Smart India Hackathon- 2019 (Hardware Edition) Grand Finale at IIT Delhi

New Delhi: The Grand Finale of 2nd part of the Smart India Hackathon-2019 (Hardware Edition) is being conducted from 8th to 12th July, 2019 at 18 nodal centres in 9 states, one Union Territory and one Capital Territory of India.

The first part of Smart India Hackathon 2019, (Software Edition) was conducted on 2nd – 3rd March 2019.

The Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon (SIH) -2019 (Hardware Edition) was inaugurated by the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ in New Delhi today.

The Union HRD Minister and MoS HRD Sh. Sanjay Dhotre interacted with the students participating in the Grand Finale at various nodal centres through video conferencing from New Delhi.

Speaking on the occasion the Minister said that Smart India Hackathon (SIH) – 2019 is a right platform where students’ innovators can develop smart solution to day to day problems. He said that through research, innovation and appropriate use of technology we can become a highly advanced, developed and prosperous nation.

Shri Pokhriyal informed that it is the third consecutive year of Smart India Hackathon, the World’s Largest Open Hackathon and we are growing each year in terms of participation and solutions. He congratulated the participating students and officials of HRD Ministry and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for this grand initiative for the betterment of the country.

While addressing the gathering, the Minister of State for HRD, Shri Sanjay Dhotre said that Smart India Hackathon is an initiative of HRD Ministry in line with the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in making a New India. He said that in this Hackathon “Out of Box Thinking” of students will bring out technology based, easy, workable solutions, which will lead to commercial products to develop start-ups.

Inaugurating the Smart India Hackathon 2019 at IIT Delhi (one of the nodal centres), Prof V Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi said, “Engineering is all about solving problems using optimal resources. A multi-disciplinary approach is the key to find a solution to a problem. Learning to work in a team on a problem that has a relevance for the society or an industry, is a huge a learning experience by itself. I am happy that the Smart India Hackathon provides students with such an experience.”

On this occasion Prof PVM Rao, Head of Design Innovation Centre, IIT Delhi; Ms. Selvarani, MHRD; and Prof Srinivasan Venkataraman (SIH 2019 IIT Delhi Coordinator) from Dept of Design were also present.
SIH was started in the year 2017, with participation of around 50000 students, in year 2018 around one lakh students participated. This year, the magnitude has grown bigger; around two lakh students have participated this year.

More than 1.2 Lac students from 2235 colleges sent their entries for 198 problem statements, submitted by more than 40 industries and 9 Central government ministries and various Government Departments.

In the Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon 2019 (Hardware Edition), around 2000 participants from 250 teams of 178 different colleges are participating, including IITs and NITs.

These teams will provide innovative hardware solutions for 124 problems. In Nee India, the participation of female candidates is enthusiastic this year, the ratio of male and female is 1.6: 1.

In Smart India Hackathon 2019 (Hardware Edition), problems are broadly based on Agriculture & Rural Development, Food Technology, Waste management, Clean Water, Renewable Energy, Healthcare & Biomedical Devices, Smart Vehicles, Robotics and Drones, Security & Surveillance, Smart Communication, Sports and Fitness, Sustainable Environment, Smart Textile, Smart Cities areas.

At IIT Delhi, 16 college teams from Pondicherry Engineering College, Chennai Institute of Technology, Datta Meghe College of Engineering, National Institute of Science & Technology, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Sri Krishna College of Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Sethu Institute of Technology, C.V. Raman College of Engineering, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Sardar Patel Institute of Technology, Jaipur Engineering College and Research Centre, Swami Keshvanand Institute of Technology, Management & Gramothan, Shri Guru Gobind Singhji Institute of Engineering and Technology, St. Joseph’s College of Engineering and Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology will work on one of the seven problem statements proposed by Hero Electric Vehicles Ltd., Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., Ministry of AYUSH and Yamaha Motor Solutions India Pvt. Ltd, for 5 days and are expected to develop and demonstrate the working of the product developed.

The 16 teams consist of 75 male and 31 female participants from Odisha, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Pondicherry.

A Jury comprising of faculty members from IIT Delhi, heads of successful IIT Delhi incubated start-ups, and experts from industries, with expertise in electromechanical/electronics/mechanical engineering, will monitor the progress of all the teams, and accordingly, decide the winners in various categories

Depending upon nature of problem, cash prizes for selected ideas and solutions will be given to participating teams. For simple problems Rs. 50,000; for complicated problems Rs. 75,000 and for complex problems Rs. 1 lac will be awarded.

More About Smart India Hackathon (SIH): Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2019 is a nationwide initiative of the Innovation Cell of Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt of India, to provide students a platform to solve some of the pressing problems people face in their daily lives. It is expected that this will, over a course of time, inculcate a culture of innovation and a mindset of problem solving, in students.

In SIH, problem statements under various themes are shared by several industries and ministries. For these problem statements, teams of students from various colleges and universities in India develop conceptual solutions, prototypes and products, and further test them. This hackathon happens in multiple stages. In the first round, the teams are shortlisted based on the description of their solutions for the problem identified. In the second round, the teams are shortlisted based on the short videos of the prototypes they have developed. This evaluation is also done by the industry or organisation that provides the problem statement.

In the final round, the shortlisted teams are invited to one of the Nodal Centres depending on the problem statement and indulge in building products for close to 5 days.