Led by Yogeeta Kishor, the team is building a circular denim initiative that converts discarded denim and textile scraps into lifestyle products while creating livelihood opportunities for women artisans.

Watch Yogeeta share what reaching the Top 20 means to her and how she hopes to combine circularity, creativity and livelihoods.

Vatala Harila and Ritesh Routray are developing ParaSync, an AI-powered platform that analyses smartphone videos of para-athletes to assess sporting technique, track progress and help connect talent from underserved regions with scouts.

Watch the team share what reaching the Top 20 means to them and how they hope technology can help create new pathways for para-athletes.

Aditya Rai and Sparsh Ruhela are developing SARA AI, a voice-first study companion designed to help visually impaired students access textbooks, explanations, quizzes and personalised learning support without relying on a screen or keyboard.

Watch the team share what being among the Top 20 means to them and how they hope to make learning more accessible through technology.

What if someone who struggles to read a legal, financial or official document could understand what it says before putting their signature on it?

That question led young innovator Abhinav Jaiswal to begin developing a technology-led solution aimed at making important documents easier to understand for people with limited literacy.

For Abhinav, who grew up in the small town of Ballia and is now based in Varanasi, what began as an idea inspired by an everyday problem is gradually becoming something bigger.

His idea has taken him to the Top 20 of Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026, Samsung’s flagship innovation programme for young people, where mentorship and exposure to experts are helping him think about how an early-stage idea can be developed into a real-world solution — and potentially, over time, a scalable venture.

Solving an Everyday Indian Problem

Abhinav has been fascinated by Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and STEM from an early age. But as his understanding of technology grew, so did his interest in using it to solve problems he could see around him.

One such problem was document literacy.

Legal agreements, financial documents and official paperwork can be difficult to understand, particularly for people who are illiterate or semi-literate. Complex language can leave people dependent on others to explain information before they sign or consent to something.

Abhinav began asking whether technology could help bridge this gap by making important information easier to understand.

That question became the starting point for Team ItzFOD.

Taking an Idea Beyond Technology

Being selected among the Top 20 teams at Samsung Solve for Tomorrow gave Abhinav an opportunity to take the idea beyond its initial technological concept.

At the SFT Bootcamp, conversations with mentors and experts pushed him to ask a different set of questions: Who exactly was he solving the problem for? How would people use the solution? What would make it relevant in the real world? And how could a prototype clearly demonstrate the connection between the problem and its potential impact?

“My idea needed guidance and mentorship on the prototype,” Abhinav said.

One of his biggest learnings was that a prototype should not simply demonstrate what technology can do. It should also tell the story of the problem it is trying to solve.

“I learnt that you should try to relate a story to the prototype,” he said.

For someone whose early interest was driven by a fascination with AI and Machine Learning, it marked an important shift — from thinking primarily about technology to thinking about the people who might eventually use it.

From Prototype to Potential Venture

The mentoring also encouraged Abhinav to reconsider the scale of the opportunity.

“My idea is too big. I realised I would be solving many issues,” he said.

He began to see that document literacy is not simply about translating or simplifying difficult words. It is also about access to information and helping people better understand what they are being asked to agree to.

His prototype continues to evolve, but Abhinav says the way he thinks about and communicates the idea has already changed significantly.

“The prototype may not have changed much, but my pitching has improved. I learnt a lot from the suggestions given by the mentors,” he said.

That evolution is also helping him understand something fundamental to entrepreneurship: an idea rarely begins as a finished product.

It has to be questioned, tested, explained, refined and sometimes reimagined before it can become a solution capable of operating at scale.

Small Towns, Big Ideas

Abhinav’s journey also reflects a larger story emerging from Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026.

More than half of the Top 20 teams this year come from Tier 2 and Tier 3 India, with finalists representing 18 cities across 12 states. Many of their ideas are rooted in problems they have encountered in their own communities.

Through Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, these young innovators are gaining access to mentorship, technology expertise and a national platform to develop those ideas further.

The Top 20 finalists are being mentored by experts from Samsung and the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) at IIT Delhi as they refine their prototypes and prepare for the next stage of the programme.

