
Hyderabad: The Telangana department of intermediate education has announced ‘Innovate Telangana’, a 15-day statewide hackathon for first- and second-year students. Registrations open on October 12 and close at 5 pm on October 17 on the CodeMitra Future Skills Platform.

Students from general and vocational streams can develop prototypes or AI-based solutions across eight themes: education, healthcare, mental health, agriculture, water conservation, waste management, public services, accessibility, and technology for social good. Participants must complete the CodeMitra Hackathon Readiness Course and submit project reports or prototype links by October 22.
The department will scrutinise submissions on October 23 and 24. A committee of five senior lecturers or subject experts will evaluate projects on October 26. Selected students will visit companies and interact with mentors on October 27 and 28. All participants who complete the course will receive certificates. The top three state-level finalists will get cash incentives and departmental recognition, the award amounts and grand finale date are yet to be announced.
The hackathon pits a broad, aspirational theme list against a compressed timeline, registration to final submission in just ten days, with an onboarding course required. Students from vocational streams are explicitly included, widening access beyond the academic track. The department's real leverage point is the industry visits for selected participants, a rare exposure for junior college students. Whether the pledged cash awards and recognition will be funded and delivered remains open, as neither amount nor finale date is fixed yet. The nodal officers mandated from each government college will be the on-ground test of execution.
Source: deccanchronicle.com
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