Smart India Hackathon finale kicks off with 8K students across 60 centres

The Grand Finale of the eighth edition of the Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2025, the country’s largest innovation-focused student competition, began on Monday at the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) headquarters.

The event, organised by AICTE and the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell (MIC), is being held simultaneously across 60 nodal centres, comprising 42 software hubs and 18 hardware hubs.

This year’s edition received an overwhelming response, with 72,165 ideas submitted by 68,766 student teams, reaffirming SIH’s position as India’s most impactful platform for student innovation. Following a rigorous evaluation process, 1,360 teams – made up of 8,160 students from 727 institutions and 201 cities – qualified for the Grand Finale. The finalists would compete in a 36-hour national coding and prototyping marathon, supported by 1,365 mentors from academia and industry.

A notable highlight of SIH 2025 is the participation of 2,993 female finalists, including 53 all-women teams, underscoring the initiative’s commitment to women-led innovation.

In his address, Prof TG Sitharam said SIH reflects the spirit of innovation driving India towards ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ and strengthens ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ by harnessing the creativity of young people. Abhay Jere highlighted the scale of this year’s event, noting over two lakh evaluations were conducted. Shyama Rath offered her best wishes to the teams and acknowledged SIH’s role in inspiring impactful student solutions.

Industry representatives also encouraged the finalists.

“SIH contributes directly to a stronger, more developed India by encouraging innovation-driven solutions,” said Swapan Dhar.

“The Indian education ecosystem is undergoing a major transformation towards innovation-led nation building,” remarked Suchendra.

Calling SIH a milestone effort, Pratap Sanap described it as a “true technical parenting initiative”.

As the finale unfolds nationwide, SIH continues to serve as a national innovation engine, empowering students to build scalable solutions and shaping India’s next generation of technology leaders.