The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has announced that next week, it will host a hackathon called ‘India: Turning the Tide‘, to create solutions to address critical needs during the COVID-19 crisis in the country. The event is open to the pubic and will take place from Friday, August 28th through Sunday, August 30th. The deadline for applications is 9:29am IST on Monday, August 24.
The event is the seventh in a series of hackathons the university has hosted to address the most pressing issues arising from the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. It will enable teams from around the world, including universities, private sector, government and NGOs, to collaborate, ideate and help create solutions to address the most critical unmet needs that have emerged as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Interestingly, participants do not need coding experience to participate in the hackathon. “We are looking for a diverse set of participants from various industries. The will to make a difference and a creative mindset is all you need”, said Rao V. Mantri (MIT Sloan EMBA ’20) and Geethanjali Gopal (MIT Sloan EMBA ’20), organizers of India: Turning the Tide.
Participants will form teams on Friday, August 28, 2020 to hone in on the problem statements and generate solution pitches. On Sunday, August 30, teams will reconvene to present their work after refining their pitches with the help of mentors. The organizers will also announce the winners on the same day. Thereafter, the teams judged as having the most promising ideas will have the opportunity to co-develop and implement their solutions with the support of expert collaborators.