For young innovators from smaller cities and towns, that exposure can help bridge an important distance — between identifying a problem and understanding how an idea might eventually become a viable solution or venture.

For Abhinav, the experience has already changed the way he looks at innovation.

“I realised something — trying is the most important thing. No idea is smaller,” he said.

From growing up in Ballia to developing his idea in Varanasi and taking it to a national innovation platform, Abhinav’s journey is still at an early stage.

But that is also the point.

Potential startups do not always begin in established innovation hubs or with fully formed business plans. Sometimes they begin with a young person in a smaller town noticing a problem that others have learned to live with — and deciding to try to solve it.

For Abhinav and Team ItzFOD, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow is helping turn that first attempt into something more: a sharper problem statement, an evolving prototype and an idea with the potential to grow much further.

Led by 21-year-old Akul Attre and 20-year-old Saksham Shreyans, the team is developing an AI-based cybersecurity solution designed to identify encryption vulnerabilities and help organisations prepare their digital systems for emerging risks associated with quantum computing.

Watch Akul and Saksham share what making it to the Top 20 means to them—and how they hope to strengthen digital security through their innovation.

Their AI-based platform explores how sugarcane bagasse can be transformed into protein-rich mycoprotein using bioreactors—bringing together innovation, sustainability and nutrition.

For Gulshan Kumar and Nitish Kumar, making it to the Top 20 has been a journey of learning and discovery. With mentorship and prototyping support, the team has strengthened its idea and explored how a local agricultural challenge can be translated into a practical innovation.

Watch Kinva Bio share what being among the Top 20 means to them—and what they hope to build next.

Led by 21-year-old Homanshika Reddy Pullagurla, the team is developing a wearable system that uses sensors to track spinal movement in real time. Initially being explored for rifle shooters, the solution aims to help athletes and coaches understand movement patterns and assess potential injury risks during training.

Watch Homanshika share what making it to the Top 20 means to her and how she hopes to take the idea forward.

Samsung India today announced the Top 20 finalists of Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026, a programme that combines technology and education to help youth grow into future leaders with creative thinking and problem-solving skills.

A global problem-solving platform, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow helps youth around the world use STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) to build a better future. Participants identify problems in their communities and develop creative solutions with the help of technology.

In its fifth edition, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026 is bringing together young innovators from across India who are turning problems they see around them into technology-led solutions. More than half of the participants in the Top 20 come from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, with the finalists representing 18 cities across 12 states – reflecting how youth-led innovation is expanding beyond India’s traditional technology hubs.

“What stands out about this year’s Top 20 is not just the technology they are building, but the problems they have chosen to solve. Young innovators from across India are looking closely at challenges in their own communities – from accessibility and healthcare to agriculture, pollution and sport – and asking how technology can make a difference. Samsung Solve for Tomorrow gives them the opportunity, mentorship and resources to take an idea rooted in a local need and build it into a solution with the potential to create wider impact,” said SP Chun, Corporate Vice President, Samsung South West Asia.

A defining trend among this year’s finalists is the focus on making technology more useful and accessible. Across the four themes – AI Living for India, Environmental Sustainability, Health and Education, and Sport & Tech – young innovators are applying AI, computer vision, sensors, voice technology and low-cost wearables to challenges ranging from low literacy and disability access to agricultural waste, pollution, neurological health and para-sports.

Several solutions are being designed for people who have traditionally had limited access to technology. These include an offline AI application that explains complex documents to people with low literacy, real-time Indian Sign Language translation, a voice-first learning companion for visually impaired students, technology to anticipate sensory meltdowns among children with autism, and assistive technologies to help visually impaired swimmers train more independently. Other finalists are tackling environmental challenges through ideas that seek to convert agricultural residue into clean energy and useful carbon materials, reduce textile waste and construction-site pollution, and mitigate human-wildlife conflict.

The geographical spread of the Top 20 reflects this expanding innovation map. Finalists come from Sundargarh in Odisha, Chittoor and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Raebareli and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Amritsar and SAS Nagar in Punjab, Sonipat in Haryana and Raipur in Chhattisgarh, alongside Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai.

