Grand finale of 3rd edition of Smart India Hackathon to be held on March 2, 3

The grand finale of the third edition of Smart India Hackathon (Software Edition) will be held on March 2 and 3, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the event, officials at the HRD Ministry said Friday.

Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said in the SIH 2019, students would have the opportunity to work on challenges faced within the private sector organisations and create world class solutions for some of the top companies in the world, thus helping the private sector hire the best minds from across the nation.

The SIH is the largest ever Hackathon in the world and the only one to be held at the national level, he said in a video message.

HRD Higher Education Secretary R Subrahmanyam said the SIH 2019 will be held at 48 nodal centres across the country simultaneously.

He said the SIH 2019 will be even bigger and better than the SIH 2018.

"As compared to about 17,400 entries during the SIH 2018 from over one lakh students, this year more than 52,000 entries from over 34,000 teams from over two lakh students have been received," Subrahmanyam said.

More than 500 problem statements have been received, including from several prestigious private sector organisations, and the grand finale will see more than 1,300 teams (eight participants per team) competing non-stop for 36 hours across 48 different centres in India, he added.