How Faridabad boy got World Health Summit Startup Award 2018

Faridabad boy Roopam Sharma, 23, has a never-say-die attitude that helped him win World Health Summit Startup Award 2018 at Berlin
The desire to help the visually challenged triggered the social inventor in Roopam Sharma, who is now based in Washington DC as a Halcyon fellow. The 23-year-old scientist won the World Health Summit Startup Award 2018 in Berlin for his invention - Manovue - considered the world's first intelligent personal assisting system for the visually impaired.
The multiutility device - which was earlier awarded the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2015 and Yahoo Accenture Innovation Jockeys season 4-eliminates the need for Braille language to decipher a printed text."It functions as a wearable glove and has an integrated mobile phone app, to help the visually impaired read printed text through touch," says Roopam, who was also the youngest and one of the top eight innovators under 35 by the MIT Tech Review in 2016. More recently, he was conferred with the National Youth Award by the President of India, an accolade which he feels is a dream come true.
Manovue is an inexpensive technology to replace the 200-year-old Braille language. "Unfortunately, 4% of the world's population has problems with their vision. Three years ago, while researching on colour blindness, I had a profound moment when I thought to myself what it would be like to live in complete darkness. It also brought home the realisation that for someone living in poverty in India, the impact of blindness is extremely serious," Roopam says.

As his startup team at Eyeluminati interviewed close to 200 individuals, Braille's considerable shortcomings came to light, be it difficulty in language learning or the high cost and unavailability of Braille books.
"In India, which hosts around 75 million visually impaired people, less than 1% of the community has Braille literacy. Eyeluminati wants to change this," adds Roopam.
COLLEGE DAYS
Pursuing research, being a scientist and going to the US was never Roopam's plan. During his early years in college in the branch of Computer Science and Engineering at Manav Rachna, some of his teammates at Eyeluminati remembered him as a fashion model doing ramp walks.
"I wanted to be a fashion model, but since I was not from a strong socio-economic background, was compelled to think in terms of a job," recalls Roopam, who joined the college innovation centre because the students who worked there got better job offers.
"I practised initial coding, research and development at this centre. However, after a few real life experiences I transited from being a developer to a social inventor and decided to work full-time on my social project. I faced initial resistance from my teachers, family and university but regained their support with the recognition that poured in," says Roopam.
FELLOWSHIP
Presently, his fellowship at the Halcyon is "a once in a lifetime experience" since it offers the space, community, and access that make it possible to bring a social enterprise to life. "I receive business coaching and leadership development training and most importantly, priceless connections to mentors and fellow social entrepreneurs sharing the experience," he says, recommending the programme to Indian researchers and entrepreneurs.
His advice to students and budding entrepreneurs is to be consistent. "It is not about creating companies or writing papers but the impact that your work creates. If you are doing good quality work, you will certainly find support. Keep looking and if you can dream of it, you can do it," he says.
CHALLENGES
His life as a social entrepreneur has had its fair share of challenges though. "Initially, when I talked about social impact, people laughed at me since it was something that would not give big revenues. I was asked to take up a job or careers in enterprises. But making money was never on my agenda and altruism gave me satisfaction," Roopam says.
Looking back, he feels the experience was worthwhile. "I was once a 19-year-old boy who wanted to educate the visually challenged. The journey to achieve and build an invention like Manovue has been hard. I have spent months in my research lab sleeping on the floor just to meet the deadlines. Persevering in those situations and embracing the pain has made me stronger as a person," Roopam confides.