Tiruchy: Smart India hackathon finals begin at NIT-T

TIRUCHY: The National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (NIT-T), one of the nodal centres selected by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD),  is hosting the two-day grand finale of ‘Smart India Hackathon (SIH2019) Software Edition’ on Saturday and Sunday here.

A NIT-T release said that the event is the world's biggest open Innovation model, software competition and is a part of a nationwide initiative of the MHRD to involve the brains trust of the nation, the technology-savvy students, to come up with innovative and feasible solutions to industry-related problems.

This is the third edition of the Hackathon initiated by MHRD to unveil the unique expertise of the young minds of India. This year’s edition has more than 1,300 teams (eight members per team) racing against the clock, in 48 different centres in India, to come up with practical solutions in under 36 hours, it added.

The release said that the NIT-T is hosting eight problem statements provided by the   Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) and Chennai District Small Scale Industries Association (CDISSIA).  

The exuberant 32 teams encompassing 121 boys and 77 girls from various institutions across the country along with two mentors representing each institute, are participating in the Grand finale hosted in NIT-T The Grand finale was inaugurated by the chief guest Mr. S. P. Jayanthan, regional director, Temenos India Pvt. Ltd. Chennai, in the presence of Dr Mini Shaji Thomas, director of NIT-T, dean (SW), Dr Samson Mathew , Dr Bhasker, Mr. Raman Narasimhan, vice  president, CTS and Mr. Abhijeet Khandagale, MHRD Representative, Dr. Anand Deshpande, chairman and MD, Persistent Systems, Higher Education Secretary, R Subramaniam and others.

The Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, addressed the nodal centres and the student teams, after inaugurating the event through video conferencing, the release added.