We strongly believe that alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much!
We are looking forward to hearing from you!
“The problems that we face today are better solved through international collaboration and by enabling individuals to be the torchbearers of social innovation. What is important is a sense of ownership, drive, purpose and talent to make the world a better place and the strength to be a force of good rather than a victim of circumstance.”
Pranav Hebbar
Co-Founder & Head, Make Room India
The Beginning
Our journey began in late 2015, when a small project idea germinated over a cup of chai which eventually, in 2016, led to the official launch of MAKE ROOM INDIA – as a unique platform connecting India & European Union to foster social change & innovation. We envisioned it to be a space that brings like-minded individuals, social entrepreneurs, communities and government together to further social impact.
Our initiative gained momentum when the Honourable Prime Minister of India, Sri Narendra Modi and the European Commission President Mr. Jean Claude Juncker and Council of Europe President Mr. Donald Trust reconfirmed their commitment to jointly strengthen partnership between India & EU. Since then, we have evolved into a global social innovation ecosystem with the launch of Make Room Europe (Latvia, 2018) and strategic partners in Italy & Romania – all working on strengthening the local sphere of action.
Thus far we have worked with over 270 changemakers, 65 leading partner organizations including Nobel Laureates, political leaders and philanthropists in over 42 countries.
The Inspiration
The World Economic Forum opines that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is within the control of all of us as long as we are able to collaborate across geographies, sectors and disciplines to grasp the opportunities it presents. It calls for leaders & citizens to join hands to shape a future that works for all by putting people first, empowering them and constantly reminding ourselves that all of these new technologies are first and foremost tools made by people for people.
India has the world’s largest youth population and we are determined to catalyze our youth to helm the Fourth Industrial Revolution so as to create a better collective future.
65% of Indian population is under the age of 35 and almost 50% of the population under the age of 25. Given this, we also have widespread regional disparity that makes it challenging to tap into all this human potential we have at our disposal. We design our programs to enable youth from all walks of life, rise up to the challenges, equip them with tools and resources to experiment solutions.
Our mission
What do we do?
At Make Room India, our focus is to pioneer an ecosystem that fosters experimentation, entrepreneurship and innovation to tackle problems and opportunities of New India. Our programs are aligned to strengthen solutions for UN Sustainable Development Goals, leveraging social innovation and entrepreneurship. We predominantly focus on higher education institutes, NGOs and government.
- Social innovation & entrepreneurship
Programs specifically designed to equip college students and teaching fraternity to ideate and experiment solutions and apply their learning to solve immediate local challenges. It also includes bootcamps, mentorship and workshops targeted to aid capacity building of not-for-profit organizations.
- Co-creating solutions
With the Government and corporate partners: Thematic approach to maximize impact by collaborating with partners to create new pathways to benefit the larger community at hand.
- Grand challenges
Designed specifically to identify and encourage ideas for impact.
- Pre-incubation program
i2E Lab – Innovation to Entrepreneurship Lab is a 4 month pre-incubation program that enables young entrepreneurs to test ideas to solve for SDGs. The first cohort of the program is working with youth that are committed to solving urban mobility, livelihoods, air pollution and mental health among other areas – with a potential to impact society in a large way. The first cohort of the program is in collaboration with the Telangana State Innovation Cell, Hyderabad.
Our partners
We are privileged to call a multitude of organizations as partners – some national and international foundations, government and companies. Some of our partners include Ashoka India, The Better India, Telangana State Innovation Cell, Digital Impact Square (A TCS Foundation initiative), Startup India, AIC Raise, AIC GIM, HYSEA, SBI Foundation, ZONE Startup India, YourStory Media Pvt Ltd., White Swan Foundation, Work-in-Progress (Italy), The Qube, IIT Roorkee’s National Social Summit.