IIT Roorkee Hosts Grand Finale Of Smart India Hackathon 2019 Hardware Edition

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee is a nodal center for the Grand Finale of the Smart India Hackathon 2019 Hardware Edition. The event is being organized by MHRD innovation cell (MIC) and hosted at the Tinkering Lab, IIT Roorkee from July 8th to July 12th, 2019.

The inaugural ceremony of the grand finale was inaugurated by the Chief Guest Mukesh Goyal, Associate VP & Plant-Head, Haridwar & Vadodara Plant, Hero Motocorp Ltd and Chairman, CII, State Council and Vice Chairman, QCFI.

Smart India Hackathon 2019 is a nationwide initiative that provides students a platform to solve some of the most critical problems faced in our daily lives, and thus inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mindset of problem-solving.

The event was further inaugurated through video conferencing by Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Minister of HRD with other dignitaries including Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, AS (TE) & CVO, MHRD; Dr Anand Deshpande, Chairman and MD, Persistent Systems Ltd; Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE; Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre, Minister of State, HRD; Dr Abhay Jere, Chief Innovation Officer, MHRD’s Innovation Cell;  Ajit K. Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee; M. Parida, Deputy Director; Manish Shrikhande, Dean SRIC;  Akshay Dvivedi, Coordinator and SPOC, SIH-2019, officials from MHRD and designers were present during the inaugural session.

Smart India Hackathon started in the year 2017, with participation of around 50000 students, in year 2018 around one lac students participated. This year, the magnitude has grown bigger; around two lakh students have participated this year. The first part of Smart India Hackathon 2019, Software edition was conducted on 2nd - 3rd March 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi did live two-way interaction with students through webcasting.

Dr Mohit Gambhir, Director MHRD Innovation Cell and Coordinator Smart India Hackathon 2019 said, "In smart India Hackathon 2019 Hardware Edition, more than 1.2 Lakh students from 2235 colleges sent their entries for 198 problem statements, submitted by more than 40 industries and 9 Central Government Ministries and various Government Departments. In the Grand finale of Smart India Hackathon 2019 Hardware Edition, around 2000 participants from 250 teams of 178 different colleges are participating, including IIT’s and NIIT’s".

In this edition, problems are broadly based on Agriculture & Rural Development, Food Technology, Waste management, Clean Water, Renewable Energy, Healthcare & Biomedical devices, Smart Vehicles, Robotics and Drones, Security & Surveillance, Smart Communication, Sports and Fitness, Sustainable Environment, Smart Textile, Smart Cities areas.

"We are happy that this event is happening at IIT Roorkee. We will be having a large number of participants from all over the country. This platform plays an important role for students who want to tackle the problems we face in our daily lives and also in business and industry. The event lets them come up innovative ideas to solve them", said Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee.

Depending upon nature of the problem, cash prizes for selected ideas and solutions will be given to participating teams. For simple problems Rs. 50000, for complicate problems Rs. 75000 and for complex problems Rs. 1 lakh will be awarded.

The entire event will be captured and telecast live at the National Level. Teams will have yoga sessions every morning and the benefit of cultural events including Zumba every evening. The event will also witness intermittent leadership talks.

“The participants should be prepared to develop disruptive techniques so that India can shine globally. MHRD and IIT Roorkee are doing wonderful work for the same. We will like to collaborate with IIT Roorkee for technology development and also for similar initiatives”, expressed Mukesh Goyal, Chief Guest, Associate VP & Plant-Head, Haridwar & Vadodara Plant, Hero MotoCorp Ltd.

To make it big as last year, Prime Minister may also join over VC and interact with the participants. In addition, HRD Minister will also address the participating teams during the program.