Time to put your thinking caps back on! The Megathon is here. What is it? A mega brainstorming of life hacks over a marathon session. And this student-led event jointly organized by the Entrepreneurial-cells (E-cells) of IIIT-H and IIT Hyderabad respectively is here again, but in different avataars.For those who came in late, the E-cell is a non-profit organization run by the students to build an ecosystem where networking and knowledge sharing can happen. As part of the objective, they conduct several events, seminars and workshops for cultivating the entrepreneurial spirit of not just IIIT-H students but of those beyond.

One such highly anticipated event is the student hackathon to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship and development among the student community not just in and around Hyderabad, but pan-India too. Having grown in popularity since it’s inception in 2016 with participation from 80 teams with around 450 participants and over 1000 aspirants from 85+ colleges, it rose to over 1000 participants and 1500 aspirants in the next year. This year’s edition has 4 unique events:

Megathon ‘18 Online Round

Dates: 15th July – 12th August, 2018

Theme: Women’s Safety

With a view to dissolving geographical boundaries and making the event accessible to students from across the country, an online edition is now being made available. One of the social challenges presented last year was in the realm of Women’s Safety. Buoyed by its success, the organizers felt the need to take the subject of Women’s Safety to the national level since it continues to be relevant and one of the most pressing issues of today. The idea is to find different solutions (not limited to technology) to the problem that can be implemented and eventually taken to the market. What this means is that the solutions need not be restricted to creating Apps or dependent on the Internet. Any idea or an awareness which improves women safety is acceptable. The only constraint is that the solution should be implementable by the students themselves.Suggestions topolicy changes involving governmental intervention are a No-No. “We really want to make our small contribution to this important issue and hope for a safer nation for women,” says Atirek Kumar, 2nd year student and Social Media and PR Head of E-Cell, IIIT-H. This event is conducted in partnership with several NGOs such asYoungistaan Foundation, SAFA India and Being Women,and also with HackerEarth who will host it on their online platform.

Eligibility Criteria:Any Indian college student with a valid student ID can participate.

Format: Participating students can register in team of sizes 1-4. After registration, the detailed problem statement will be communicated to them along with the rules and regulations of the competition. The Online Round round is a parallel event to the other events in Megathon and is not a qualifying round for any.

Prizes:

First Prize : Rs. 60,000

Second Prize : Rs. 30,000

Third Prize : Rs. 10,000

Goodies worth Rs.1000 each for top 25 teams         .

The top 3 winning teams, if based out of Hyderabad will get an all-expenses paid trip to Hyderabad for felicitation at Megathon’18.

Road To Megathon ‘18

Dates: 8th – 9th September, 2018 (Saturday and Sunday)

Venue: IIT Hyderabad

In partnership with Technobytes, a series of workshops will be conducted to help develop technical skills and foster entrepreneurship in students. The workshops cover a gamut of topics such as Android Development, Machine Learning, IoT, and Ethical Hacking. The duration of each workshop will be 16 hours spread over two days. Details of each workshop can be found in their respective registration links:

Android Development Workshop – https://www.instamojo.com/techo/e-cell-iit-hyderabad-e-cell-iiit-hyderabad-a/?ref=offer_page_more

Machine Learning Workshop – https://www.instamojo.com/techo/e-cell-iit-hyderabad-e-cell-iiit-hyderabad-m/?ref=offer_page_more

Internet of Things Workshop – https://www.instamojo.com/techo/e-cell-iit-hyderabad-e-cell-iiit-hyderabad-i/?ref=offer_page_more

Ethical Hacking Workshop – https://www.instamojo.com/techo/e-cell-iit-hyderabad-e-cell-iiit-hyderabad-e/?ref=offer_page_more

Onsite Megathon’18

Dates: 29th – 30th September, 2018 (Saturday and Sunday)

Theme: Corporate Challenges

Venue: IIIT Hyderabad

Typically students working in teams get 24 hours to work on challenges thrown to them by industry experts and other academic mentors. Out of the 4 problem statements put forth to the students, they have to choose one. According to the organizers, the goal is to provide technological solutions to issues where eventually students prototype and implement ideas  under the guidance of mentors from the industry and academia in 24 hours.This is then followed by pitching of the business models or prototypes. This event is also open to all Indian college students with a valid student ID. For out-of-town students, accomodation arrangements are made at IIT Hyderabad against a nominal charge.

In the past, problem statements covered topics like Smart Cities, Privacy and Security, Women Safety, Chat-bots and E-commerce from the corporate and social categories respectively. Some of the winning solutions were a ‘Power monitoring system to improve efficiency and reduce wastage of electricity across each appliance on a real-time basis’ to the Smart City problem statement, ‘An integrated offline mobile application to get connected with Police and relatives in case of emergency which also provides a platform to police for spam and image morphing detection over web’ in response to a statement on cyber crimes prevention, among others. This year, the focus is on corporate challenges with the social focus restricted to the online round.

Business Hack

Dates:TBD, February 2019

Venue:IIT Hyderabad

The buck doesn’t stop at the Megathon! Teams selected from the onsite Webathon in each problem statement will be mentored by incubators, top academics and partners to convert their ideas into products/ services with a revenue model. These shortlisted teams then get an opportunity to pitch their winning ideas at this event in front of VCs, Corporates and distinguished academicians.

Alongside this event, there will be Entrepreneurship Workshops and sessions from Founder Students, Business Plan competitions, Elevator Pitch competitions and case studies on the business challenges presented by the sponsors. All of which will be open to all Megathon participants and not just the shortlisted teams. While the workshops are intended to develop technical skills and foster entrepreneurship in students, at the Business Hack event, teams pitch their business models with a unique opportunity of converting them into products/services which can then be taken to the market.

Sarita Chebbi

Sarita Chebbi is a compulsive early riser. Devourer of all news. Kettlebell enthusiast. Nit-picker of the written word especially when it’s not her own.