Gov-Tech-Thon 2020, a 36 hours, pan-India virtual hackathon organized by IEEE, National Informatics Centre (NIC)and Oracle, under the aegis of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, witnessed a successful conclusion on 1^st November, 2020. The virtual hackathon received registrations from over 1300 aspirants forming 390 teams. The hackathon webpage witnessed over 15,000 visitors in 2 weeks.

Shortlisted 447 enthusiasts from 100 teams participated in the Hackathon on the five problem statements provided by 3 central Government Ministries – Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Road Transport and Highway and Ministry of Education.

A thorough assessment of proposals was done by a panel of 27 jurors from the industry, academia and Government.

The five challenges seeking innovative solutions from Gov Tech-Thon 2020 were

1. Suggest alternate crops or crop rotation for farmers during different seasons using artificial intelligence technology, considering the terrain and local challenges to increase the productivity
2. Seed supply chain is a complex ecosystem involving various stakeholders. Address the issues of poor seed quality effectivelybytracing the seeds using BlockChain technology
3. A mobile / web based application for scanning, resizing and uploading documents (as required) in a single flow
4. A tool for monitoring online exams from homes / institutions through a combination of remote-supervision software and web cam. System should ensure necessary authentication, control, fraud detection and compliance, using appropriate technology like AI / ML etc.
5. A self-learning tool for automating Vehicle Fitness Test procedures transparently

First place was secured by FitForFuture team from Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Private Limited, for demonstrating an innovative solution prototype for automating vehicle fitness checks, second prize went to HackDemons of Indian Institute of Information Technology  Vadodara for providing secure solution for delivering unsupervised tests remotely and Orange team from PES University Bengaluru secured third prize for providing a unique solution for seed certification using BlockChain technology.

The valedictory function on November 1 2020 witnessed participation from senior officials representing Ministries of Agriculture, Education and Transport as well as senior leaders from NIC, IEEE Computer Society board member Prof. Ramalatha Marimuthu, Oracle including jury members and mentors.

Dr. Neeta Verma, Director General, NIC, while addressing the Valedictory function of Gov Tech-Thon 2020, said that these virtual hackathon displayed a unique combination of social sector and emerging technologies. She also highlighted that the Hackathon has enabled the use of emerging technologies for social inclusion, empowerment of people & overall upliftment of the nation.

Melissa Russel, Executive Director of the Computer Society, said “We were so pleased to partner with NIC and Oracle for this event. The IEEE Computer Society has a strong membership base in India and opportunities like Gov-TechThon provide valuable ways for professionals to engage, network and utilize their skills to help solve challenging problems.”

Shailender Kumar, Regional Managing Director, Oracle India, said “It was a great collaboration, and a great platform to seed innovation ideas. I was very fascinated with the prototype solutions that were submitted and it gives me an immense sense of pride to see our youth contributing to a better tomorrow. I wish the winners all the best. Oracle stays committed to innovation and to new ideas.”

About NIC

National Informatics Centre (NIC) is attached office of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). NIC was established in 1976, and has rich experience in providing ICT and eGovernance support to the Government for the last 4 decades and helping bridge the digital divide. It has emerged as a promoter of digital opportunities for sustainable development. NIC spearheaded “Informatics-Led-Development” by implementing ICT applications in social and public administration and facilitates electronic delivery of services to the government (G2G), business (G2B), citizen (G2C) and government employee (G2E). NIC, through its ICT Network, “NICNET”, has institutional linkages with all the Ministries /Departments of the Central Government, 37 State Governments/ Union Territories, and about 720+ District Administrations of India.

NIC has been closely associated with the Government in different aspects of Governance besides establishing a Nationwide State-of-the-Art ICT Infrastructure, it has also built a large number of digital solutions to support the government at various levels, making the last-mile delivery of government services to the citizens a reality.

About IEEE Computer Society

IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.IEEE and its members inspire a global community to innovate for a better tomorrow through its more than 419,000 members in over 160 countries.  For more information about IEEE, please visit www.ieee.org.

The IEEE Computer Society is the premier source for information, inspiration, and collaboration in computer science and engineering. Connecting members worldwide, the Computer Society empowers the people who advance technology by delivering tools for individuals at all stages of their professional careers.  For more informationabout IEEE Computer Society, visit www.computer.org  .

About Oracle

The Oracle Cloud offers a complete suite of integrated applications for Sales, Service, Marketing, Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain and Manufacturing, plus Highly Automated and Secure Generation 2 Infrastructure featuring the Oracle Autonomous Database. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com.

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