LIFE@VIIT

STAR Hackathon

VIIT in collaboration with Education Society chapter of IEEE Pune section has undertaken an initiative to promote social innovation through the flagship event STAR hackathon (Science and Technology for Agriculture and Rural development). The main objective of this event is to showcase the effective use of science and technology in the development of Agriculture and Rural sector of India. Agriculture is a backbone of Indian economy with more than seventy percent population involved directly or indirectly in this sector. Considering the geographical diversity in India, most of the regions of the country fall under rural category. To boost the Indian economy, it is vital to uplift the agriculture and rural sector through the use of technology. Considering the rapid growth in the field of Telecommunication and Information technology, it is then natural to extend the concepts and ideas which are developed in science and technology for the development of agriculture and rural sector. This event promotes the active participation from the enthusiastic and motivated students/research scholars to propose innovative solutions towards the challenges faced by the agriculture and rural sector.

The Objectives of STAR Hackathon

• To understand the problems and challenges faced by agriculture and rural sector.
• To promote students/researchers to propose innovative solutions for the real-life problems
• To provide robust solutions under changing environmental conditions across the country.
• To encourage the use of Telecommunication and Information technology in offering the novel solution to the current live problems.>
• To appreciate the interdisciplinary nature of the problems for proposing the solutions.

Around 455 teams from various colleges all over Maharashtra had registered for the first round, which consisted of around 2000 students. Total 135 teams have successfully submitted their innovative solutions for at least one problem from a given list of problems. Each innovative idea submitted by the team is reviewed by at least two reviewer’s experts in that domain. Total 50 expert reviewers from industry participated in this process. After the reviewing process, 28 teams were selected from the Hackathon 21 grand finale. Grand finale was conducted on 19th June 2021 and three teams were selected as two runners up and one winner.

The competition was dynamic and healthy. The reviewers from Windals Precision Pvt. Ltd., GIZ India, COEP’s BHAU Institute , IEEE Pune section , VIIT Alumni Association and many other leading organizations and experts from agricultural and rural development domains from all across India. The organization of this event wouldn't have been possible without the cooperation and support of our partners and sponsors Windals Precision Pvt. Ltd., GIZ, and IEEE.

The prizes were sponsored by Windals precision pvt ltd which was worth Rs. 50000/-. The first prize was Rs. 25000/- and second and third prize of Rs. 15000/- and Rs. 10000/- respectively. Also, IEEE sponsored two consolation prizes worth rupees 5000/- each.

The winner teams are as follow:

• Team Vighnaharta (Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune)
• Team Sentinel (MIT College of Engineering, Aurangabad)
• Team Agribot (College of Engineering, Pune)

Consolation prizes:

• Team Growmore (AISSMS COE Pune)
• Team Diplomatic Engineers (Modern COE Pune)

Partners and Sponsors:

• GitHub
• Giz - deutsche gesellschaft für internationale zusammenarbeit
• IEEE Pune Section
• Windals Precision Pvt. Ltd.
• BHAU Institute
• VIIT Pune Alumni Association
• Digital Impact Square