Odisha’s ‘Biggest’ Coding Hackathon Takes Off At SOA In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Minister of Industry, Energy and MSME Pratap Keshari Deb on Saturday called upon the students to set up start-ups so that a new class of entrepreneurs can emerge who can be job providers instead of job seekers .

Speaking at the inaugural function of Code 4 Odisha, billed as the state’s biggest coding hackathon at the Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), SOA’s faculty of engineering and technology, in Bhubaneswar, the minister said the state government is taking steps to create a conducive environment for financial growth of primary, manufacturing and service sectors. The students pursuing professional courses can take advantage of the government policies, he added.

Describing hackathons as the norm at present, the minister said it provides an opportunity to students to be innovative and practical to find solutions to different problems. Every thought has to be business driven and entrepreneur driven. Start-ups in electronics, food processing, pharmacy and light engineering sectors could be job providers, he added.

The themes and problem statement of the 36-hour hackathon, attended by more than 200 participants from across the state, included disaster management, education, healthcare and tourism. Students were encouraged to come up with innovative ideas and solutions to problems faced in these sectors.

Dr Omkar Rai, Executive Chairman of Start-Up Odisha said Start-Up Odisha was launched in 2016 as a government initiative and 24 world class start-ups are presently active in the state. “We are witnessing heightened activity,” he said and urged the participants to convert their ideas into investment thoughts which could be supported by Start-Up Odisha financially.

Prof Renu Sharma, Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering said hackathons provided an opportunity for individual contributors to strengthen soft skills like leadership, mentoring and communication. SOA was preparing to host a large number of events like the hackathon in future which would actively contribute towards addressing the technical problems.

Stating that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated the 60-day Start-Up Yatra 2.0 on Friday, she said Code 4 Odisha hackathon had been organised by SOA in line with the government event.

Prof Damodar Acharya, Chairman of SOA’s Advisory Board and Devjyoti Mohanty, CEO, Atal Incubation Centre-Nalanda, Odisha also spoke. Prof Manas Kumar Mallick, Director of ITER was present.