 An innovator named Vishrut has come up with a unique technique for desalination of water using membrane filtration technology wherein they use customized membrane to produce naturally mineralized potable water. Water, the essence of life, covers more than two-thirds of our planet's surface. Yet the need for fresh water continues to grow. Much of the earth's water is saline, making it unsuitable for human consumption and agriculture. But what if there were a practical method to upgrade the current desalination process? In today's episode of ChangeMaker, we have with us Vishrut, who is working on developing a solution for water desalination using cutting-edge membrane filtration technology. With their innovative approach, they are addressing pressing challenges of fresh water scarcity and sustainability. Welcome Vishrut. Hello sir. Could you please provide some insight about yourself and your innovation? Sure sir. The thought of name is Vishrut, and I belong from Sangam city, Pyaa Grads. I have been located with the banks of Ganga river, but then for my undergrads, I moved to Kerala, where we have women's, let's say, coastline sharing with the saline water. I started my education over there in bachelor's in architecture, and I recently completed my graduation. Over there, I could see a lot of innovative things and innovative approaches which people were taking, and that's how I began my journey of innovation. So which problem does your innovation aim to solve? So majorly what we are trying to tackle is fresh water scarcity. We have recently seen a very major pandemic which was created by COVID-19, but the upcoming pandemic which we all are unaware or I must say partially aware about is that the water scarcity issue. Then in 2018, when I joined the college, that was the year when our initial, let's say, a baseline flood came in Kerala, and in 2019, it got struck very badly. I was there in NSS camp over there, and due to that, I got a chance to get connected with the people who were living near the coastal areas. What happened over there was the backwater hordes which were flooded with the fresh rain water, they came towards the surface and the surface water which was available for the people, it became saline. Seeing that me and my friends at that time who were there in the camp, we tried to make a small miniature setup which was working on the principle of condensation and evaporation, a very many smaller one which sailor boats use for getting the fresh water. That's what we developed and provided to the people who were living over there. And that's where I could understand that if this much amount of saline water is available, why not try to use this as a resource and get fresh water out of it? And this was not a very first move. We have seen a lot of industries which are already existing in the market who are already working in the same domain. There were a lot of issues which were coming over there, which I look forward to discuss with you. Yes, Vishu, what inspired and motivated you to create this innovation? Sir, people I met over there during the floods and when I went to help them clean the houses and when I help them migrate from over there, I could see the problem which they were facing and that's what made me get concerned about them. And then I thought like I should do something and I should look forward for this. That's how I formulated a small team of people who were having, let's say, keen interest and I would sell a little bit expertise into the aspects which I was looking forward to develop for. Could you please explain how your product works? So, right now, sir, if you see the market, it is flooded with aro membrane, which is known as ribosmosis membrane, which covers almost three-fourth of the market. And other than that, the UF and other smaller membranes, which are trying to tackle the, what's it, the scarcity issues which are existing in different parts of the world. But the problem which comes with these membranes is that the recurring cost of changing these membranes is a lot. Every six months or three months, you have to replace them and it goes to waste because there is no usage of it. Due to this thing, there is a lot of environmental impact which is getting created with this. Seeing all of that, when we started the setup, we were working on a very basic principle. But when we went into the depth of it, when we read through papers, we could understand what is existing in the market. We could analyze the market and that's when we went into the membrane development aspect. So, what is new in this membrane is we're using graphene oxides. Graphene oxide is the master of all the materials and components which will be there in the future. It is there from the clothing to the eating every segment in the market. And that's when it has a lot of strength, it has a lot of qualities which makes it stand ahead of all the other current existing materials. Now, what exactly we are doing with that material is we're combining it with some different kinds of chemicals and combinations where we're getting a composition and we have fabricated this in-house in an anti-calibre where we're trying to develop a membrane through which once we follow the process of regular osmosis, it can be cleaning the water and once the water is clean and it is portable, you can do a reverse flux and clean the membrane. So, what it does is that it makes the membrane stand out, it makes the membrane get a longer life. How? Because it reduces the issue of foliage. So, once the foliage of the membrane, the organic components, they are not settling on it. The life's expectancy of any membrane increases to immense. Now, once the life of the membrane increases, the recurring cost of replacement is also reduced. So, seeing all of these things, we can say once the membrane gets ready and it is introduced in the market, the demand and supply of this will be an immense burden. That's where we are making an innovation and a change. Great. Vishu, what sets your productties different from other existing products in the market? Sir, if I may give a little brief about the existing technologies. Right now, as I mentioned, most of the industry experts are using membranes which are related to the RO or the reverse osmosis process. These membranes have been prevalent in the market from a longer time, or I must say two to three decades already. And there is no new innovation which is coming into it. Seeing that once our product comes into the market, what it brings a change is it will have a longer life. As I mentioned, the life expectancy of the membranes which are already existing is not longer. That is what makes it