June 1: The Bengal government today invited technology companies and start-ups to a state-wide competition to find solutions to five challenges facing the Sector V tech hub, from transportation to disaster management.

"We have identified five problems - transportation, rainwater harvesting, car parking, waste management and disaster management - and initiated a contest called Bengalathon to find out how technology firms in Bengal can help us," Krishna Gupta, the principal secretary of the IT and electronics department, said during the launch of the initiative at the IT department's office on Camac Street.

Bengalathon is being touted as the country's first state-level hackathon organised by the government with the objective of finding virtual solutions to real-world problems.

A hackathon is an event or a competition, usually spanning more than a day, where a large number of people work together to develop or improve computer programs. The word is a portmanteau of "hack" and "marathon". The word "hack" in this context does not refer to cyber crime but innovative programming.

In the US and other countries, it is common for local authorities to take the help of programmers, designers, product managers and other tech professionals to solve civic and governance problems using technology.

Senior government officials who attended the launch of Bengalathon explained how a hackathon might improve ameneties in Sector V. "Car parking has lately become a big problem in Sector V; so we need a solution to locate real-time parking availability in the area throughout the day," said Kaushik Halder, commissioner in the department of IT and electronics.

Traffic management is another area that could do better with technology solutions. "Traffic in Sector V slows down considerably during the morning rush, especially between 9am and 11am. We want Bengal-based companies to alleviate this problem," said Kamal Agarwala, chairman of the eastern regional council of the National Association of Software and Services Companies.

Online registrations and submission of applications are open till June 15. The shortlist will be published on June 21. The team size may vary from one to five members, and an unlimited number of teams can represent one company.

The names of the winners will be announced on August 11. At stake is prize money of Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh to the winner, first runner-up and second runner-up respectively.