The IIT-Patna students' branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is organising Hackathon - a competition to develop mobile apps to solve mass problems in areas of health technology, agriculture, education, sanitation and others.
The event, which is open for techies of Bihar, will be held on September 30 and October 1 on the IIT-Patna campus.
The IIT-Patna has invited applications from potential candidates. Interested students can register on ieeesb@iitp.ac.in or even make a call at IIT-Patna on the number 73529-88522.
The IEEE is the world's largest technical professionals' organisation dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.
Nilotpal Chakraborty, the chairman of IEEE student branch, said: "The competition will give an opportunity to students to develop apps, which can be beneficial for humanity."
He said: "A student can develop an education app, which could be a video-recording of what is taught in premier educational institutions such as IITs, IIMs and others. Such apps will be of great advantage for engineering students studying at private engineering colleges."
Chakraborty, a research scholar from the department of computer science and engineering, said: "The IEEE has invited students from all engineering colleges from Bihar, including IIT-Patna, National Institute of Technology-Patna, Birla Institute of Technology-Patna, from state engineering colleges and even private ones can participate in the two-day competition."
The app-development competition is being funded and supported by the department of science and technology (the government of India) and also assisted by Google, Paytm, VMAX.
Hackathon, which will start from IIT-Patna, will travel 15 cities in the next three months. The next stops are Bhubaneswar, Kochi, Coimbatore, Patna Ranchi, Goa, Guwahati, Jabalpur, Kanpur, Mysore, Patiala, Pillani, Kurukshetra and Srinagar. The finals will be held in New Delhi in December-end. The IEEE has chosen tier-II cities for the competition so that students from small cities get an opportunity to develop apps.
Srikanta Pradhan, the vice-chairman of IEEE student branch, said: "The idea is to develop 10 best apps in eight categories. Based on preliminary-level competition results, the best team will be selected, which would take part in the final round in New Delhi."
The best team will get a cash award of Rs 5 lakh, followed by Rs 4 lakh for the first runner up, while the second runner up will get Rs 3 lakh. Apart, from best three teams getting cash prizes, 30 teams participating in the final round will get Rs 50,000 each.
"Apart from cash prizes, the team (even individuals) will get an opportunity to work with Google, Paytm, VMAX," Chakraborty said.
The app developers will get an opportunity either to carry out their internship programme or even get preference during the campus placement.
