Yes, about 10,000 engineering students are doing the same. These students are right now in the middle of a 36-hour hackathon which aims to generate 25,000 startups in addition to finding digital solutions to the problems of 29 union ministries and government departments to add to their efficiency and transparency in a big way.
An initiative by the Government of India, Smart India Hackathon, is the world’s biggest ever open innovation model. Spread across various cities in India, the event also aims to enter the Guinness Book of World Records and Limca Book of Records as the world’s biggest Hackathon till date with 360,000 hours of continuous innovation effort by 10,000 students for 36 hours.
The 29 participating ministries will be picking three winners each and awarding cash prizes of 3.5 lakh to the winners at the Grand Finale today. The government will also be deploying these winning solutions, giving the winners a chance to convert their ideas into start-ups.“To ensure that solutions for change are achieved through the hackathon, we have a team of over 30 staff member and students volunteering through the 36 hours span and aiding the participants.
We also have coordinators working round the clock to address issues and manage the event. This being an event of a large scale, we are trying to achieve the most we can from it, ”says Rajendra Sharma from New Delhi Institute of Management, which had been appointed as the official Nodal centre for the Hackathon in Delhi. “This is a unique event and while trying to bring changes that impact various sectors we are also aiming to create a world record at the same time. All of us at NDIM believe that such initiatives are key to social change and are happy to play a key role in it.”
