Govt, Chicago varsity sign MoU for clean air
The Delhi government on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding ( MoU) with the University of Chicago for forming a partnership to focus on improving Delhi’s air and water quality, an official statement said.
“We are pleased to partner with reputed University of Chicago Urban Labs to tackle the problem of pollution and environment degradation with the technical and financial help from University of Chicago,” Delhi Dialogue Commission ( DDC) vice- chair- man Ashish Khetan said.
“The centrepiece of this partnership will be a unique competition called the Urban Labs Innovation Challenge — Delhi. This competition is designed to build a tool kit of innovative projects proposed by local institutions and tapping into grassroots expertise,” the statement said.
Under the challenge, all citizens have been invited to come forward and pilot their ideas to solve major problem of pollution on a big scale, Mr Khetan said. The University of Chicago will fund the best idea chosen for Delhi and will provide a minimum fund of ` 2 crore for the project.
The statement added that the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago will provide scientific inputs and rigorously evaluate pilots and prize funding will be provided by the University of Chicago Urban Labs initiative. The Delhi government will play a key role in piloting successful innovations which may then be scaled up across the city.
“The partnership builds on other initiatives led by the Delhi government to confront air and water pollution,” it said.