The Top 20 teams emerged from a semi-final phase that brought together 40 teams for an experiential, hands-on Prototyping Programme conducted in collaboration with FITT-IIT Delhi. Through Innovation Bootcamp, the teams worked with mentors to strengthen their solutions, better understand the people they were designing for and gain practical exposure to the innovation process.

As part of the Bootcamp, the teams also visited Samsung Design Delhi (SDD), Samsung R&D Institute India – Noida (SRI-N), Samsung R&D Institute India – Delhi (SRI-D), Samsung R&D Institute India – Bengaluru (SRI-B) and Samsung’s Head Office in Gurugram, gaining exposure to Samsung’s approach to design, technology, innovation and Research & Development.

The journey culminated in a National Pitch Event, where 20 experts comprising mentors from Samsung R&D and Samsung South West Asia evaluated the teams and selected five finalists from each of the four themes.

Meet the Top 20

AI Living for India

4 Percentage – Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu: MicroLearning AI, a voice-first multilingual platform that converts complex healthcare and government-scheme information into simple spoken micro-lessons in Indian languages.

itzFOD – Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh: VaakSetu, an offline mobile application that uses AI to read documents such as loan papers, land deeds, FIRs and hospital forms and explain them in simple spoken language.

JARVISS – Chennai, Tamil Nadu: SafePath AI, a smartphone and IoT-assisted platform that uses AI and sensor data to detect road hazards, assess their severity and provide safer-route recommendations.

QuantHunt – Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh: An AI-based cybersecurity solution designed to identify encryption vulnerabilities and help organisations prepare their digital systems for emerging quantum-computing risks.

SignBridge AI – Kolkata, West Bengal: An AI-powered platform that translates Indian Sign Language into text and speech in real time, helping improve communication in schools, hospitals, workplaces and public spaces.

Environmental Sustainability

AeroShield – New Delhi: A low-cost construction debris net, designed to capture and degrade airborne pollutants while integrating with existing scaffolding.

AgriVolt – Amritsar, Punjab: AgriVolt Carbon AI, which aims to use agricultural residue to generate electricity and recover biochar and other carbon-rich materials while reducing emissions.

IndieJeanous – Mumbai, Maharashtra: A circular denim initiative that converts discarded denim and textile scraps into lifestyle products while creating livelihood opportunities for women artisans.

InnoBotix – New Delhi: Sentinel, a solar-powered AI edge device that uses cameras, radar and seismic data to detect wildlife approaching human settlements and provide early warnings.

KINVA BIO – Sonipat, Haryana: An AI-based platform that seeks to optimise the production of protein-rich mycoprotein from sugarcane bagasse using bioreactors.

Health and Education

404NotFound – Bengaluru, Karnataka: StepSense, a sensor and edge-AI system that turns footwear into a gait-monitoring platform to identify indicators associated with fall risk, neuropathy, fatigue and other health conditions.

Equinox – New Delhi: SARA AI, a voice-first study companion that enables visually impaired students to access textbooks, explanations, quizzes and personalised learning support without relying on a screen or keyboard.

morphism – Raipur, Chhattisgarh: An AI system designed to help autistic individuals better understand emotions by analysing subtle facial expressions and other behavioural signals.

NeuroTrace – SAS Nagar, Punjab: A smartphone-based AI solution for post-stroke monitoring that analyses changes in voice, facial movement and reaction time to identify potential neurological deterioration.

VB SenseGuard – New Delhi: Sense Guard, a low-cost AI wearable designed to identify physiological patterns associated with sensory meltdowns in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and provide caregivers with early alerts.

Sport & Tech

Code Blooded – Sundargarh, Odisha: ParaSync, an AI-powered platform that analyses smartphone videos of para-athletes to assess sporting technique, track progress and help connect talent from underserved regions with scouts.

Para-athlete swimming solution – Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh: A wearable navigation system that detects when visually impaired swimmers veer from their intended direction and provides haptic cues for course correction.

