NITT SIH 2019 Inauguration

Shri. Prakash Javadekar, honourable HRD minister inaugurated and  
addressed the nodal centres and the student teams

National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, one of the nodal  
centres selected by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD),  
takes its pride in hosting the Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon  
(SIH2019) Software Edition on March 2nd and 3rd, 2019.

This event which is supported by the Prime Minister’s Office, is the  
world’s biggest Open Innovation Model, Software competition and is a  
part of a nationwide initiative of the MHRD to involve the brain trust  
of the nation, the technology-savvy students, to come up with  
innovative and feasible solutions to industry-related problems.
This is the third edition of the Hackathon initiated by MHRD to unveil  
the unique expertise of the young minds of India. This year’s edition  
has more than 1300 teams (eight members per team) racing against the  
clock, in 48 different centres in India, to come up with practical  
solutions in under 36 hours.

NIT, Tiruchirappalli is hosting 8 problem statements provided by the  
esteemed organizations like Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) and  
Chennai District Small Scale Industries Association (CDISSIA).  The  
exuberant 32 teams encompassing 121 boys and 77 girls from various  
institutions across the country along with two mentors representing  
each institute are participating in the Grand finale hosted in NIT-T.

The Grand finale was inaugurated by the chief guest Mr. S. P.  
Jayanthan, Regional Director, TEMENOS India Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, a 1982  
BE ECE Alumnus. Mr. Jayanthan was enticed to be back in his alma mater  
and shared his reminiscent stay at the then REC, Trichy. He added that  
he could see the scintillating minds working for the brilliant set of  
solutions to progress our country to the next level. Dean (SW), Dr.  
Samson Mathew in his welcome address, appreciated the teams, who  
travelled across the states and wished them a very comfortable stay at  
NIT-T. He also thanked the sponsors of the event: CTS, Data foundry,  
SBI, ICICI, Unibic cookies and Pepsi.
Dr. Mini Shaji Thomas, the Director of NIT-T, congratulated the  
vibrant team of NIT-T, who worked for hours together and made this  
venture possible. The event is one of the major initiatives of MHRD.  
She wished that the teams should work to solve the perennial problems  
of the industry and society. She also assured that NIT-T will render  
all help to make this happen and further, she expressed that she would  
love to see the students becoming entrepreneurs to serve the society  
at large.

The stage was shared by Dr. Bhasker, Mr. Raman Narasimhan, Vice  
President, CTS and Mr. Abhijeet Khandagale, MHRD Representative.

The event was also inaugurated through video conferencing from JECRC  
University, Jaipur.

Dr. Anand Deshpande, Chairman and MD, Persistent Systems exhibited his  
gratitude to the referees, who evaluated more than 34, 000 teams  
contributed around 50,000 ideas. He added that this will be a life  
changing event for students, who aspire to innovate. He hoped to see  
best solutions from the teams to reach industry. The students have the  
opportunity to work on challenges faced within the private sector  
organizations and create world-class solutions for some of the top  
companies in the world. AICTE Chairman Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe  
congratulated the teams who made it to the finals. He addressed the  
students to create Digital India through innovative solutions and  
besides, he mentioned that he could see the future entrepreneurs and  
CEOs among the teams.

The Higher Education Secretary, R Subramaniam, who spoke on the  
occasion remembered that it started as a small effort and had become a  
national movement over 3 years. Many countries are showing interest to  
work with India on Hackathon. Indo-Singapore Hackathon happened in  
2018 is one such event.  He added that Smart India Hackathon 2019 is  
all about synergy; synergy within student community, synergy between  
students and society, synergy between academia and industry & synergy  
between private and government institutions. He also mentioned that it  
is the cognitive skills that matters the most and asked the students  
to think out of the box.

Shri. Prakash Javadekar, honourable HRD minister addressed the nodal  
centres and the student teams. He encouraged the young minds to come  
up with solutions that can make our country flourish so that India can  
become a world leader in digital solutions. He remembered that around  
40,000 students participated in the first edition of Hackathon  
conducted by MHRD in 2017. He further added that this is New India and  
this is the world’s largest hackathon and only innovations will take  
our country forward. The success in hackathon will evolve a real  
system working on real-life problems using the real talent-pool in  
education. He asked the students to show case their power in science,  
innovation and technology.

1.Shri. Prakash Javadekar, honourable HRD minister addressed the nodal  
centres and the student teams

2.Prof Mini Shaji Thomas, Director, NIT-T presenting institute memento  
to Mr. S. P. Jayanthan, Regional Director, TEMENOS India Pvt. Ltd.,  
Chennai, a 1982 BE ECE Alumnus.