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Kumbhathon Nashik A Year Round Innovation Platform Inspired through brainstorming about social challenges and how local human capital could solve them Professor Ramesh Raskar of the MIT Media Lab initiated week-long innovation camps or buildathons in India. In July 2013 the team ran their rst camp in Hyderabad India. In January 2014 they ran one in Mumbai. In July 2014 they ran their rst camp in Nashik Rameshs hometown. The program in Nashik came to be called Kumbhathon. So far the MIT team has run 5 Kumbhathon camps in Nashik to accelerate idea creation development and deployment. Nashik Maharashtra India is the 16th fastest growing city in the world. Every 12 years Nashik hosts the Kumbh. During the Kumbh Mela Nashik was the most populous city on the planet For almost two years the MIT team and Kumbhathon innovators worked closely with members of the broader ecosystem. Elected government ofcials and administrators in the City of Nashik were particularly critical to the success of the Kumbhathon and the Kumbh Mela. They helped to identify and rene Kumbhathon challenges that were of high priority to its citizens. They provided access to data guided the development of prototypes and facilitated the implementation on the ground in context. At Kumbhathon5 the fth Kumbhathon in July 2015 teams worked with increasing sense of purpose to nalize their prototypes and prepare to launch them. In August several were ready and able to be deployed live. The solutions addressed many of the governments key concerns safety hygiene health food distribution navigation and transportation and accommodation. The Kumbhathon is an opportunity for teams of engineers business people and designers in order to create together with local stakeholders. Teams collaborate with government ofcials to understand local needs and get access to necessary data with local academics to learn and rene their skills with business leaders to consider market rollout and with MIT researchers to make the solutions technically robust. Collaboration continues throughout the year.