Rogue – Chennai, Tamil Nadu: NeuroStride, an AI-powered wearable that seeks to distinguish involuntary Parkinson’s tremors from intentional muscle movement and provide targeted electrical stimulation.

Somatrace – Hyderabad, Telangana: A wearable IoT training tool that measures spinal angles and load during training to help precision-sport athletes and coaches better understand injury risk.

Untethered – Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh: Smart swimming goggles using ultrasonic sensing and haptic feedback to warn visually impaired swimmers as they approach the pool wall.

Taking Solutions to the Next Stage

The Top 20 finalists will now receive continued mentorship from Samsung experts and FITT-IIT Delhi as they prepare for the Grand Finale on October 14 and 15.

The Grand Finale will feature the final pitch presentations, followed by an Investor Meet for all Top 20 teams. The interaction will give the young innovators an opportunity to engage with the startup and investment ecosystem and understand the next steps involved in developing their solutions further

The competition will culminate in the Winner Announcement and Awards Ceremony. The Top 20 teams will receive a cumulative grant of INR 20 lakh for prototype development, with INR 1 lakh awarded to each team. All 36 participants in the Top 20 will also receive the latest Samsung Galaxy Z Flip smartphone. Four winning teams – one from each theme – will collectively receive an incubation grant of INR 2 crore from Samsung through FITT-IIT Delhi. The incubation support will help the winning teams further develop and validate their solutions while exploring their potential to evolve into market-ready ventures.

The programme will also recognise participants through special awards at the Grand Finale, including the Digital Impact Award of INR 50,000 and two Community Choice Awards of INR 1 lakh each.

Guided by its global CSR vision, “Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People,” Samsung India is committed to empowering young Indians through its focus on Smart Education and Skilling Youth, providing equal access to the knowledge, skills and resources needed to shape a better future.

Find the full list to the Top 20 finalists here

Every innovation starts with something simple: noticing that something could work better.

For the young innovators of Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026, the next question is harder: how do you turn that observation into something real?

During an immersive Innovation Bootcamp, the Top 40 stepped inside Samsung’s innovation ecosystem across Gurugram, Delhi, Noida and Bengaluru to see how ideas are understood, designed, engineered, tested and refined.

Their journey took them through Samsung’s Head Office in Gurugram, Samsung Design Delhi, Samsung R&D Institute India-Noida (SRI-Noida) and Samsung R&D Institute India-Bengaluru (SRI-B) — bringing them closer to the people, processes and technologies behind some of Samsung’s innovations.

Addressing the young innovators, JB Park, President and CEO, Samsung South West Asia, spoke about where the next generation of ideas could come from.

“Great ideas can come from anywhere. They can come from a small town, a classroom, a college or from a young person simply looking at a problem in their own community.”

That idea is reflected in this year’s cohort. More than half of the participants come from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, bringing with them problems and perspectives shaped by communities across India.

Start With People

At Samsung Design Delhi, the young innovators saw that innovation doesn’t begin with technology. It begins with people.

Inside spaces including Rang and the Colour, Material and Finish (CMF) Lab, they explored how designers think about the way people see, touch and experience products — and how choices around colour, material, texture and form can shape that experience.

It was a lesson in looking beyond the solution itself.

Before asking what can be built, understand who you are building it for.

Make It Work

At SRI-Noida, the focus shifted from design to engineering.

The innovators explored areas including PCB design, sensory equipment and AI applications, getting a closer look at what happens when an idea has to work beyond a sketch or a prototype.

Ideas are tested. Assumptions are challenged. Problems emerge. Designs change.

That process of iteration is what turns a promising idea into something that can work reliably in the real world.

At SRI-B, the view widened further. The young innovators explored research across AI, multimedia and camera technologies, advanced communications, IoT and services — technologies that are helping shape the next generation of connected experiences.

Taken together, the visits traced an innovation journey: understand a need, design around people, engineer a solution, test it and keep making it better.

Learning From Each Other

The Bootcamp was also about the people in the room.

Young innovators from different parts of India arrived with different problems to solve — but discovered that many of the questions they were asking were the same.

How do you know if an idea will work? What happens when it doesn’t? How do you make it better?

