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IIT Kharagpur is hosting the Grand Finale of the Smart India Hackathon 2019, Software Edition on March 2-3, 2019. This year 186 students from various colleges including 6 from IIT Kharagpur will be participating in the event. Another 36 students from the Institute will be participating at other editions of SIH2019 hosted by ISRO, Adani group etc.
Shri Prakash Javadekar, Hon’ble Minister of Human Resources Development will announce the start of the Smart India Hackathon 2019 on March 2. A live interaction session with the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi has been scheduled later in the day.
SIH is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resources Development to provide students with a platform to solve some of pressing problems we face in our daily lives, and thus inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mindset of problem-solving. The last edition of the hackathon saw over 5 million+ students from various engineering colleges compete for the top prize at 35+ locations.
SIH 2019 includes themes such as Smart Communication, Smart Vehicles, Agriculture & Rural Development, Food Technology, Healthcare & Biomedical Devices, Clean Water, Waste Management, Renewable Energy, Robotics and Drones, Security & Surveillance, technology ideas in tertiary sectors like Hospitality, Financial Services, Entertainment, Tourism and Retail.
While the students will compete for a marathon coding event to develop unique solutions in the thematic areas, they will be mentored by professionals from the Ministry.
The participating students would have the opportunity to work on challenges faced within the private sector organisations and create world-class solutions for some of the top companies in the world, thus helping the industries hire the best minds from across the nation.
Student participants can further apply for research internship opportunities at IIT Kharagpur confirmed the program coordinator.
“Smart India Hackathon with its massive scale, reach, mentorship and follow up are building a new culture of innovation in our higher education system which will have far-reaching effects on the future generations. IIT Kharagpur is extremely happy and privileged to be involved in this new paradigm of at all levels from Coordinating the programme in the last two years and hosting the Grand Finale events,” said Prof. P P Chakrabarti, Director, IIT Kharagpur and Chairman of the event.
Incubation facility could be offered to form startups based on the technological and economic feasibility and market acceptance.