5-day Smart India Hackathon concludes at Chitkara University

The grand finale of Smart India Hackathon (SIH) held at Chitkara University in collaboration with Innovation Cell, Ministry of Education, Government of India concluded on August 29, 2022. Chitkara University was selected as the nodal centre for this 5-day-long Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2022 Hardware Edition.

SIH is a nationwide initiative by Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell to provide students a platform to solve the pressing problems of the government, ministries, departments, industries, and other organizations. As part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell and All India Council for Technical Education identified 75 higher educational institutes as nodal centers to host the SIH.

Shri Kamal Kishor Yadav, IAS, Director, Information and Public Relations, Punjab, presided over the valedictory event as chief guest and was accompanied by Dr. Madhu Chitkara, Pro-Chancellor, Chitkara University, as the guest of honour Mr. Nitin Kumar, appointed as Nodal Centre Head, from Ministry of Education`s Innovation Cell was also present with other dignitaries.

As many as 15 teams with 105 participants competed in 3 Problem Statements given by the Ministry of Home Affairs at Chitkara University. The judges selected 4 winners who were awarded Rs 1 lakh each, with 2 teams sharing the prize money.

Team Sky Strikers from Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai, and Team Dronacharya Yantramanav from Prathyusha Engineering College, Thiruvallur were declared winners, while Team ECE Allrounders from Vasavi College of Engineering, Hyderabad, and Team Jarvis Group from KLE Technological University, Hubballi were the joint winners in the Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon 2022 at Chitkara University.

This year, SIH Junior was also introduced for school students to build a culture of innovation and problem-solving attitude at the school level. At SIH Junior 2022, Team Pix Fuser from St. John’s High School, Chandigarh, and Team BCM Arya from BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana, were felicitated during the ceremony.

Acclaimed as the world’s biggest open innovation model, SIH inculcates the culture of product innovation and problem-solving among students. It has been conducted each year since 2017 in two formats- SIH Software and SIH Hardware Editions for higher education students. Every year SIH is impacting lakhs of students and provides them a national platform to test their educational learnings in real-world problem-solving. It also aligns their interest toward Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

On the occasion, Dr. Madhu Chitkara congratulated all the winners and lauded the organising team headed by Dr. Sachin Ahuja, Director Research, Chitkara University Research and Innovation Network (CURIN).