Over two lakh students have participated in the annual Smart India Hackathon organised by the MHRD innovation cell (MIC). This is twice the number of registrations from last year. In 2017, the maiden year of the programme, 50,000 students from across the country participated in the same. The hosting institute this year is IIT-Roorkee. Beginning today July 8 (Monday) - the Smart India Hackathon will conclude on July 12 (Friday). The annual innovation event was inaugurated by the Minister of HRD Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', via web-conferencing. Dr Mohit Gambhir, Director MHRD Innovation Cell and co-ordinator Smart India Hackathon 2019 said, "In smart India Hackathon 2019 Hardware Edition, more than 1.2 lakh students from 2,235 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, around 2,000 participants from 250 teams of 178 different colleges are participating, including IIT’s and NIIT’s." Read| New interdisciplinary course in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence: BEg Mechatronic can help you be a cobotisist In this edition, problems on which students need to innovate are broadly based on agriculture and rural development, food technology, waste management, clean water, renewable energy, healthcare and biomedical devices, smart vehicles, robotics and drones, security and surveillance, smart communication, sports and fitness, sustainable environment, smart textile and smart cities areas. Depending upon the nature of the problem, cash prizes for selected ideas and solutions will be given to participating teams. For simple problems Rs 50,000, for complicate problems Rs 75,000 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 cultural events including Zumba every evening. The event will also witness intermittent leadership talks.
