On December 1 st and 2 nd , 2018, EVRY India organized a full-scale Hackathon for its employees, an event wherein software developers, programmers & others participated in prototype development. Among those who partook in the event were also project managers and graphic designers, who collaborated & formed various teams to develop innovative concepts. Hackathon 2018 was a coveted opportunity for our employees, as it offered the perfect platform to put their knowledge to test in a time-constrained environment. It gave a favorable opening to the newcomers to utilize their skills and explore possibilities.

The event was conducted simultaneously at EVRY India’s Bengaluru & Chandigarh branches and brought together many employees who enthusiastically showcased the growing technical culture. The hackathon featured 20 teams, comprising 84 participants, hacking their prototypes across 20 diverse challenges. Upon submission, the judges evaluated individual projects based on parameters as uniqueness of the solution, inimitability of the software codes, potential utility of the prototype, and conformance to the rules laid down. Totally, 8 teams were shortlisted in the first round of evaluation. Each of the 8 teams presented their solutions to the grand jury for the final evaluation. The grand jury chose the top 3 teams and unanimously opined to treat them all as winners. Here’s the final run-up of the winning teams and an overview of their solutions –

Team Botters: This team chose “Easy Ticket System” as their challenge. As creating a service ticket can be time-consuming, with many fields to fill-in, this team focused on easing the process. The project delivered a faster, easier experience to create a service ticket by describing the problems in a natural way and automatically routing it to the corresponding department in the helpdesk.

Team Building Blocks: Their challenge – “Blockchain for International Payments”, aimed at introducing more transparency across the payments process using blockchain. International money transfer goes to two or more intermediaries, thus adding more delays. The source bank lacks transparency on the recipient'account purpose. This solution revolved around providing a new experience for the source bank using blockchain to resolve specific problems.

Team Hack Geeks 1.0: Geeks in this team took upon “Helping Seniors Age with Dignity”, which was all about simplifying access to care. Aged people suffer due to loneliness, improper & timely medical care. This demo provided an easier experience for aged people to call for help in emergency situations as well as assist them to take their medication on time.

The solution was a Voice-App (Alexa Skill). Idea with High Potential

Apart from the top 3 winners, the grand jury also chose another potential solution, which deserved special appreciation. The team Hack O’ Holics, which worked on “Empowering Association Banks” was chosen as the ‘Idea with High Potential’. Their solution focused on transforming aquaculture with IoT.

In aquaculture, feeding fishes inappropriately pollutes the water and harms their lives. Also, the feed constitutes about 60% of the business cost and may result in loss. This demo is a simulation of this system, allowing agriculturalists to understand the ROI of investing in IoT to objectively decide on feeds or water purification to increase the lifespan of fishes.

Overall, Hackathon 2018 spawned a spirit of competition among the teams, along with adding the fun element. The event was technically impressive as the teams stretched themselves to tackle technical issues and learn something new. Our participants made the most out of the event, tried something challenging, collaborated excellently, and generated interesting concepts, prototypes & solutions.

There were key takeaways for every participant & attendee in this event. Hackathon 2018 was all about building upon capabilities, gaining better insights, exploring analytical skills, experiencing exhilaration, and innovation!