SP Mandali’s Prin LN Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research (WeSchool) hosted a 36-hour non-stop Smart India Hackathon in Mumbai recently. The Day-1 of the event saw over 180 participants from across nine states in India, who converged for tech solutions at the WeSchool campus in Mumbai.
Smart India Hackathon 2019 is a nationwide initiative which aims to provide students a platform to solve some of the pressing problems we face in our daily lives and to inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mind-set of problem solving. This is an initiative by Ministry of HRD, AICTE, Persistent Systems, i4c and Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini.
WeSchool is the only B-School in Maharashtra which is associated with the Smart India Hackathon. The institute hosted the Smart India Hackathon-Software Edition, Grand Finale, for the third year in a row.
Some 28 student groups participated in the event from Maharashtra, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Women power
In an effort to support women in a male-dominated tech domain, ARCS, a female-only team consisting of students from MKSS’s Cummins College of Engineering for Women, Pune, and Team Tech Enchantresses from GSSS Institute of Engineering and Technology for Women participated in the competition.
These student groups worked on designing executable software solutions for problem statements presented by a leading FMCG brand and a leading pharmaceutical brand. They worked on their assigned problem statements in areas such as waste management, smart communication, software–mobile app development for AR/VR experience for products, security and surveillance in supply chain and life sciences.
For Smart India Hackathon 2019, some of the themes for problem statements were on smart communications, healthcare and biomedical devices, agriculture and rural development, robotics and drones, waste management. This annual event engages around one lakh technical students, 3,000 technical institutions and over 200 organisations in the national space.
The Smart India Hackathon 2019 was inaugurated by Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar via a video speech in Delhi, along with Prof Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Anand Deshpande, Chairman and MD, Persistent Systems and Co-Chair, Organising Committee, Smart India Hackathon 2019.
Software solutions
“Smart India Hackathon is an attempt to ensure India is a torchbearer in the field of innovation. The world’s largest Hackathon is encouraging Gen Z to collaborate and solve problems. Each student present here is excited to accomplish as they work on real-time problems. Their innovation will contribute in the growth and development of India as a nation,” said Prakash Javadekar.
Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) said, “It is extremely heartening to see the participation for Smart India Hackathon increase steadily over the last three years. This year, we have received over 55,000 entries from over 2 lakh participants, of which 1,400 teams have been selected for the final round. Smart India Hackathon has gained credibility not only in India but all over the world.”
Prof Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, WeSchool, said: “The platform gives students an opportunity to bring forth their creativity and up the ante, thereby facilitating collaboration, exchange of ideas and rapid development of software solutions — all in the duration of 36 hours. Such events also pave way for students to interact with the industry to take their ideas to the next level.”