Hyderabad: Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC), ITE&C Department, Government of Telangana in collaboration with University of Massachusetts Amherst - Data Analytics and Computational Social Sciences (UMassDACSS) is organising a three-day Data for Social Good -Hackathon, a one-of-its-kind program for students from both STEM & Social Sciences fields across India. The Hackathon that is scheduled from 28th September to 1st October 2021, is supported by J-Hub, the incubator of JNTU-Hyderabad as a Knowledge partner.

While Data analytics in the mainstream tech industry has largely been perceived as a technology for business-driven decisions, this hackathon aims to inculcating and sensitizing young minds to using data for social good by analysing vast data sets on SDGs, to generate evidence-based insights.

Speaking about the same, Principal Secretary to ITE&C, Government of Telangana, Jayesh Ranjan, says, “As student community plays a huge role in addressing social problems, programs aiming to inculcate social innovation perspectives among them are crucial in the current times. This Hackathon will act as a testimony to enable students on using Technology for Social Good.”

Focus of the Hackathon & Participation:

While the focus of the Hackathon is Sustainable Development Goals, it is divided into two tracks. While one track looks at analysing the performance of Telangana State across 17 SDGs, the second track allows students to choose one of the shortlisted SDGs and analyse given Data Sets.

The size of the team can vary from one to a maximum of four, and students from both STEM & Social Sciences fields across India can apply. Speaking of the larger objective, Dr. Shanta Thoutam, Chief Innovation Officer for Telangana State, says, “This Hackathon is to engage the students from not only Telangana, but also across India to allow them to tinker beyond usual usage of Data Analytics, and provide an international platform for them to showcase their research experience.”

Students can apply for the Hackathon at teamtsic.telangana.gov.in/data-for-social-good-hackathon/ by 20th September 2021.

Opportunities for the Winning Teams:

The opportunities for the winning teams vary at both the International and State-level. Winning teams will get an opportunity to present their findings at Annual UMass Homecoming Research Symposium and have their work featured on the DACSS Research Website. At the state level, the teams will get to submit their findings to the relevant State Government Departments.

Dr. Meredith Rolfe, Program Director, UMassDACSS, says, “What’s unique about the DACSS program is that we teach students how to look deep into how people behave, and the underlying data that demonstrates their behaviour, and analyse it.”

For more details, contact:

N Prannay Kumar, Head-Media & Communication, TSIC, ITE&C Department, Govt. of Telangana | prannay.tsic@telangana.gov.in | +91 7799042489