In this era of decreasing jobs, everyone has a unique business idea to turn into a start-up. Hackathons and idea challenges give wings to start-ups by recognizing their ideas and providing incubation facilities. Below are some grand hackathons and idea challenges...
The 21st century saw a widespread pandemic. Along with that came employment issues and people lost jobs without any prior notice. Least unaffected were people with start-ups. New-age solutions to daily-life problems got a boost and flourished.
Hackathons and idea challenges give wings to start-ups by recognizing their ideas and providing incubation facilities. They are organized annually, and the best ideas are provided funding and/or incubation facilities. Below are some grand hackathons and idea challenges...
S.O.L.V.E.D Challenge
SOLVED Challenge is a collaborative initiative by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP India), United Nations Volunteers (UNV), and the Ministry of youth affairs and sports (MoYAS). This challenge invites entrepreneurs (individuals/groups) to have unique ideas and allows them to get noticed by top business investors in India. Participants with an idea can be at any stage, whether the ideation stage or prototyping stage or established stage. The top 10 teams from all over India are provided with cash prizes of 1lakh each at the end of this challenge.
This challenge is organized every year in June. The theme is provided much earlier. The first stage consists of an idea shortlisting where the top 100 teams are selected from the applicants based on the feasibility, uniqueness, practical application of the idea. The second round is called the Idea audition round, where the 100 teams pitch their idea to a panel of judges, and the top 50 teams are chosen for further rounds. Next, a 12-day Bootcamp is organized where the 50 teams are provided with mentors to shape their idea further. Finally, the top 10 teams are chosen from them and are awarded cash of 1lakh to convert their ideas to start-ups.
Here is the link for the website: https://solvedchallenge.in/
Grand Idea Challenge
This challenge is organized by the Indian school of business (ISB), German cooperation, MSME India. This challenge invites entrepreneurs (individuals/groups) to have unique ideas and allows them to get noticed by top business investors in India. Participants with an idea can be at any stage, whether the ideation stage or prototyping stage or established stage.
Themes are provided every year, such as Digitization, mobility, agriculture, etc. It is held every year in June. 3 winners from each theme are chosen and provided with cash prizes and incubation support. Participants need to prepare a pitch deck containing the most important information about their ideas and submit t in the form provided on the website.
The link of the website: https://www.aicisb.org/en/programmes/grand-idea-challenge.html
Smart India Hackathon
Smart India Hackathon is a nationwide initiative to provide students with a platform to solve some of the pressing problems we face in our daily lives and thus inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mindset of problem-solving.
SIH 2020 had smart communication, agriculture, rural development, robotics, and drones, etc. It is organized by AICTE, MHRD, every year in the month of May-June. Nearly 5 lakh students take part in it with a dream of becoming a future entrepreneur. Themes are released before the event.
It is directly monitored by the central govt, of India. The honorable PM interacts every year with the participants, thus lifting their confidence level and support.
The link of the website: https://www.sih.gov.in/
AI for Agriculture Hackathon
On the occasion of World Water Day, which is celebrated worldwide on 22nd March every year, MyGov, Google and HUL, want to partner with you to take AI solutions to the field. This hackathon is organized every year by the Govt. of India on the theme AGRICULTURE.
Participants shall develop ideas and build prototypes to solve key challenges faced by farmers in water usage and sustainability. In addition to HUL’s Insights and Google’s Hardware and Technical Support, the selected participants will receive ongoing support through partnerships, tech advice, funding, and in-market testing right up to launch.
Selected prototypes and teams will get an opportunity to partner with HUL and Google to develop Prototypes to Products to Platforms further to roll out to farmers in the field for long-term impact!
The link of the website: https://innovateindia.mygov.in/ai-for-agriculture-hackathon/
Agri India Hackathon
Agri India Hackathon is the largest virtual gathering to create dialogues and accelerate innovations in agriculture. The Agri India Hackathon is organized by Pusa Krishi, ICAR - Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) & Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers' Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare.
It is launched every year in December. 24 best innovations from different focus areas will be awarded a cash prize of INR 1,00,000 each. The winning innovations will get an exclusive preference for incubation support, pre-seed & seed-stage funding of 5 Lakhs & 25 Lakhs, respectively, at any of the 29 RABIs, subject to assessment by the independent RABI. The winning innovations will have the opportunity of field trial and also access technology validation from the network of institutions (if they opt for incubation support)
The link of the website: https://innovateindia.mygov.in/agriindiahackathon/
Safer India Hackathon
This Hackathon aims to utilize the intellect and ideation capabilities of the students of premier technical colleges of India for developing implementable solutions in the form of digital solutions to promote road safety, reduce the frequency and effect of road accidents, and improve emergency care. It is organized every year by the Govt. of India in February.
A total prize pool of 85,000 is provided to the winners. The themes of the 2020 hackathon were driver behavior, road condition, gamification of road safety, fraud detection, crash investigation, etc.
The link of the website: https://innovateindia.mygov.in/safer-india-hackathon/
Tata Crucible Hackathon
Tata Crucible is an initiative by the TATA group. This hackathon aims at solving some real-world problems and improve the condition of living.
It is organized every year in the month of January-February. The national winners are provided with a cash prize of 1.5 lakh INR, and the runners-up are provided with a cash prize of 70,000 INR.
The link is https://www.tatainnoverse.com/tatacruciblehackathon2021/.
The above was some of the biggest hackathons. More hackathons can be found at www.dare2compete.com.Track them, and you can be the next entrepreneur. Hope you liked the article.
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