Team registrations and idea submissions are invited for the Smart Gujarat Hackathon 2025. The registration deadline is March 14, 2025!
The Education Department of Gujarat has been actively working to institutionalize the Innovation & Startup Ecosystem in the state through policies, platforms, and processes. To strengthen the support system for nurturing student startups, the second edition of the Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP 2.0) was launched on January 5, 2022, with a commitment to provide INR 500 Cr in support to student innovators and startups.
The policy includes various flagship initiatives designed to offer youth ample opportunities to unleash their creative potential. The state has pioneered several Open Innovation Programs, such as hackathons, and executed them on a large scale.
Over the past 7 years, under SSIP, the Education Department has organized 5 hackathons, with 11,567 student teams comprising 57,659 students registering for 1,676 problem statements shared by 612 departments of the Government of Gujarat, municipal corporations, government offices, and industries. A total of 4,746 teams participated in regional rounds, and 1,202 teams advanced to the grand finale. Ultimately, 174 teams were declared winners, and ₹89 lakh in prize money was awarded.
Now, the Gujarat Knowledge Society, under the Education Department, plans to organize the “Tech Hackathon: Building a Smart Gujarat” (6th Edition) under SSIP 2.0. This program is primarily focused on developing solutions for challenges faced by various state government departments, PSUs, municipal corporations, DDO/Collectorate Offices, and industry associations. Additionally, efforts will be made to create mechanisms and processes for innovating hardware/software solutions to address different challenges.
The “Tech Hackathon: Building a Smart Gujarat” aims to build on the success of previous editions, expecting more than 15,000 students to participate and collaborate on solving critical problem statements.
| Process | Tentative Timeline |
|---|---|
| Outreach to all GoG Departments, PSUs, MCs | January 2025 |
| Sourcing and Defining Problem Statement by each Department | January 2025 |
| Publishing Problem Statements on Portal | January – February 2025 |
| Creating Awareness, Outreach Across all Colleges and Universities in Gujarat and Team Registration Start | January – February 2025 |
| Team Registration & Idea/Synopsis Submission by Team | February 2025 |
| Team Registration Last Date | March 10, 2025 |
| Synopsis Submission Last Date | March 14, 2025 |
| Regional Round of Hackathon | 3rd or 4th Week of March 2025 |
| Grand Finale of Hackathon | 3rd Week of April 2025 |
Interested and eligible candidates can register via this link.
March 10, 2025
