The grand finale of the recently concluded Smart India Hackathon 2018 saw the unfolding of new age digital solutions to problem statements shared by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. The 36-hour hackathon was hosted at S.P. Mandali’s Prin. L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research (WeSchool), the only nodal centre for Smart India Hackathon 2018, in Mumbai. Chief guest Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha and K R Sekhar, managing director, Bayer Vapi Pvt. Ltd. the guest of honour, gave away the prizes to the winning teams. Rakesh Kumar Chaturvedi, executive director, Food Corporation of India, Department of Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; Prakash Nevatia, deputy secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry; Dr. Amit Dutta, regional officer, WRO, AICTE; Salil Seth, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry; Prashant Gulalkari, president- Strategic Business Development, Persistent Systems Ltd, among other dignitaries, were present at the valedictory function.
Prime minister Narendra Modi inspired the young geeks through video conferencing on the eve of grand finale day two, Smart India Hackathon 2018. He motivated and urged students to contribute for the vision of New India. He stated that that over half the projects selected during last year’s Hackathon have been completed and more are nearing completion.

Students arduously worked for 36 hours to invent novel and executable software solutions for problems stated by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution at the WeSchool campus.

Congratulating the participating students, Dr. Sahasrabuddhe said, “Smart India Hackathon provides a unique opportunity for the young talent in our country to understand the governance issues. It uses their creativity to find out solutions to the issues that are being faced by the government. Governance is not something that can be outsourced to the government; it is something that requires active participation from the members of the society. Students from one part of the nation are finding solutions to problems faced by another part of the nation; therefore I believe this platform truly builds national integration.”

Speaking on the occasion, Sekhar said, “As India accelerates its pace to catch up with the rest of the developed world, Smart India Hackathon 2018 provides the right direction, energy and encouragement for young students to demonstrate their problem solving abilities. The hackathon will usher in a new era of problem solving as it enhances the point of collaborative innovation. Students should not be afraid of failure as this will halt innovation, experimentation and progress. Therefore, I urge you all to not fear failures and continue experimentation. That’s how our passion for finding new solutions will bear fruit.”

The winning team from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is Team Vision, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Ettimadai, Tamil Nadu. The team worked to design solutions for export cost indicator and trade route map problems. The winning team from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is Simplifiers, Pune Institute of Computer Technology, Pune, for creating solutions for Startup Impact Evaluator. The winning team mentored by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is Electro Passion, Sri Sairam College of Engineering, Bangalore; for developing solution for integration with moisture meter. Awards from AICTE were presented to Code Squade, Government College of Engineering and Research Awasari, Mancher, Pune and Oxygen, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore for projects on mess food wastage saver and waste deducing box. There were several other runner-up awards too. WeSchool Protsahan Awards added cheer to the participating student spirit.

WeSchool is India’s pioneering B-school with emphasis on design-led innovative management education for shaping vision and mission of global citizen leadership.