IIM to host 'Coopathon' from Apr 29

Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K) will host the country's first-ever "Coopathon" at its campus here from April 29, to discuss issues faced by the cooperative sector.

The hackathon to be held on the sidelines of the three-day international conference on "Co-operatives in the Changing World of Work", will feature various themes including e-governance, member management and communication management in co-operatives.

The event is organised by Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society Ltd (ULCCS) in association with International Co-operative Alliance, International Labour Organisation, IIM-K and Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM).

The conference is co-funded by ICA-EU Partnership on Co-operatives in Development, People Centred Businesses in Action and supported by the ICA Domus Trust, an IIM-K release said.

Three selected ideas at the "Coopathon", will be presented before the delegates from large and small cooperatives from more than 20 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, it said.

A cash prize of Rs 60,000 will be presented to the winners along with support from KSUM for developing the ideas and solutions into start-ups.

"Organisations need to adopt newer technologies to continue delivering value. Industry or theme-specific hackathons like the Coopathon can help tech start-ups and cooperatives ideate together to create great products," KSUM, CEO Dr Saji Gopinath said in the release.