In Depth: Hackathon

Introduction

Innovation and incubation have become buzzwords for New India .They are the new approach to the task of nation - building And helping to find practical and out-of the box solutions to every day problems in various fields are events that have come to be popular as hackathons. Hackathons are attempts to find homegrown solutions to problems. On Monday the second edition of the Singapore-India Hackathon, that started at IIT-Madras on Saturday came to an end. This first joint international hackathon between India and any other country is an initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing the event Prime Minister Modi said through events like the hackathons the aim is to create an ecosystem for innovation in India. Reiterating that India was poised to become a 5 trillion dollar economy, the PM stated that innovation and startups will play a crucial role in achieving the milestone.

What is Hackathon?

 A hackathon (also known as a hack day, hackfest or codefest) is a design sprint-like event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface designers, project managers, and others, often including domain experts, collaborate intensively on software projects.  The goal of a hackathon is to create usable software or hardware with the goal of creating a functioning product by the end of the event. Hackathons tend to have a specific focus, which can include the programming language used, the operating system, an application, an API, or the subject and the demographic group of the programmers. In other cases, there is no restriction on the type of software being created.

Different types of Hackathon:

Internal hackathons:

An internal hackathon or a corporate hackathon is conducted by an organization for its employees, with the aim of crowd sourcing ideas, promoting intrapreneurship, or boosting collaboration and employee engagement.

External hackathons:

In external hackathons, a company engages people within and outside the organization. Participants are often influenced by themes and goals that are set. This form of hackathon enables companies to harvest ideas from across the globe.

Online hackathons:

Online or virtual hackathons work well when companies want to engage participants simultaneously across different geographies and time zones to solve a problem or drive innovation.

Offline hackathons:

Offline hackathons are great for driving external developer engagement, recruitment, beta testing of existing products, and innovation of new apps. An offline hackathon is conducted at a physical location.

Application-based hackathons:

These hackathons are based on specific platforms for development like mobile device operating systems, desktop operating systems, video game development, etc.

Hackathons dedicated to a cause:

The last decade witnessed the emergence of social hackathons. These hackathons address prominent issues, including healthcare, education, and public services. Aimed at empowering people, these events provide a platform to brainstorm, develop ideas, and build technological solutions to address specific problems in the community.

Smart India Hackathons:

 The Smart India Hackathon is a nationwide initiative to provide students a platform to solve some of pressing problems we face in our daily lives, and thus inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mindset of problem solving.  It is the largest ever Hackathon in the world and the only one to be held at the national level involving 1 Lakh+ technical students, 3000+ technical institutions, 200+ organizations from across India this year.  In SIH 2019, the students also have the opportunity to work on challenges faced within the private sector organizations and create world class solutions for some of the top companies in the world, thus helping the Private sector hire the best minds from across the nation.  In order to make development a comprehensive mass movement and innovate on all fronts, MHRD, AICTE, i4c, and Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini and Persistent Systems have come together to organize Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2019 - a unique Open Innovation Model for identifying new and disruptive technology innovations to solve the challenges faced in our country. It's a non-stop product development competition,

where problem statements are posed to technology students for innovative solutions. It can help to:  Harness creativity & expertise of students from IISc, IITs, NITs and AICTE/UGC approved institutions.  Spark institute-level hackathons  Build funnel for 'Startup India' campaign  Crowd source solutions for improving governance and quality of life  Provide opportunity to citizens to provide innovative solutions to India's daunting problems.