different. Apart from that, other components like the sedimentation filter, the carbon, nano and all these filters are pretty similar. We haven't invented any part in that. We are majorly focused into the membrane, which is being a critical part in removing the salt ions from the water. That's where the membrane becomes effective. As water is a fundamental human need and desalination plays a vital role in addressing saline water sources, I imagine you must have received positive feedback for your innovative ideas. How has the response been from the people around you? Yes, if I would like to share a personal experience, like once we were developing these setups, we got connected with the professors from our college itself. Luckily, unfortunately, I would say our college is in Kerala. And over there, we have lots of resources of backwater work. So once we were developing this, we used to go to these places to collect the water samples and try to filter them. Once we were doing this thing, our college, in a way, if I may say, they became our first customer because they mentioned that the moment our system gets ready, they would like to install it into the, I would say, system, into the canal which we are having next to our college so that they can get the supply of fresh water through it. So this was the first-hand experience which we got as a, I must say, the customer interaction. That was a positive feedback. Apart from this, we have been into multiple competitions and conferences. Whenever we go to these places, the kind of response which we get from the people and the jury members over there is very positive because they are very curious about the new kind of membrane we are developing, the new change, the new shift we are trying to get into. We are very proud to say that we are among the top 100 startups under the, again, we know it as, this program organized by Kela Startup Mission and they have been mentoring us as well. So their response as well towards this product has been very supportive. And our incubation center, TBI and IIT Calicut, they are also one of our customers because they also mentioned the moment we get it ready, they would take it through the first part. Vashrut, you are the proud winner of National Innovation Contest. Can you please share your experience participating in NIC? And how has your involvement in NIC influenced your entrepreneurial journey? Sir, if I may address this thing. In 2019, June, when we applied for this competition, we were very much unaware about what is coming to us as a team. When I started the proposal part of it, we understood that this would be something, a short one to two months thing or a very smaller kind of competition, generalized hackathons or something. But the moment we got shortlisted amongst the top 24 teams, which were called for the boot camp and the mentoring round in Delhi, AIC headquarters in September, we were amazed with the people and the kind of support we got over there. The kind of lectures into the finance, the startup settlement, the IP filing and different kind of supports, which we could get at that point of time when we were starting our journey was very different for me. And that was the point if I may say the pivot for me, when I understood that this is something which I want to do. This is something which calls me for and that's where MIC has been a very bigger support from me. Apart from this, IIC at NIT Gallicard, the moment we started our journey with IIC, I became the innovation ambassador over here and I was handling the innovative projects in our campus where all the supports and guidance which I have received from ministry, I could transfer it to my juniors and colleagues and peers. If I may even address like the kind of trainings which we got in between the pivot time as well, like if I mentioned the angel investment ones, like where the leap angels gave us a workshop on what all kind of, let's say, developments we have to do in a startup, what all things we required in the initial stage and once the product is ready and all other aspects was not easily available to us, which we couldn't understand on our own. The rounds of trainings which we got from ministry and different, let's say, rounds in the webinars which we had in multiple stages from the starting towards the end has been of immense help. I would wholeheartedly thank Ministry of Education and Ministry of Innovation for providing all of these supports, Agushek said deep in self, all the people who are associated with this for providing us this support and all the mentoring which we have got as of now and we look forward to have a very long collaboration with them and share the learning experiences together. Thank you. Thanks, Vishrut. Vishrut, could you share the challenges you faced during your journey and how you overcome them? Yes, sir. As we all know, we all got stuck by COVID-19 in 2020 and that was the time I would say our startup was on the peak because we were into the development of the membrane because we had read all the papers, we were all set to start off the trials and the fabrication part of it. But the moment this got stuck, we were stuck with the things which we had in our hand and we couldn't develop the things because the lab was not available. That was one of the biggest challenge because when you try out something new, you need a curated system to work on it. But we didn't stop at that time. What we did, because as I belong from the northern side of India and my college is in the southern side, I still carried out things which were possible over here. I got support from Abhishek Sir and the team who helped me and guided me that whatever possible colleges are there in my hometown new over here, you go over there and try to develop things which were possible. So instead of the time-basting for just believing in what to do, what to do, we were actually working parallelly with the COVID-19 struggles. So that was the biggest challenge but even during that time, the supports with the team and from the ministry we had was very helpful for us for keeping us moving. I'm sure you have received some recognition for your interesting innovation. Could you share a few of them with us? Yes, sir. So in 2019, first of all, the moment we got shortlisted for the national boot camp, we were recognized by our quality itself that you are among the top innovative ideas in the campus. That was the first recognition we got parallelly to NIC 2019. Apart from that, we went for multiple competition and if I may address a few of them, one of the most proud achievement for us was amongst the top 100 innovative ideas in Kerala which was organized by