The Vishwakarma Award is an initiative supported by the Maker Bhavan Foundation, which is dedicated to fostering innovation and entrepreneurial thinking among students in engineering and STEM fields across South Asia. The foundation believes in empowering young minds to transform their ideas into tangible solutions that address pressing global and local challenges. Through collaborations with premier institutes such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the foundation provides students with access to mentorship, training, and resources that can help them scale their innovations. The award emphasizes the importance of hands-on learning, creative problem-solving, and hardware-based solutions that bridge the gap between technology and real-world applications. By organizing structured competitions, it nurtures a culture of research, design, and prototyping while instilling entrepreneurial skills among students. Its vision is to enable future leaders in technology to work at the intersection of science, engineering, and human needs. With carefully designed stages of application, workshops, and bootcamps, the award ensures that teams not only prototype but also learn the essentials of scalability, commercial viability, and innovation management. Through this initiative, the Maker Bhavan Foundation contributes significantly to building the next generation of inventors and innovators in South Asia.

The Vishwakarma Award for Engineering Innovation is a prestigious competition designed to encourage student teams to develop prototypes with significant hardware components. The grant focuses on impactful themes such as Smart Mobility, HealTech, and Intelligent Machines, with sub-themes ranging from sustainable EV innovations and assistive healthcare devices to cognitive manufacturing and cyber-physical systems. The award prioritizes originality, effectiveness, patentability, and practical usability, aiming to inspire student-led inventions that hold real-world commercial and social value. The competition runs through multiple stages, including application shortlisting, design specification submissions, prototype development, and final pitching rounds. Semi-finalists and finalists receive recognition through certificates, funding support, and mentorship. The top 12 finalist teams undergo a three-day bootcamp at an IIT campus, gaining exposure to entrepreneurial skills before presenting their solutions to the jury. Winners are selected based on rigorous evaluation criteria, with the Best Invention award carrying cash prizes and opportunities for further growth. Additionally, select participants can access internships, recommendation letters, and enhanced industry exposure. By focusing on innovation through prototyping, this grant provides not only financial aid but also the necessary guidance and platforms to transform engineering creativity into practical solutions that can benefit society at large.