12 Global leaders join hands with YES BANK to address India’s Urban Development Challenges

Finalists selected by the 12 partners to work on a project of national importance

ü  Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Government of India and NITI Aayog provided challenges in the last 2 years

ü  30,000+ students submitted solutions last year of which top 3 were selected by Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog

ü  Challenges this year focus on the importance of Collaborative innovation – Collaboration as a Service – CaaS

ü  Voted by Students as 2^nd most prestigious B-school Competition (Dare2compete)

 July 18, 2018: YES BANK, India’s fourth largest private sector bank, along with 12 global leaders is set to launch the 7^th edition of YES BANK Transformation Series to address India’s Urban Development Challenges through ‘Collaboration as a service’ (CAAS). This is the largest and most innovative & expansive effort by the BANK to bring together global brands, students from premier educational institutes and the Government to work on identifying solutions for pressing issues faced by Smart Cities, thereby helping accelerate their development.

Given that technology is the building block of societies today, YES BANK through the partnership with tech giants such as Microsoft, Cisco, IBM and Adobe aims to explore the opportunities of utilizing technology to address bigger societal issues, while ed-tech major Coursera will explore the challenge of using MooC as a platform to provide ‘Education for All’. Among the various issues identified, issues related to over-utilization of plastic and declining air quality in the cities will be addressed in tandem with global majors such as UNDP and Shell. India’s top startups and ecosystems such as Urban Ladder, Big Basket, Sportz Interactive, Bookmyshow and T-Hub have also joined the efforts.

Commenting on the same, Rana Kapoor, Managing Director and CEO, YES BANK said, “Today businesses and enterprises cannot function in silos and therefore, collaboration within or across industries is inevitable. As such, YES BANK’s unique effort, ‘Collaboration as a Service’ (CAAS) is an extension of the Bank’s A.R.T philosophy – Alliances and Relationships driven by Technology and will provide creative solutions to pressing issues of national importance. We are extremely excited to leverage the skills and insights from the students and our 12 global partners, in collaboration with the Government to address India’s pertinent Urban Development Challenges.”

Since its launch in 2010, Transformation Series has engaged with over 75,000 students across institutions. The Transformation Series was rated as the second most prestigious B-School competition of the year 2018 by Dare2compete. This year Transformation Series invites students to present technology driven business solutions.

The top 15 teams, selected basis their round one submission, will get to work on a case of national importance in partnership with NITI Aayog for the second round. Thereafter, the final presentation will be made to an esteemed panel comprising of eminent business leaders and visionaries, at a grand ceremony to be held in November, 2018. Previously, the Bank had partnered with Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to work on innovative solar energy solutions.

The cash prize for the winners are INR 5 lakh, 3 Lakh and 2 lakh for first, second and third places respectively. Apart from this, the finalists will also get an opportunity for Pre Placement Interviews with YES BANK.

The application process is open from July 18 to August 24, 2018.