World’s biggest 5-Day innovation competition ‘Smart India Hackathon (Hardware)-2023 inaugurated at LPU

Jalandhar, December 21, 2023: Lovely Professional University (LPU) is hosting a 5-Day ‘Grand Finale’ for Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2023 from 19th to 23rd December at its Innovation Studio. A total of 36 teams from across the country, comprising hundreds of talented students, are working to provide innovative hardware solutions in these five days to challenging problems accorded by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell and All India Council for Technical Education (Government of India) has identified LPU as one of the nodal centres from across the country.  LPU Pro Chancellor Mrs Rashmi Mittal inaugurated the mega competition, where teams from 14 Indian states including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Manipur, Odisha, West Bengal and more are participating.

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi also addressed the participants virtually nationwide. For interactions with the young innovators at the Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon 2023; PM Modi tweeted that their problem-solving capabilities & ingenuity to address complex challenges is remarkable. He has been interacting with the participants every year since its inception. Conclusion of the competition will be held on 23rd December 2023. 

It was informed that the scope of this Hackathon has been widening with every passing since its launch in 2017. LPU students have already exhibited their winning potential in its earlier editions. Every year SIH is impacting lakhs of students and provides them a national platform to test their educational learning in real-world problem-solving. It also aligns their interest toward Innovation and entrepreneurship.

Nodal Officer from the Ministry of Education (Govt. of India) Abhishek Ranjan, who is governing the Hackathon proceedings at LPU, informed that the problems accorded are concerning various areas of water management faced by the people. Adviser and convener from the Ministry of Jal Shakti are also steering the competition.

The themes of SIH 2023 encompass a broad spectrum of societal needs. Ministry of Jal Shakti has asked for solutions including, “Automatic regulation of valves for release of water based upon soil moisture availability in the root zone of the crop, using artificial intelligence, in a piped and micro irrigation network of irrigation system” for the domain of Agriculture, Food-Tech & Rural Development. Call for cost-effective ways of making water source for piped drinking water supply sustainable in rural areas for Renewable / Sustainable Energy. Call for low-cost desalination technology for Lakshadweep and Inland saline water sources. Others include technological solutions for early decomposition of faecal matter; technological solutions for safe disposal of menstrual waste; and, call for Toilet technology.

Smart India Hackathon (SIH) is a nationwide initiative by the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell to provide students a platform to solve the pressing problems of the government, ministries, departments, industries and other organizations. SIH has been acclaimed as the world’s biggest open innovation model and it inculcates the culture of product innovation and problem-solving among students. SIH is conducted every year since 2017 in two formats i.e. SIH Software and SIH Hardware Editions for higher education students.