in a month-long online bootcamp, where they were taught by mentors and lecturers to develop their proposals.

The three winning solutions are:

Eco-House: A low carbon home that has recorded 20 years of energy demand data at 10% of its (conventional) neighbour homes was conceive, thanks to a design tool that optimizes house design for energy use. This tool will be provided as a free website with the support and promotion of governments.

Greentree Global: A user friendly website to automate ENS certification and support rapid building growth in Lucknow. The team is experienced in both ENS and website development and will simplify and accelerate ENS implementation. They require support to deploy and offer the tool.

Mainstreaming Engineered Bamboo: Adapting bamboo for facades and structural components in India will open an entirely new market for this super material that grows three times faster than trees, captures six times the carbon, and can rejuvenate depleted lands. The project requires government support to assist in large scale plantings on degraded lands.

The jury of five was composed of senior experts of energy conservation in the built environment.

Ashok B Lall, Principal at Ashok B Lall Architects,
Dr. Hariharan Chandrashekar, Founder of Alt Tech Foundation
Dr. Harikumar Ramadas, Director of Energy Management Center, (EMC), Kerala
Mili Majumdar, Managing Director, GBCI India, Senior Vice-President USGBC, Member of the Board of Directors of GBPN
Prasad Vaidya, Director of Solar Decathlon India; Senior Advisor IIHS

As Mili Majumdar noted, “The teams were thorough, the quality of the presentations great, and the ideas were novel and innovative… There is also an opportunity to combine concepts and develop consolidated ideas/proposals, beyond the three winning teams.”

“Being a judge for Pitch to Policy gave me an appreciation of what young minds in India are capable of. Their diversity of approaches included product innovation, financing schemes, educational entrepreneurship, as well as tackling the policy framework head on with innovative tools,” said Prasad Vaidya.

For Saket Sarraf founder of ps Collective “beyond merely picking the winning ideas, the competition has provided DNA to attract, train, nurture and support transformative and scalable ideas to accelerate low carbon residential development in India.”

According to Pitch to Policy creator Craig Burton, from GBPN, “Pitch to Policy is a form of selection and incubation that gives the teams a real chance of succeeding in getting their idea adopted, which gives much hope to the many people who work to expand the place of sustainable buildings in India.”

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