A sea of laptops, giant screens and optical wires covered the 5,000 sq ft dining hall at Tech Mahindra's Noida SEZ office, converted into a competition area on Sunday. Around 350 programmers worked through the day, non-stop for 15 hours, trying to come out with the next big app for the 'Digital India' initiative. The energy was unusual because this app competition was being linked through a web link to an all-night 'Hackathon' at the Google Inc global headquarters at Santa Clara county, California. Many saw it as a direct competition with Silicon Valley, as at least 200 engineers in the Bay area were giving their best shot as well, to develop apps for Digital India. Also making it special was the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai were going to join through an interactive session with the Hackathon participants in India and the US later at night, via live simulcast.
Spending their Sunday at the app mela was a mix of ninth graders, married couples, father-daughter teams and engineers from some of the top information technology companies and start-ups. Code for India, a US-based non-profit, was organising the event. "We have been working on different apps since morning. Even the ninth graders who are here have great ideas for the type of apps which can be developed," said Shashank Kalra, who works at Oracle and took part in the competition, along with his wife.
The competition was divided into several challenges which coincide with the different plans of the Digital India programme.
Many techies have been taking part in hackathons but for school students such as Jeet Mitra, it was a first. "The event is exciting and nerve-wracking. I have learnt a lot today but the highlight would be the PM's speech in the end," said Jeet, a class IX student of Shri Ram Millennium School.
In all, 75 teams were at it, hoping the app they developed would become part of the PM's 'Digital and Skill India' initiative. The app ideas revolved around areas such as women's safety, solutions for farmers, weather and the mid-day meals programme, among others.
"Getting to see how engineers in Silicon Valley work is always a learning experience. Rarely do we get the opportunity to observe the kind of work they do first-hand," said Karan Ahuja, who works with Urban Club, a start-up based at Gurgaon. The excitement around the PM's pet project can be gauged from the fact that a little over 30 companies took part - including Amazon, Adobe, Cisco, Edcast, GE, Google, Oracle and PayPal.
"There is a lot of excitement in both the countries around this hackathon as the winning app might just be selected by the Prime Minister. I am hopeful that some of the apps being developed here would be incorporated in the government's e-governance program," said Jagdish Mitra, chief strategy and marketing officer, Tech Mahindra.
Karl Mehta, organiser of the hackathon, said the Valley's reception to the PM's visit and this event had not only been positive but was showing results as far as business was concerned. "PM Modi's visit to the Valley, clearly, was to see how technology and innovation could solve two of India's biggest problems, connectivity and energy. These two were the focus of the 'Digital India' CFI hackathon as well,'' he said.
CLASH OF THE TITANS
- Around 350 programmers worked through the day trying to come out with the next big app for the 'Digital India' initiative
- The app competition was being linked through a web link to an all-night 'Hackathon' at the Google Inc global headquarters at Santa Clara county, California
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai were going to join through an interactive session with the Hackathon participants in India and the US later at night, via live simulcast
- 75 teams were at it, hoping the app they developed would become part of the PM's 'Digital and Skill India' initiative
- A little over 30 companies took part including Amazon, Adobe, Cisco, Edcast, GE, Google, Oracle and PayPal
