Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology (SKCET), Coimbatore is hosting the Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon 2024 - Software Edition at Sri Krishna Hall in the college premises for 2 days - 11.12.2024 & 12.12.2024.

The inauguration of this event was held on Wednesday. S.Malarvizhi, Chairperson and Managing Trustee, Sri Krishna Institutions, Coimabtore presided over the function. Selvakumar Balasubramani, Delivery Center Head, Tata Consultancy Services, Coimbatore was the Chief Guest and K. Senthil Ganesh, Managing Trustee, RVS Group of Educational Institutions was the Guest of honour.

Aakansha Shejal and Vaishnavi Gaikwad, Nodal Centre Heads from Pune; Dhanakoti S, UI/UX Mentor; Arnab Chatterjee from the National Council of Science Museums, Kolkata; and Krishenndu Choudhury from the National Council of Science Museums, Patna; Dr.K. Porkumaran, Principal, SKCET; Dr.P.Ashoka Varthanan, Dean Innovations and Head of Mechanical Engineering graced the occasion. The Smart India Hackathon - Software Edition is a 36-hour, nonstop digital product development competition where student teams from across India compete to deliver innovative solutions to pressing challenges. SKCET is chosen as one among Top 51 nodal centres across India. 

S.Malarvizhi, Chairperson & Managing Trustee, Sri Krishna Institutions welcomed the gathering to this grand stage of innovation. She shared that 20 teams comprising 120 participants with 24 mentors from various parts of India are competing in this Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon at SKCET. They are competing to solve 4 problem statements provided by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the Government of NCT of Delhi.

She added that to inspire and motivate the participants, Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi ji, will be addressing and interacting with the participants at SKCET through video conferencing.  This institution is one of the few privileged Institutions chosen for this interaction with the Prime Minister, and one of the few privileged nodal centers to have this opportunity for 4 times in the past. 

The Chief Guest, Selvakumar Balasubramani, Delivery Center Head, Tata Consultancy Services, Coimbatore said that events like Smart India Hackathon are very crucial for providing innovative solutions India needs in its journey to become a developed-nation. He appealed to the youth to have the mindset to learn, innovate and keep moving forward. Talking about Innovation, the Guest of Honor Senthil Ganesh, Managing Trustee, RVS Group of Educational Institutions said that innovations are of 2 kinds - Incremental and Disruptive.

Incremental innovations build on existing products and add new features/efficiency while disruptive innovation create a massive disruption on the whole industry; like how WhatsApp - a web-based messaging app that disrupted the revenue of Telecom sector players across the world. Hackathons like this attain significance as they instill in youth to develop a sense of curiosity, facilitate collaboration and also make them come up with innovative & disruptive solutions that has the potential to help revolutionize an entire industry, he opined.

Apart from hosting SIH 2024, 17 teams from Sri Krishna college of Engineering and Technology have been shortlisted to participate in the Grand finale of Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2024 Software and Hardware editions in other nodal centres.