Officers at the inauguration of the hackathon at VVCE in Mysuru on Friday. | Photo credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Rajneesh Sharma, Center Head, Incture Technologies, Bengaluru, on Friday challenged engineering students to come up with innovations tailored to India’s unique needs.
Inaugurating HACKKSHETRA 2.0, a 24-hour nationwide hackathon organized by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering (VVCE), sharing experiences from his Himalayan treks, Mr. Sharma described how his visits to remote villages made him realize the urgent need for technology-driven solutions, especially in healthcare.
He encouraged students to explore opportunities in sectors such as agriculture, water management and home automation – from smart irrigation systems to sensor-based houseplant care. “India still needs a huge amount of innovation. The possibilities are huge and your ideas can really shape the future of the country,” he added.
Hanumantrao Kulkarni, senior manager of learning and development at Incture Technologies, emphasized that today’s world requires thinkers as well as doers. “AI is bridging the gap between ideation and execution, enabling everyone to become both,” he said.
Director B. Sadashive Gowda told the gathering that hackathons play a vital role in fostering students’ creativity, problem-solving and logical thinking — skills expected by industry but rarely taught directly.
He spoke about India’s rise in global innovation rankings and emphasized the need for the country to shift from a service-based economy to a product-based economy. “Innovative young minds like yours can lead this transformation by turning ideas into effective products,” he said.
He also mentioned that VVCE will be hosting a nationwide Smart India Hackathon next month.
This year, more than 400 teams from technical colleges across the state registered for the hackathon, of which 65 were shortlisted. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has declared 2025 as the Year of Artificial Intelligence and the event aims to get students to create AI-driven solutions in agriculture, education, healthcare and IoT. The projects will be evaluated by expert jury members from various industries, and the winners will receive a financial reward.
Gundappa Gowda, president of the Vidyavardhaka Sangha; Shobha Shankar, Deputy Director; Pooja MR, Professor and Head, CSE; and others were present.
Published – 14 Nov 2025 20:55 IST
