3rd Smart India Hackathon open to private organisations: Javadekar

Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday said that for the first time, the third edition of "Smart India Hackathon 2019" will be made open to private organisations and NGOs seeking digital solutions for real-life problems.

"We have been doing it for two years. For the first time, we will ask private industry people if they have any unsolved problems to participate," Javadekar said after launching the SIH 2019.

SIH 2019 is a nationwide initiative that provide students a platform to solve some real-life issues by offering technical solutions.

The Minister said that in this edition, over one lakh students from around 3,000 institutions including students from IIScs, IITs, NITs and AICTE- and UGC-approved institutions will also compete to creatively solve problems and offer technical solutions.

"While students would get a chance to create world-class solutions for some of the top organisations in the world, it would also be a chance for organisations to meet the brightest young minds and brand themselves from hiring perspective," he said.

Like its prequel, SIH 2019 will also have two sub-editions -- Software edition (a 36-hour software product development competition) and Hardware edition (a 5-day-long hardware product development competition).

SIH 2017 saw problem statements coming from 29 Union ministries of India. Out of the top ideas from this edition, 20 projects were mentored and creatively developed which are now ready for hand over to the concerned ministries and deployment.

SIH 2018 involves 27 Union ministries and 17 state governments and for the first time introduced a special Hardware edition.

According to the HRD ministry, the ministries are now in the process of shortlisting some of the best ideas from the 200-plus winning teams (under both software and hardware editions) and the process of mentoring and developing full-fledged solutions will soon be kick-started.

--IANS

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