They say age is just a number and indeed it is true for these young entrepreneurs and innovators, who are determined to make a difference. Whether it is assisting the government in implementing pollution control campaigns, empowering the visually impaired or addressing an impending health crisis, these teenage innovators are leading from the front.

Showing The ‘Odd-Even’ Way

In December 2015, a 13-year-old boy, Akshat Mittal, student of Class VIII in Amity International School Noida, created a unique solution to assist the Delhi government when it announced the odd-even strategy as a measure to reduce pollution, which left many worried about regular commuting. While some suggested carpooling as a solution, Akshat decided to do something about it.

At a time when commuters raised concerns on the applicability of the ‘Odd-Even campaign’, this teenager developed an easy-to-use website, http://www.odd-even.com/. Users simply need to register on this website with their name, age, mobile number and the registration number of their vehicle, if they own one. Additionally, they may add a commuter preference in terms of gender and age.

The website is simple and user-friendly and most importantly is connecting people travelling to a common destination based on various filters and offering the best available option.

Cashing On Trash

Five 14-year-old girls from Bangalore’s New Horizon Public School won the Technovation Challenge in San Francisco in 2015 for creating a waste management app - Sellixo. The app’s jingle explains the concept –‘Why trash it, when you can cash it’.

Taking inspiration from Prime Minister’s Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat initiative, they created an app that provides an online marketplace for users to buy and sell dry waste. The app is still work in progress but it aims to target dry waste producers like small shopkeepers and apartment associations; dry waste collectors like ‘raddiwalas’ and recycling agencies. Sellixo can be impactful in creating a better environment once it is developed further for practical use.

Empowering The Visually Impaired

Shubham Banerjee invented a low-cost Braille printer, Braigo, using his Lego toys when he was just 12-year-old. While working on a science fair project, he learnt that Braille printers costs over USD 2,000. Realising that of the millions of visually impaired across the globe, 90% of them in developing nations are without any assistance, he decided to create a low-cost printer. This printer can not only enable the visually impaired to create schedules, print bills, and medical records but also provide them access to read books, among others. Now, Shubham is working with Microsoft to integrate his invention with Windows.

Combating A Health Crisis

In September 2015, India was experiencing its worst dengue outbreak in six years with around 97,740 people affected by the disease and 200 deaths reported. Worried about the rising number of dengue cases, 14-year-old Shreya Nagpal, from California, shared an idea with her father about an online community of voluntary blood donors. The community would help expedite the blood transfusion process, since the prime requirement for a dengue patient with depleting platelet count is to find a blood and platelet donor. Thus, a breakthrough app – Vdonor was created. The hyperlocal app lets one search for blood donors in nearby area and contact them via SMS/call through the app in no time.

Detecting Developmental Disorders In Children

Founded by three college dropouts - Harsh Songra, Aafreen Ansari, and Shreya Shrivastava, the My Child app, lets parents detect developmental disorders in their child within a matter of 45 seconds. By providing a few inputs, a parent, with children between the ages of 11 and 24 months, can decipher if their child is suffering from any developmental or learning disorder. Harsh had even received praise for his efforts from Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg in August 2015.

Government’s Role To Encourage Startups

Ideas and innovations are abundant in this country and solutions like these need support for wide distribution and government agencies have the capability and authority to make it happen. As the much-awaited Start Up India, Stand Up India campaign is scheduled to be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 16, it is expected that the campaign will be focused on providing conducive environment for the growth of startups, micro, small and medium enterprises.

Since the government is opening up to provide better opportunities for business growth, it is highly likely that the country will witness an upsurge in young entrepreneurs and innovators.