ADB feels proud to initiate and support this event of Hackathon via our Technical Assistance Project: Accelerating Sanitation for All in Asia and the Pacific, and contribute to the topical issue of sanitation management, and safety and dignity of sanitation workers in Nepal in particular. We thank you all the stakeholders and partners, including GoN/DWSSM/PMO, NAST, RAN and, most importantly, our consultants: Shanker Dhakal and Deepak Pandey and the firms: ITN-BUET and IDS Nepal-NEFEJ JV for working hard to materialize the goals of the project. We look forward to having the Startup Company on board soon via this Hackathon, and we welcome you to the team in advance!

Saswati G. Belliappa (Project Team Leader at ADB HQ) and Shiva Prasad Paudel (Project Team Leader at ADB NRM)-Asian Development Bank

As an autonomous and leading institute of STI and R&D sector for the Government of Nepal, NAST has been involved for decades in a number of ways to promote science, technology and innovation in Nepal. That involves independent research and publication activities through our in-house pool of researchers and scientists, external research and thesis grants, outreach and capacity building programs at schools and colleges including ICT, promotion of innovation culture in Nepal through media advocacy, and developing technological products at times of needs of the country, such as those to combat COVID-19 pandemic during the health emergency in Nepal. In line with our vision, mission and regular activities, we are pleased to be lately requested by the ADB/DWSSM/PMO to partner in this Hackathon as the Co-Host. We revisit that we have lately developed a platform for all innovators to showcase their initiatives and get connected to each other, donor or investment partners and the industry, called National Innovation Digital Network (NIDN) thanks to our partners of the project, and I believe it can be a supporting platform for the promotion of this Hackathon event as well as to the innovators registered to the network. As usual our support and contributions in such activities in support of S&T promotion and STI ecosystem in Nepal will be unconditional. We are ready for any mentoring and evaluation support for the prospective innovators/startup companies on behalf of the organizers, and encourage all interested to apply for the Call for Startup Company/Hackathon event as a part of the ADB TA 9897 Project for Sanitation Workers. We welcome you all to NAST, the venue for Hackathon in advance. In passing we really wish to see it as successful if not more as our recent NAST/NIDN events: The First National Innovation Conference, and other STI promotional activities.

Dr. Rabindra Prasad Dhakal (Chief of Faculty of Technology, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, Coordinator of NIDN and the Coordinator of Jury Pane for the Hackathon)- GoN/MoWS/DWSSM/PMO - Co-Host

Thanks to ADB for our decades-long continued partnership in the sector of water supply and sanitation management, we have been contributing significantly and innovatively to this sector through infrastructures and capacity building activities. And it is an immense pleasure for us to also be involved as the Government partner and PMO to facilitate this small grant of TA 9897 Project on Accelerating Sanitation for All in Asia and the Pacific, featuring action research activities towards protecting the important issues of safety and dignity of sanitation workers. Thank you to all the supporting hands including the Social Engineer for the Project and Focal Person for the Hackathon for putting so much of intelligence and diligence in putting together the preparations for this event of Hackathon and bringing it to this stage of maturity. We strongly encourage potential innovators and young engineers’ teams in the form of startup companies with the requirements stipulated in the TOR/SOP of the Startup Company/Hackathon to participate and benefit from this valuable grant.We hope to see promising ideas coming in the Hackathon and leading to their development and piloting in the nominated towns with the help of the grant. As the Host of the event, we are always there to support you.

Tiresh Prasad Khatri (Joint Secretary at GoN/MoWS), Ramakanta Duwadi (DG at DWSSM), and Ratna Prasad Lamichhane (PD at PMO) - DWSSM/PMO

On behalf of the organizers, I would like to encourage and welcome all prospective innovators and startup companies to apply to this Call for Startup Company (Hackathon), showcase your portfolio, team and ideas, get financially supported to translate your ideas into ready-to-use products via an attractive and prestigious grant followed by their pilot demonstration in two of the cities of Nepal viz. Bharatpur and Nepalgunj. Let’s collaborate with several prestigious partners of the Hackaton in the broader goal of enhancing the dignity and safety of sanitation workers of Nepal through local technological development, identification of the best-practice and appropriate modern equipment, and their technology transfer. I hope that this collaboration supports the bigger mission of innovation entrepreneurship and building the STI ecosystem in Nepal. Together we can!

Dr. Shanker Dhakal (Social Engineer for the Project and Focal Person for Hackathon)- Focal Person of the Hackathon

Welcome to the ADB Sanitation Hackathon. We are very happy to work with robotics and tech startups in this tech hackathon. Since Science, Technology and Innovation are the pillars for the development of Nepal, we are excited to develop and promote Robotics and AI Technologies. Robotics Association of Nepal is committed to its mission of Create a Robotics Industry in Nepal by 2030. As we are supporting this event as an innovation management partner overseeing all the pre-event, event and post-event activities and their logistics too, please do not hesitate to ask us for any help and support.

Er.Bikash Gurung, President, Robotics Association of Nepal (The Innovation Event Management Partner)