IIITH in collaboration with Pravaha Foundation conducted a pan-India Hackathon for students between the ages of 10 – 17 years. A total of 55 teams with 3 – 4 students in each group were registered into two categories from different cities of India. There were 3 stages of filtration in the hackathon and the final stage was conducted physically at IIITH campus during 27 – 29 January. The topic of the Hackathon was Sustainability through Technology. The purpose of the Hackathon was to build solutions using technology for Climate Change issues, and to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) no. 10 and 13.
For the final phase, the 1st category students between 10 – 13 years of age tried to find solutions for the problem statement on Automated water management- Monitor and control usage of water. In the 2nd category students between 14 – 17 years of age tried to build solutions around Automated Disaster management, including forest fire, litho-disaster and water borne disasters. Participants worked upon their solution model for 2 days with their respective teams at IIITH campus. They used robotics, IoT, and app development/combinations of these to execute the solutions.
For the finale Prof. Ramesh Loganathan, Dr. Hari K and Prof. Prakash Yalla; 2 faculty members from Mahindra University and economists, Dr. Keerti Pendyal and Dr. Anjali Rajan; Environmentalist/Founder of the rainwater project, Kalpana Ramesh; and Advisor, Agustya International Foundation, M G Subramanian were invited to evaluate the teams based on their solutions and presentations.
On the last day, the panel members not only evaluated the model solutions presented by the kids but also gave them suggestions/opportunities to apply the prototype and extend it to real-life implementation.
Everyone including mentors, judges and the organizing team were elated by the enthusiastic, innovative, and conscious young mindset of participants. It gave a ray of hope towards building a sustainable world in future.
The Hackathon developed problem solving abilities, design thinking capability, presentation and entrepreneurial skills, and environmental awareness amongst the students. Winners and runners-up in the Finals received mementos, cash prizes up to Rs. 25,000 and certificates. The winners will also be given an opportunity to participate in the next international Hackathon organized by Pravaha.