Hyderabad:The Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2025—touted as one of the world’s largest innovation-driven hackathons—commenced on Monday simultaneously at 60 nodal centres across the country. VCE one of five nodal centres in Telangana, launched the event with 151 student finalists representing 11 states.

The national inauguration was conducted virtually by AICTE Chairman Prof TG Sitharam, who opened the two-day Software edition and five-day Hardware edition of SIH 2025, featuring 8,160 finalists from 727 institutions. At VCE, the hackathon was inaugurated in person by Dr Nikhil Kant, Deputy Director, AICTE.

Calling SIH an “innovation movement rather than a competition,” Prof Sitharam addressed finalists nationwide, encouraging them to see themselves as “national builders, changemakers and problem solvers.” He highlighted the unprecedented participation this year, with 72,165 ideas submitted by 68,766 teams across India. He noted a major rise in women-led innovation, with 2,993 women participants and 53 all-women teams selected for the finale—marking a 75% increase in women’s participation.

Dr Nikhil Kant emphasized Hyderabad’s growing prominence as a national innovation hub, pointing out that it is “likely the only city hosting SIH across five nodal centres this year.”

At VCE, 25 finalist teams were assigned five problem statements issued by the Government of Jammu & Kashmir, covering:

1. AI-Based Timetable Generation aligned to NEP 2020

2. Digital Mental Health & Psychological Support System

3. Centralised Digital Platform for Student Activity Records

4. One-Stop Personalised Career & Education Advisor

5. Prashikshan – Academia–Industry Interface

A winning team will be awarded a cash prize of ₹1.5 lakh for each theme by the Government of Jammu & Kashmir.

Among the participants is a team from JNTU-Hyderabad working on an AI-enabled student stress monitoring system, featuring members from Jammu & Kashmir, Telangana and other states.

Welcoming participants, Prof JVR Ravindra, Principal & Nodal Centre Head, VCE, stated that SIH is “not just a contest but a contribution to the nation,” underscoring the responsibility of young technologists to drive innovation.

Industry and academic leaders including Dr Sandeep Shukla (IIIT Hyderabad), Dr Sachin Agarwal (PepsiCo), Mr Purnachander Goli (TCS) and senior VCE officials attended the inauguration.