“A big thank you to Samsung Solve for Tomorrow for this opportunity and for supporting young innovators like us throughout the journey. Now, it’s time to refine, build, learn,” said Priyanka Yadav from Gurugram, Haryana.

“One of my favourite memories from the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Bootcamp was meeting passionate young innovators from every corner of India, each working to solve a different problem, but all driven by the same belief — innovation should improve lives. I am grateful for the friendships, conversations and inspiration,” said Vidit Bhayana from Delhi.

Conducted in collaboration with FITT-IIT Delhi, the Innovation Bootcamp provided the teams with mentoring and prototyping support as they continued developing solutions across AI Living for India, Health and Education, Environmental Sustainability, and Sport & Tech.

The Work After the Idea

For the Top 40, seeing Samsung’s design and R&D ecosystem first-hand offered something that is difficult to learn from a classroom alone.

Innovation is rarely a straight line.

An idea is questioned. A prototype is tested. Something fails. You learn why. You change it. Then you try again.

The most important part of an idea may not be the moment you have it.

It may be everything you do next.

For these young innovators, that work has already begun.

Three young innovators from Maharashtra are bringing technology-led solutions to the national stage through the fifth edition of Samsung Solve for Tomorrow. Representing the themes of AI Living for India and Environmental Sustainability, the innovators from Mumbai and Pune are exploring solutions for small-business financial access, safer firefighting, marine conservation and textile waste.

16-year-old Shrihan Jha, 17-year-old Palaash Gang, and 21-year-old Yogeeta Kishor Suwasiya have been selected among the national Top 40 of Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, Samsung’s flagship CSR innovation programme for young people aged 14 to 22.

AI Living for India

Shrihan Jha from Mumbai is exploring how artificial intelligence can make financial systems more accessible to small businesses. He is developing an app that analyses handwritten bills and UPI payments to generate credit scores, supported by an AI-powered financial chatbot. The solution aims to help small businesses build a more formal financial profile and potentially improve their access to credit.

Environmental Sustainability

Palaash Gang from Pune is working on making firefighting more environmentally responsible. He is developing a biodegradable alternative to traditional PFAS-based firefighting foams. Made using fish-scale waste, the solution explores a collagen-chitosan network designed to suppress fuel vapours without relying on harmful petrochemicals.

Yogeeta Kishor Suwasiya from Mumbai is addressing the growing challenge of textile waste. She is developing a circular denim ecosystem that transforms discarded fabric into lifestyle products, while using material tracking and partnerships with women artisans to extend the life of textiles.

Together, the three solutions show how Maharashtra’s young innovators are approaching challenges across financial inclusion, environmental protection, sustainable materials and circular design, using technology to explore new ways of addressing issues around them.

Their selection is part of a wider national cohort taking shape through Samsung Solve for Tomorrow. More than half of this year’s Top 40 teams are from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, highlighting how young people across India are bringing their own experiences and observations to challenges that matter to their communities.

For Maharashtra, the three finalists showcase how young innovators from Mumbai and Pune are applying technology to both everyday economic challenges and pressing environmental concerns.

Through design thinking, mentorship and hands-on learning, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow enables young innovators from across India to identify real-world challenges and develop potential solutions, helping them move from the early stages towards prototypes.

The Top 40 teams will now participate in a 10-day Innovation Bootcamp, receiving intensive mentoring from startup founders and industry experts at FITT-IIT Delhi. They will also visit Samsung R&D Institute India – Delhi, Noida and Bangalore, Samsung Design Delhi and Samsung’s Regional Headquarters in Gurugram.

The teams will then compete for a place in the Top 20, which will receive further support to strengthen their solutions ahead of the Grand Finale.

At the culmination of the programme, four winning teams will collectively receive incubation grants worth INR 2 crore, along with incubation support from FITT-IIT Delhi, helping them take their solutions towards further development and market readiness.

For Maharashtra’s three young innovators, reaching the national Top 40 marks the next stage in their journey — bringing locally observed challenges to a national platform and exploring how technology can help create more accessible and sustainable solutions.