Security device for women wins Indians $ 1m price

United Nations: A group of young Indian entrepreneurs, inspired to find solutions for women safety following the December 16, 2012 gangrape, have won a million dollar prize by developing a wearable smart device that women can use to send out emergency alerts if threatened or assaulted.

New Delhi- based Leaf Wearables was among the five finalists selected from 85 teams hailing from 18 countries for the million dollar prize instituted by eminent IndianAmerican philanthropists Anu & Naveen Jain called ‘ Women’s Safety XPRIZE’.

The technology start- up, founded by students of IIT Delhi and Delhi Technological University, won the prize for their project ‘ Safer Pro’, an enhanced new version of their earlier smart safety devices.

The Jains, prominent entrepreneurs and philanthropists, partnered with non- profit organisation XPRIZE to create the Anu & Naveen Jain Women’s Safety XPRIZE aimed at addressing the safety of women and girls by leveraging technology.

“Women safety is a global problem, it’s a global epidemic. A safe environment for women is a fundamental human right, it should not be considered a luxury and yet in today’s world, with so much advancement in technology and innovation, we still haven not been able to solve this problem,” Anu Jain, founder of the Women’s Safety XPRIZE, told us at the award ceremony organised in the UN yesterday.

Teams participating in the challenge had to create a device, costing no more than $ 40 and able to work without internet, that can inconspicuously trigger an emergency alert if a woman is facing a threat and transmit information to a network of community responders, all within 90 seconds. Leaf Wearables’ Manik Mehta, Niharika Rajiv and Avinash Bansal collected the million dollar prize.

“It was in 2012 that the Nirbhaya rape took place in Delhi,” Mehta, the start- up’s co- founder said, adding that it was then that they decided “enough is enough.