Smart India Hackathon 2025 begins at 60 centres across India

Smart India Hackathon 2025 began at 60 nodal centres across India, including VCE Hyderabad, with 8,160 finalists taking part. The event saw a record rise in women’s participation, as AICTE declared 2025 the Year of Artificial Intelligence

Hyderabad: One of the world’s largest hackathons—the Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2025, organised by the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell (MoE), and the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), commenced at Vardhaman College of Engineering (VCE), one of the 60 nodal centres nationwide and one of five in Telangana.

The two-day Software edition and the five-day Hardware edition were launched nationally by Prof TG Sitharam, Chairman, AICTE, in a virtual inaugural, participated by 8,160 finalists from 727 institutions across India. The physical event at VCE was inaugurated by Dr Nikhil Kant, Deputy Director, AICTE.

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Prof TG Sitharam said the SIH 2025 received 72,165 ideas this year from 68,766 student teams across India based on 271 problem statements, out of which 1,360 top teams were selected for the Grand Finale, including 2993 women participants and 53 all-girls teams, marking a 26 per cent jump in idea submissions and a 75.4 per cent rise in women’s participation.

He further announced AICTE’s declaration of 2025 as the Year of Artificial Intelligence, accelerating AI adoption across Higher and Technical Education.