‘Inspired by Mission LiFE’

New Delhi, 14th Feb, 2024: EPIC Foundation, the not-for-profit foundation in its unwavering commitment to making India a Product Nation and fostering high value-added manufacturing Ecosystem in the country, launched the 1st Designed in India, AI-enabled, indigenously manufactured Education Tablet. Designed by VVDN Technologies in collaboration with MediaTek India and CoRover.ai, the tablets come embedded with unique features of Repairability and Upgradability to address the pressing concerns of the digital divide and the accumulation of electronic refuse in India. EPIC Foundation executed an MOU with VVDN Technologies and UTL to authorise UTL to manufacture PC tablets under licence from EPIC and VVDN; the intent is to manufacture upto two to three lakh tablets targeted for supply to state governments.

The tablet stands as a true testament of Prime Minister’s commitment to “Mission LiFE” initiative. The launch was presided by the Chief Guest, Shri S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY. Shri. Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Consumer Affairs together with Dr Ajai Chowdhry, Founder & Chairman, EPIC Foundation and Arjun Malhotra, Co-Founder, EPIC Foundation joined the gathering to support this pathbreaking launch that catapults India’s Design capabilities thereby marking a new chapter in the field of electronics.

Elated at the launch of the tablet, Shri S Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY, said It is a matter of great pride that we are launching an India-designed, India-inspired education tablet which will be of great use to a vast majority of students. It will inspire the youth to take up the mantra of design and making things in India, for India and for the world. Today’s event captures two elements that we have been speaking about quite a bit in the recent past – the first and most important is to design hardware products in India. I am aware that Dr. Ajai Chowdhry is a very passionate advocate of this mantra of making India a Product Nation. He has led a number of initiatives in this direction; the committee chaired by the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister on Making India a Product Nation is his brainchild and his concept, which he pushed with us, and we readily accepted.”

In the electronics sector, while we have large targets of increasing the overall exports from the country, which is undoubtedly important – when exports go up, the imports also go up simply because the value addition which happens in the country is still limited, and a significant portion is imported, assembled and then re-exported or used for domestic consumption. Clearly, increasing value addition in the sector is key and thereby the need for increasing the share of electronic component production in India. These are MeitY’s next goals, riding on the success of the large-scale electronics PLI which is the most successful PLI programme that the Government of India has run in recent times”, Shri Krishnan added.

Commending the private sector, Shri Krishnan said, “Even as the private sector is stepping up, we hope in MeitY to have a component-linked incentive scheme in the coming months which will assist this movement of making India a Product Nation and increasingly a nation that produces more of its components.”

Dr. Ajai Chowdhry, Chairman EPIC Foundation said “Aligned with our overarching goal of elevating Indian Electronics to real Atmanirbharta, we want to build products in such a way that the components are easily replaceable and upgradable. Repair expenses surpassing the cost of purchasing a new device, the production of substandard goods and obsolescence strategies are not only pressing concerns of today but also exacerbate the escalating problem of electronic waste. Our repairable product will enable many jobs all over India for repair engineers.”

Aimed at playing an active enabler of digital learning, the education tablet is first of its kind to come integrated with the BharatGPT virtual assistant and will highlight AI/ML based inter-lingual translation for Indian Languages (Voice-2-Voice, Text-2-Text etc) to support language diversity of India and inclusion of differently abled fellow citizens.

The product will address two critical aspects of education and social empowerment:

1. Drive demand for “Indian” ‘Repairable’, ‘Sustainable’ Electronics products and brands in High- Impact/High-Volume categories.
2. Remove financial and logistical obstacles that prevent schools from obtaining repairable, high- impact devices and increase life of the product.

Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs said, “Glad to hear about the launch of EPIC’s Indian Designed Tablet with repair and modification features! This innovative device not only aligns with the vision of Hon’ble PM’s Mission LiFE regarding sustainability but also empowers consumers to make eco-conscious choices. Let’s embrace a future where products are built to last, not for planned obsolescence.”

An MOU for 12000 tablets was also inked between IRIS Global and Vedavaag Systems Ltd. Vedavaag is a publicly listed financial inclusion company operating 6000 Citizen Service Centres for public sector banks across India to provide basic services in remote areas.

Dr P Raja Mohan Rao, Chairman UTL, Bangalore said “At UTL we liked the concept of this repairable tablet and today we have signed a MOU to manufacture it under licence from EPIC and VVDN. There are very large state government tenders for such tablet which we are planning to participate. If all goes well, we intend to manufacture upto two to three lakhs pieces per year.”

Ankush Sabharwal, Co-Founder of CoRover.ai and BharatGPT said, “Under the esteemed guidance of my mentor, Dr. Ajai Chowdhry, Father of Hardware and Co-Founder of HCL, I am honored to be part of the historic launch of India’s first AI education tablet, integrated with BharatGPT. This groundbreaking tablet not only embodies technological innovation but also reflects our commitment to sustainability and addressing India’s unique educational needs. With features like repairability, upgradability, and integration of India made BharatGPT powered Conversational AI platform and various AI apps, this tablet is not just a device; it’s a catalyst for a transformative educational experience. I extend my gratitude to Dr. Ajai Chowdhry, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Shri S. Krishnan for their visionary leadership in steering India towards a future of technological advancement and education excellence.”

“MediaTek Chipsets for tablets are designed to provide powerful performance, captivating display & video, energy-efficiency, integrated with leading technologies”, said Anku Jain, Managing Director, MediaTek India. “EPIC Foundation’s first Indian Designed, Repairable, Upgradable and First AI-Tablet powered by MediaTek is equipped with the latest advancements in multicore processing, CorePilot technology, MediaTek MiraVision, and multimedia powerhouse to develop power-efficient media tablets with a PC-like browser. This Education tablet is a collective commitment of MediaTek in collaboration with EPIC Foundation aligned with the government’s Make in India (MII) initiative to support domestic innovation and production. We look forward to working towards newer advancements to facilitate the local ecosystem in the design and manufacturing of electronics products.”

With strong support of Industry, academia and government, EPIC Foundation is working towards building an ecosystem to promote India as a hardware Product Nation.

About EPIC Foundation

EPIC Foundation is a not-for-profit organization founded by industry veterans and HCL Co-founders Dr Ajai Chowdhry and Arjun Malhotra with an aim to revive India Electronics Industry by helping create Indian Products and Indian Brands for Electronics Products of national importance. EPIC Foundation’s philosophy is to create equitable access for all citizens including differently abled fellow citizens. The foundation is working with the industry, government, and academia to develop and scale India’s design and manufacturing capabilities.