ITC Infotech’s ‘iTech 2015’ sets a benchmark for innovation of emerging and disruptive technology through its IoT hackathon

ITC Infotech’s ‘iTech 2015’ sets a benchmark for innovation of emerging and disruptive technology through its IoT hackathon

Bengaluru, 6 July 2015 – ITC Infotech, a leading global IT services & solutions company and a fully owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd recently concluded the ‘iTech 2015’, its first annual technology conference. As part of iTech 2015, ITC Infotech organized a 2-day Internet of Things (IoT) hackathon on July 4th and 5th, 2015, at its Bengaluru campus. Microsoft Azure was the official cloud partner for the event.

Key Highlights:
– As part of iTech2015, ITC Infotech conducted a 2-day hackathon themed around Internet of Things (IoT)

– The brightest minds ranging from IoT start-ups, Professionals & Developers and Students developed prototypes using IoT kits provided by ITC Infotech in the categories of Smart Retail, Smart Manufacturing, Smart Supply Chain, Smart Agriculture

– Participants presented their solutions to business users, and validated their ideas through live simulations of real business scenarios

– Microsoft Azure is the official cloud partner of iTech 2015

The hackathon was organised for the brightest of minds comprising of IoT start-ups, Professionals & Developers and Students. A panel discussion on ‘Creating future ready businesses with IoT’ witnessed the likes of Ravi Gururaj – Chairman & Co-Founder of Frictionless Ventures; Dr. Srikanth Sundararajan – Venture Partner, Helion Venture Partners; Derick Jose – Co-founder & Chief Product Officer, Flutura Decision Sciences & Analytics and V V Rajasekhar – Senior Vice President, ITC Infotech and Chief Information Officer, ITC Limited.

The hackathon provided participants with an opportunity to develop ideas into prototypes across a wide range of business challenges in the categories of smart retail, smart manufacturing, smart supply chain, smart agriculture. It also included an open category which permitted entries that were assessed on the strength of the business case presented and the viability for adoption and implementation.

A total of 36 teams participated, which were sifted from over 700 entries received. The teams presented their solutions to business users and validated their ideas through live simulations of real business scenarios. The solutions were judged on whether it addresses a real business problem, if it is differentiated from alternatives in the market and if the solution was demonstrated successfully.

The winners, Team Aditya Bhola, Manoharan Ramasamy, Ravi Sharma and Hansraj were awarded Rs. 2, 00,000 for their project in the Smart Agriculture category for their innovative solution on smart irrigation. The market problem targeted by the team was water conservation with optimal crop irrigation and enhancement of crop productivity. The solution touches upon all facets of a typical IoT project namely sensors, edge intelligence and cloud computing that also empowers farmers with best practices and historical results.

Two teams made it to the runners-up; Team Senthilkumar M, Balaji Babu TR and Anuj Duggal who built an IoT based farming land monitoring solution and Team Nitika Rajput and Tanmay Baranwal built a smart security monitoring system for agricultural use. Both teams were also part of the smart agriculture category and were awarded Rs. 1, 00,000 each for their individual projects.

Ms. Sushma Rajagopalan, CEO & MD, ITC Infotech, said, “We are encouraged by the success of iTech 2015. It set a benchmark for innovation of emerging and disruptive technologies. We have witnessed great potential and some very creative IoT solutions developed by contestants from all categories, which was the aim of the hackathon. We definitely look forward to partner with the top contestants who have potential to develop their solution, create a joint-go-to market and provide market access and further drive our initiative to encourage and nurture entrepreneurs and start-ups.”

The platform’s focus is to leverage emerging and disruptive technologies to create business-ready solutions to address some of the most challenging problems faced by industry. The programme is part of the company’s larger initiative to encourage and nurture tech entrepreneurs and start-ups.

About iTech 2015
iTech, an ITC Infotech initiative, is an annual technology conference. The platform will focus on leveraging emerging and disruptive technologies to create business-ready solutions, for addressing some of the most challenging problems faced by the industry.
For more information, please visit www.itcinfotech.com/itech

ITC Infotech announces iTech2015 with an IoT Hackathon

ITC Infotech announces iTech2015 with an IoT Hackathon

ITC Infotech will organise a 2-day IoT hackathon at its campus in Bengaluru on July 4th and 5th, 2015.

30 participants are shortlisted for this event which includes a school student. All these participants gets free IOT kit with sensors to explore their creativity. During the start of the hack there will be clear instructions about the hackathon and few technical insights are also given to the needy. 

iTech2015 theme is the “connected world” and “Internet of Things” This years challenges are spread across category of Smart Retail, Smart Manufacturing, Smart supply chains and Smart Agriculture. You are also welcome to submit in your IoT idea along with a business case in the ‘OPEN’ category, if it does not fall in the challenge areas mentioned above.