Kela Startup Mission KSUM. The competition was known as Young Innovatives Program. So we got a support for three years continuous, mentoring and funding support from them, parallelly to MIC and IC part. We, apart from this, we even went for multiple idea pitching and proposal where interface 2019, we were the winners of the best idea pitching round over there. Then some organizations in Bangalore and I would say IITs as well organize, we were the participants over there as well. So we would say like, without the supports which we had at the back or the confidence which MIC has boosted in us, we wouldn't have gone to these platforms and would have got these recognitions. So whatever we have achieved as of now is just because of MIC. Pishrut, how you will ensure that your products meets quality standards? It's a very big responsibility towards our team. Because if I have to say that we are providing something which is a basic necessity of every individual in day-to-day life. What is something which we need to have in our every aspect from cooking, drinking, bathing to all domains. So when we are developing something which is a basic necessity, we have to be very careful. We have some set standards as per the government regulations. We are trying to take them as a benchmark and trying to produce the best portable parts which are achievable and trying to get the lab testing from our college in the first hand with the teams which we are having over there, apart from that the water regulation authorities were taking support from them as well to check and test the water quality which we are producing. Is it as per the standard or not? This is something which we are taking as our main objective that until and unless the water gets to the best we are not reducing the system which is good for the market until that time. Once the things get to the benchmarks which are set up by the, I will say with our team and the ministry, we would go ahead with that. Cost efficiency is also a very important aspect. How will you ensure cost efficiency of your product for the end users once it is out in the market? Yes, sir. But as I was mentioning, like the membrane we are developing, the recurring cost of membrane replacement is very less. So if I may explain this with an example of a household system. So we have RO, let's say purifiers in our home and every six months we have to change the RO membrane which is installed over there. The cost which is dealt into the replacement of it, service for a person's fee and the new membrane cost that will be going towards the half or even one fourth of it because the membrane which we are developing that would be one time cost. That once you buy a membrane that would go for minimum one to a year and it can very effectively gain itself and it will be even producing less waste as much as we are having towards the current system. So that's where the cost part of it getting reduced because the replacement cost and the recurring cost of it will be reduced by very much. Yes, MIC, AICT is providing you support. Have you received any support from other sources whether financial or otherwise? We have got support from IEDC around some 5 to 10,000 in the initial stages when we were developing. Apart from this as I mentioned that interface 2019 as we were the winners, we got some around a sum of amount of 25,000 from them. Apart from this, we have got a smaller amount of supports from different personal systems as well wherever we have gone, some Indian investors or some other people. Apart from this, TBI in IEDC has given us what's all sorts of supports, membranes which we were looking forward and the victim education support which we have got from them has been enough, I must say, for the trials and the testing which we have been doing up till now. Now we look forward to going for some investment rounds and we are trying to get some more funds into the market so that we can go further in this industry. Many young innovators are watching this session. What advice would you give to newcomers considering starting their own venture? Here's this question I remember myself. I was the first and I was like, oh, I will just try this thing. Let's see what happens. So that was something which I had an attitude towards the competitions and different, let's say, platforms which were during my undergrad time. One very important thing which I would like to give as a message to all the innovators, upcoming innovators, I must say, that always believe in yourself that you are the one who is going to bring the change. Never be insistent to share your ideas, share your thoughts, be very vocal about it because until and unless you share the idea which you're having in your mind, you will never know if that idea is even viable for the person whom you're developing it for or not. You need to understand the market and the end user whosoever is getting using your service or product form. If you understand them, you will be getting a very directive or very corrective system of service or product form. Apart from this, one very important thing is that during this entire journey of three years, I have been very patient and consistent. Never lose hope in your product. Never lose hope in your team. Always be a very good strength and a very good team leader. Try to understand the personal aspects as well apart from the professional things because your personal and professional always go parallel. Once you understand the person, you understand the problems which they are trying to go with. And once you understand all of that, they give their all the system, all the things wholeheartedly. So have some patience, have the consistency and you can do anything in the world. Very important thing, never lose hope. Vishrut, what are your future plans for the business? I'm very much excited if I may say about the product because we are almost towards the end of it because the membrane is I would say 80% ready because some testings and trials are going on. Once that gets ready, we're very much ready to go into the market and disrupt it with the best possible things which we are having in our company. Thank you so much, Vishrut. Thank you so much for joining this session. All the best for your venture. Thank you so much. Addressing world's water crisis is a collective responsibility and innovative technology will play a crucial role. To ensure a brighter future for generations to come, Vishrut and his team is leading the way towards a world where fresh water is no longer a scarcity. In the upcoming episode of ChangeMaker, we will have the opportunity to interact with another inspiring innovator. Until then, namaskar, jahind.