Through Smart India Hackathon We Hope to Create ‘World’s Biggest Open Innovation Model’ That Other Countries Can Replicate- HRD Minister

Through Smart India Hackathon We Hope to Create ‘World’s Biggest Open Innovation Model’ That Other Countries Can Replicate- HRD Minister 

Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar today interacted with the media here in New Delhi about the ‘Smart India Hackathon 2017’ which has already been launched in collaboration with i4c, MyGov, Persistent Systems, NASSCOM and Rambhau Mhalgi Pabodini.

Speaking on the occasion the Minister detailed out the uniqueness of this initiative and said  “the scale and reach of Smart India Hackathon 2017 is unprecedented, for the first time so many different ministries/departments came together, and posted their 598 problems for students seeking innovative solutions”

He said ‘Smart India Hackathon 2017’  has been launched  to build Digital India of our dreams and to engage our youth directly with nation building. About 30 different Govt departments/ministries are involved as partners eg. Ministry of Railways, External affairs, Steel, Postal Services, ISRO, NCPCR, etc. For the first time, govt. departments were directly engaging with students and challenging them to build digital solutions to improve their efficiency, plug revenue leakages and corruption.

Shri Javadekar said  that Smart India Hackathon 2017 will be 36 hrs non-stop digital product development competition during which teams of thousands of technology students will build innovative digital solutions for the problems posted by 29 different central govt. ministries/ departments e.g. Ministry of Railways, External Affairs, Ministry of Defense, ISRO, Ministry of Tourism, Dept. of Atomic Energy, etc.  The ‘Grand Finale’ of Smart India Hackathon 2017 will be organized, simultaneously across 26 different cities and the winners will get support for converting their ideas into startups apart from cash prizes.

The minister said  through Smart India Hackathon we hope to create ‘world’s biggest open innovation model’ that other countries can replicate. 

Shri Javadekar further said that the  concept of Hackathon is still new in India, so AICTE has  arranged 26 awareness workshops across India to sensitize  students about Smart India Hackathon 2017. These workshops helped connect students with problems of our nation. 

The minister said for 598 problems posted by 29 govt. department, we received ideas from 7531 teams (each team has 6 students and 2 mentors, Total 42,000+ participants) from 2100+ colleges across India. We have even received entries from Andaman. 

Also, out of 7531 teams, 1266 teams (per team 8 members, 10,000 participants) are shortlisted for the ‘Grand Finale’ on 1^stand 2^nd April 2017, during which these teams will work nonstop for 36 hours to build products based on their ideas across 26 locations in India.  For the first time, 10,000 youngsters will work non-stop for 36 to develop products for our nation.

We have multiple prizes worth Rs. 50 lakhs for students but more importantly, we hope the participating ministries will adopt many of the products developed during the Grand Finale. Moreover, we also expect NASSCOM and other funding agencies like AICTE, DST, DBT and ICMR to select best ideas and support them to convert into startups, Shri Javadekar added..    

He said to ensure the success of Smart India Hackathon 2017, we are also doing multiple online training sessions for students

and for the first time, we hope to train more than 30,000 students through these online training sessions. For the first time, we hope to train more than 30,000 students through these online training sessions.

The minister hoped  that Smart India Hackathon 2017 will be certainly world’s biggest Hackathon till date. We hope that our initiative also enters into ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ and Limca Book of Records.

More importantly, ‘Smart India Hackathon 2017’ will establish the model of using our demographic dividend (student community) for national development, Shri Javadekar further added..

SMART INDIA HACKATHON 2017 AT A GLANCE

Total Number of Departments participating	29 ( and NIC + MyGOV for Tech support)
Departments giving problem statements	29
Number of Problem Statements Given	598
Total Number of Teams sending entries	7531
Number of Participants Per team	6
Number of Students applying	40,000+
Total Number of Colleges participated	2183
Total Number of Teams shortlisted  for Hackathon	1266 in List 1 and 75 in List 2
Team confirmed participation	1268
Total Teams with  Mentors	1058 (some team still do not have mentors)
Mentor  (2 Mentors per selected Team)	2110
Total participants during Grand Finale	Approx.9500 to 10,000

State	No. of Teams	No. of teams selected
Andaman and Nicobar Islands	2	1
Andhra Pradesh	506	80
Arunachal Pradesh	4	1
Assam	27	5
Bihar	22	6
Chhattisgarh	97	18
Delhi	221	59
Goa	48	15
Gujarat	359	64
Haryana	182	32
Himachal Pradesh	13	2
Jammu and Kashmir	31	6
Jharkhand	35	8
Karnataka	429	71
Kerala	249	40
Madhya Pradesh	292	43
Maharashtra	1197	269
Manipur	7	1
Meghalaya	5	0
Odisha	119	28
Punjab	180	33
Rajasthan	305	56
Sikkim	11	0
Tamil Nadu	1990	263
Telangana	332	58
Uttar pradesh	292	79
Uttarakhand	24	6
West Bengal	138	22
Blank	19	0

Source | www.pib.nic.in

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Librarian

Rizvi Institute of Management