Smart India Hackathon : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday interacted with the participants of Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon 2023 via video conferencing. The Prime Minister also addressed the participants on the occasion.
The Prime Minister while interacting with Mr Soikat Das and Mr Protik Saha from National Institute of Engineering, Mysuru, said that the Hackathon is a learning opportunity for him too and he is always eager to interact with the participants. Looking at the beaming faces of the participants, the Prime Minister said that their enthusiasm, willpower and desire for nation-building has become the identity of India’s youth power.
Addressing the young innovators and domain experts, PM Modi reiterated the importance of the current time period that will decide the direction of the next one thousand years. The Prime Minister asked them to understand the uniqueness of the current time as many factors have come together, such as India being one of the youngest countries in the world, its talent pool, stable and strong government, booming economy and unprecedented emphasis on science and technology.
“Technology has become a big part of our lives today”, the Prime Minister stressed. Emphasizing the role of young innovators, he pointed out that an upgraded version of technology comes up just when one starts getting used to it.
The Prime Minister reiterated that the next 25 years of India’s Amrit Kaal will be a defining period for the young innovators. He underlined the common goal of a self-reliant India and stated the objective of not importing any new and being dependent on other nations. Giving the example of defence sector which is working towards self-reliance, he pointed out that India is forced to import some defence technologies.
He also stressed the need for self-reliance in semiconductor and chip technology. PM Modi also highlighted India’s high aspirations in the quantum technology and hydrogen energy sectors. He said that the government is giving special emphasis to all such sectors by creating a modern ecosystem of the 21st century, but its success depends on the success of the youth.
About Smart India Hackathon
In line with the Prime Minister’s vision of youth-led development, Smart India Hackathon (SIH) is a nationwide initiative to provide students a platform to solve the pressing problems of Ministries and Departments of the Government, industries and other organisations. Launched in 2017, Smart India Hackathon has gained massive popularity among the young innovators. In the last five editions, many innovative solutions have emerged in different domains and standout as established startups.
This year, the Grand Finale of SIH is being held from 19th to 23rd December. In SIH 2023, more than 50,000 ideas were received from 44,000 teams, which is almost a sevenfold increase compared to the first edition of SIH. Over 12,000 participants and more than 2500 mentors will participate in the grand finale scheduled at 48 nodal centers across the country. A total of 1282 teams have been shortlisted this year for the grand finale to provide solutions on various themes including Space Technology, Smart Education, Disaster Management, Robotics and Drones, Heritage and Culture etc.
The participating teams will tackle and provide solutions for 231 problem statements (176 software and 55 hardware) posted by 51 departments of 25 Union Ministers and State governments. The total prize for Smart India Hackathon 2023 is more than Rs 2 crore, where each winning team will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh per problem statement.