Rajalakshmi Engineering College Hosts Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2025

Chennai, December 9 2025

Smart India Hackathon is a platform for academia, industry, govt. to come together to solve critical problems: K.Annamalai.

Smart India Hackathon is the result of a combined vision for the industry, academia, government, and students to come together and arrive at solutions to critical problems plaguing society, Mr. K. Annamalai, former President of Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party, said on Tuesday evening.

In his video address at the Valedictory Function of the annual two-day Grand Finale of the Software Edition of Smart India Hackathon at Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Mr. Annamalai (speaking from New Delhi), said he was delighted to see the participation of about 25 teams from all over India – from Jammu and Kashmir to Kanniyakumari.

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“You have completed multiple processes and finally selected to come here and present your ideas. Two Ministries – Jal Shakti, and Coal are the sponsors and have given near impossible problem statements – be it using digital tools to monitor water level in villages, productivity tracking system for government offices, advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning based evaluation for an intelligent safety companion for miners,” the former Indian Police Service officer said.

However, the young students allowed their engineering talent to find a solution, Mr. Annamalai said, adding the students would have found the sessions most productive. Congratulating the students who had chosen to bring their engineering mindset to solve such problems, he said, "Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi always believed in the talent of young minds and always put youth in the forefront, for he firmly believed the youth of today had a solution for tomorrow’s problems."

The valedictory function, he said, was the culmination of efforts of the industry, government, and a great academic institution like Rajalakshmi Engineering College to come together to solve India’s problems, Mr. Annamalai added.

Mr. Abhay Meganathan, Vice Chairman of Rajalakshmi Institutions, congratulated the students for putting in 36 hours of hard work. “Hackathons are the new classrooms, where you get to learn and interact, unlike the previous generation of students. Over the last couple of decades, innovation has been the keyword, and it is the only way India can catch up with world leaders,” he remarked.

About 150 students from 13 States across India competed, and 6 teams emerged as winners. While the first four teams received Rs. 1.5 lakh each, the fifth and sixth teams received Rs. 75,000 each. The two-day event began on Monday with Mr. B.Raj Kumar, Competency Leader, L&T Technology Services Limited, Industrial Products (Machinery), inaugurating the event, held for the second successive year at Rajalakshmi Engineering College.

Rajalakshmi Engineering College is among the 60 Nodal Centres in India that hosted the Grand Finale of the Smart India Hackathon (SIH), considered as the world’s biggest open innovation model. The 36-hour software edition’s finale featured 23 teams, supported by 17 experts who mentored and evaluated the innovative projects.

Among others present on the occasion were Mr. Aseem Kalta, Startup Fellow, Innovation Cell, Ministry of Education, Government of India, Mr. Guruprasad Datra, Director, Financial Services, Deloitte India, Dr. Hemanth Agrawal, Manager (Mining), Science and Technology, Department of Central Mine Planning and Design Institute, (CMPDI), Ministry of Coal – all Nodal Centre Heads, SIH, Mr. K. M. Suceendran, Head - Global Academic Alliances, TCS, and Dr. S.N. Murugesan, Principal, Rajalakshmi Engineering College.

SIH, conducted by the Innovation Cell, Ministry of Education, is a premier nationwide initiative to engage students in solving pressing challenges and fostering a culture of innovation.

Disclaimer: This article has been published as a marketing initiative between Careers360 and Rajalakshmi Engineering College Chennai.