Bhubaneswar: This year's Hackathon is not only about digital solutions but also about better hardware because that is where India lacks, Union human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar had said while inaugurating the event through video conferencing.

Hackathon is an event wehere computer programmers and software developers to collaborate on projects.

CV Raman College of Engineering was one of the 23 nodal centres to conduct the non-stop 36-hour programme that came to an end on Sunday.

"We must fill that gap (the dearth of quality hardware) and this generation can do that. It's an open invitation for innovation," the minister had said.

At the grand finale of Smart India Hackathon that was organized at C.V. Raman College of Engineering from March 31 to April 1 here, engineering and management students put in their ideas to build solutions in the form of mobile or computer applications and software programmes.

Organised by the Union ministry of human resource development and All India Council of Technical Education, the exercise aims to harnesses creativity of students and crowd-source solutions for improving governance and give opportunity to citizens to provide innovative solutions to India's daunting problems.

This year, 340 problems of various government departments had been identified and 10,300 students were selected across India to take part in the event.

C.V. Raman College of Engineering is the only nodal centre of the state where 352 students and 80 mentors took part to solve nine problems related to the Union ministry of skill development.

Attending the programme at C.V. Raman College of Engineering, chief secretary of the ministry of human resource development R. Subramaniyam said: "The intent behind this government initiative was to identify new and disruptive digital technology innovation for solving the challenges faced by the country."