Emerging Worlds

In this pop-up city, innovators developed solutions that helped enable the safest Kumbh Mela on record. Solutions ranged from crowd management to food logistics, epidemic tracking, pop-up housing and 3D mapping. With its new focus on the culture of innovation, the city of Nashik is competing to be one of India's "smart cities."

In Hyderabad, the L V Prasad Eye Institute is sponsoring innovations for eye health. Medical professionals from major health centers in India and the US -- including L V Prasad and Mass General Hospital in Boston –- provide mentorship and guidance to ensure that the innovations are relevant and effective. Innovations being created in Hyderabad include systems for measuring peripheral vision in babies, training a lazy eye, creating an augmented reality for the visually impaired, and a prosthetic eye that fits well.

In Mumbai, the Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research (WeSchool) hosts a visual health diagnostic-focused innovation center. Innovators use the space and close guidance and mentorship with researchers and others to develop prototypes for solutions including systems for: a real-time emotion detection system, differential diagnosis of skin conditions, detection of infections of the middle ear, diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases, monitoring of obstructive sleep apnea, ad detection of the presence of carie-causing bacteria in saliva.