New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has announced that the much awaited Smart India Hackathon 2017 Grand Finale is scheduled to be held on April 1 & 2, 2017 simultaneously at 26 different nodal centers across India. ICMR is a ‘Premier Partner’ in this initiative. Launched on Nov 9, 2016 in New Delhi, Smart India Hackathon 2017 harnesses creativity & expertise of students, builds funnel for ‘Startup India, Standup India’ campaign, crowd sources solutions for improving governance and quality of life, and extends/ give opportunity to citizens to provide innovative solutions to India’s daunting problems.
Here is a quick snapshot of details pertaining to ICMR department:
Problem Statements proposed
Ideas received
Shortlisted
Teams for Grand Finale
No. of Youngsters Competing in Grand Finale
Nodal Center for Grand Finale
ICMR, MoHFW
28
238
37
296
Kolkata, West Bengal
Overall Event
598
7531
1266
10000+
Dr SoumyaSwaminathan, Secretary, DHR & DG, ICMR said this was a wonderful experiment to tap young minds to solve the country’s problem.
Smart India Hackathon 2017 is expected to become the ‘world’s biggest open innovation model’ that other countries can replicate: Since Hackathon as a concept is new to India, AICTE arranged 26 awareness workshops across India to sensitize students about Smart India Hackathon 2017. These workshops helped connect students to the problems of our nation. Out of the 7531 idea submissions received for the 598 problems posted by 29 govt. departments, 1266 ideas have been shortlisted for the ‘Grand Finale’ on April 1 & 2, 2017, during which these teams will work nonstop for 36 hours to build products based on their ideas, across 26 locations in India. For the first time, 10,000+ youngsters (6 students & 2 mentors per team) will work non-stop for 36 hours to develop products for our nation. To ensure the success of Smart India Hackathon 2017, multiple online training sessions have been organized for training 30,000+ students.