33 teams consisting of more than 200+ students including their mentors from across India, hailing from Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, New Delhi, Telangana and Karnataka converged at Nodal Center, Chandigarh Engineering College-CGC, Landran, Mohali to compete in the grand finale of Smart India Hackathon 2023 (SIH 2023) - software edition, on 19th & 20th December, 2023. SIH 2023 offered 231 problem statements received from 51 departments of 25 Ministries. 12,000+ participants participated in this year’s national level, SIH 2023 grand finale. A total of 1,282 teams were 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. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed and interacted with the participants during the finale via video conferencing.
The Chief Guest Mr Sachin Khosla, CEO & Founder, DigiMantra Labs, inaugurated day one of SIH 2023 at CEC-CGC Landran. He was accompanied by the Guest of Honour, Ms Ritika Singh, CEO & Founder, Kontent Factory, Dr. P.N. Hrisheekesha, Campus Director, CEC-CGC Landran, the Deans and Directors of the institution. The central inauguration was virtually done across all 47 nodal centers, by dignitaries including Prof. (Dr.) T.G. Sitharam, Chairman, AICTE and Dr. Abhay Jere, Vice Chairman, AICTE. The 33 teams competing at CEC- CGC Landran were assigned six Problem Statements (PS) by two ministries namely, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoC&I) and Ministry of Defence (MoD). The competition aimed to provide students a platform to solve the pressing problems of the government, ministries, departments, industries and other organizations. At each nodal center, an officer was designated by the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell to monitor and preside over the proceeding during the entire duration of SIH grand finale. Mr. Deepak Kumar, Assistant Director DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, presided over in this capacity for nodal center CEC-CGC Landran.
On day 2, seven teams were declared winners of SIH-2023 grand finale (software edition) that successfully concluded at nodal center CEC-CGC Landran. While five teams won cash prize of Rs. One lakh each, two teams which were declared joint winners were awarded cash prize of Rs. 50,000/-, each. CEC-CGC Landran hosted SIH finale for the sixth consecutive year. All the winning teams were felicitated with cash cheques, certificates and trophies by the Chief Guest - Dr. Jatinder Kaur Arora, Executive Director, Punjab State Council for Science & Technology. Dr. Arora congratulated the winners while expressing her admiration for all the participants who worked tirelessly on the problem statements. Hailing their unique solutions to solve real time challenges, she encouraged them to keep innovating and using their brilliance in furthering the aim of making India self-reliant or Atamnirbhar.