The winners and runners up will be awarded a cash prize of Rs. 2 lakhs and Rs. 1 lakhs respectively.

While discussion Ms. Sushma Rajagopalan, CEO & MD, ITC Infotech, said, “We are starting iTech this year and planning to repeat it annually. Based on the response and support we shall scale up the event year on year.  iTech2015 is one of our multi-dimensional initiatives for encouraging innovation and boosting tech entrepreneurship. This year’s theme is the “connected world” and “Internet of Things”. We have created this platform to aid participants in developing prototypes of their ideas to address real-world business challenges. We will nurture some of the relevant ideas in our Innovation Lab to drive competitive advantage for ITC’s businesses or our clients’ businesses.”

ITC Infotech launches ‘iTech 2015’- an annual innovation platform for start-ups, professional developers and students

Bengaluru, 19 June 2015 – ITC Infotech, a leading global IT services & solutions company and a fully owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd, today announced the launch of ‘iTech 2015’, an annual technology conference platform to foster technology innovation. As part of the iTech 2015 platform this year, ITC Infotech will organise a 2-day IoT hackathon at its campus in Bengaluru on July 4th and 5th, 2015.

Key Highlights:

–       As part of iTech2015, ITC Infotech will conduct a 2-day hackathon themed around Internet of Things (IoT)

–       A 30-hour prototype building contest will be held at the ITC Infotech campus in Bengaluru

–       The best and brightest minds will unite to develop prototypes using IoT kits provided by ITC Infotech

–       Opportunity for IoT start-ups, Professionals & Developers and Students to participate, present their solutions directly to business users, and validate ideas through live simulations of real business scenarios. Register: http://www.itcinfotech.com/itech/

–       ITC Infotech to provide intellectual capital for mentoring budding innovators and providing engineering tools

The hackathon will provide participants with an opportunity to develop ideas to prototypes across a wide range of business challenges. This platform is also a testimony to ITC Infotech’s commitment towards accelerating innovation in disruptive technology areas.

Aimed at boosting talent amongst technology enthusiasts and providing an acceleration platform for entrepreneurs, ITC Infotech is seeking to engage with innovators and will partner with the winners to help them develop the solution, create a joint go-to market and provide market access. The programme is part of the company’s larger initiative to encourage and nurture start-ups.

An entry free competition, iTech 2015 IoT hackathon is a team-based event. Participation is open to students, professionals and developers and IoT start-ups, who will go through a shortlisting and selection process. Teams can register on the iTech 2015 registration site and submit their IoT solution idea, post which ITC Infotech will notify the shortlisted entries.

The competition categories include:

Smart Retail: Retail is about continuously enhancing customer shopping experience. It is also about ensuring availability & visibility of stocks, specifically in Consumer Goods. Entries in this category can focus on anything from stock keeping and inventory management to in-store customer experience. Selected teams will be provided with actual retail display shelves, using which their solutions can be demonstrated to solve this real-world challenge.

Smart Manufacturing: Entrants should create a solution to constantly monitor and predict in real-time the health of machines and equipment to enable proactive servicing and avoid disruption of manufacturing units. Entries and solution ideas can also be shared on creating smart manufacturing units and assembly lines, which can utilise analytics to optimise the production process – a step towards realising the ‘Make in India’ drive.

Smart Supply Chains: Entries should have ideas on how IoT solutions can help create a smarter supply chain – warehouse, inventory management, transportation, planning and tracking, demand-planning, etc.

Smart Agriculture: Entries should have IoT solutions that provide feedback/recommend corrective action from remote farms to research laboratories for agriculture.

 

Open Category: Forentries on IoT ideas that do not fall in the challenge areas mentioned above. ITC Infotech’s panel of experts will assess the submission on the strength of the business case presented and its viability for companies to adopt and implement.

Ms. Sushma Rajagopalan, CEO & MD, ITC Infotech, said, “iTech 2015 is one of our multi-dimensional initiatives for encouraging innovation and boosting tech entrepreneurship. This year’s theme is the “connected world” and “Internet of Things”. We have created this platform to aid participants in developing prototypes of their ideas to address real-world business challenges. We will nurture some of the relevant ideas in our Innovation Lab to drive competitive advantage for ITC’s businesses or our clients’ businesses.”

The winners and runners up will be awarded a cash prize of Rs. 2,00,000 and Rs. 1,00,000 respectively.