Capgemini’s Tech Challenge 2019: Hackathon participants find innovative solutions on water conservation and management

Capgemini today announced the winners of the 6^th edition of its Tech Challenge annual hackathon. Team TechELITES, comprising 6 members including both students and experienced professionals, won the Tech Challenge 2019 title for creating a proof-of-concept for efficient water management and conservation. The winning solution used digital technologies such as cloud, IOT (Internet of things), AI (artificial intelligence) and analytics to overcome water leakage, track consumption and enable the treatment of water – recycling and reuse – across domestic, commercial and industrial usage. 

Tech Challenge 2019 received a record response with registrations from over 160,000 participants across 80 cities in India, an increase of 20% from last year. In 2019, 30% of the top 55 finalists were women, a first-of-its-kind participation in the finale challenge round. The solutions from the live hackathon held at Capgemini’s Pune Hinjewadi campus were evaluated by an eminent jury panel composed of Dr. Radha Shankarmani, Dean, Quality Assurance and Head Of Department – IT, Sardar Patel Institute of Technology; Mamunur Rahman, Head of Global IT Services, Toll Group and Head of Toll Technology Center in India, Aditya Kumar Sinha, Associate Director, C-DAC Pune, Ministry of Electronics and IT, Govt. of India, Arul Paramanandam, COO of Capgemini in India and Sarika Naik, CMO of  Capgemini in India.

Congratulating the winners and finalists, Arul Kumaran Paramanandam, COO of Capgemini in India said, “Capgemini is committed to harnessing the power of digital technologies to contribute to a sustainable tomorrow. Designed to identify young programmers and tech enthusiasts to solve real world challenges using emerging technologies, Tech Challenge has now become a unique platform to engage young and brilliant minds in the industry to find solutions, consistently and successfully, to real-life social challenges. The record response this year and the quality of talent is heartening and is a reflection of our conviction that millennials have the power to be the Architects of Positive Futures and revolutionise the way we interact with the society and the world at large.”  

The winning team won prize money of INR 3 lakh and has directly qualified for the final round of interviews for potential employment opportunities at Capgemini. Additionally, the top 5 colleges with maximum participation in the challenge were felicitated at the awards event.

Tech Challenge brings together the best IT talent across India to stimulate ideation, creativity and innovation. It offers every passionate developer an opportunity to compete with the best minds in programming and leverage their coding skills to resolve real-world challenges and create social and economic value for the community. In 2017, Tech Challenge finalists were given a social challenge where contestants had to create prototypes to solve the problem of missing children in India. The prototype was later converted into a real app called ReUnite, which is currently live on the Android store. In 2018, Tech Challenge finalists created proofs-of-concepts on diverse issues like Reduced Carbon Emissions, Better Urban Planning and Improved Waste Management.

Capgemini is one of the largest recruiters of talent in India, with over 25000 hires in 2018. Capgemini maintains strong connections with academia and the industry through events such as Tech Challenge, Tech Fiesta, faculty development programs, joint Centers of Excellence (COEs), seminars and workshops. Students and professionals selected get a chance to ace their careers with Capgemini on digital technologies of their choice.