UIDAI’s Aadhaar Hackathon 2021 draws enthusiastic response from young innovators

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is conducting a hackathon to celebrate 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' and to promote the culture of innovation among youth, with an objective to find innovative solutions to enhance the experience of the residents and the way they interface with Aadhaar Enrolment and Authentication Software platforms.

On this occasion, more than 5000 innovators would challenge themselves for a period of approx. 95 Hrs of the Aadhaar Hackathon 2021 which commenced on 28 Oct 21 and will end on 31st October 21. During this intense session, young innovators would stretch their imaginations to solve some of the real-life challenges under consideration by the UIDAI and generate novel ideas and solutions for the next decade of Aadhaar. This event is being attended by participants from all corners of our country - making it truly a pan India event.

Aadhaar Hackathon 2021 has drawn unprecedented attention from young innovators as UIDAI has received more than 3000 team registrations, making it one of the most competitive hackathons of recent times. Almost all NIRF-ranked institutes are represented through various teams in this prestigious event. The Hackathon involves problem statements categorized in two themes, carefully selected to solve immediate challenges and also lay the foundation for the future.

Faculty members of ‘Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru’ led by Prof Rajesh Sundaresan have extended their support and academic experience in shaping up the structure of the event and problem statements in this Hackathon. Large scale participation by the young innovators is reflecting a positive inclination towards building new Digital India as envisaged by Hon’ble Prime Minister during ongoing AKAM Celebrations.

Prior to the commencement of the Hackathon, UIDAI arranged for online mentoring sessions, wherein problem statements and Aadhaar technologies were explained to the teams under the guidance of Sh. Anup Kumar, DDG, UIDAI, Dr. Vivek Raghavan, Chief Product Manager, UIDAI, Gp Capt B P Sabut, ADG, UIDAI and other members from technology team through various webinars. More than six online mentoring sessions were conducted to help the young innovators to shape up their ideas and convert them to meaningful solutions. Four web channels have been opened to address the queries on APIs and problem statements, and so far, hundreds of queries have been addressed by the Technology team.

Submissions by the young innovators would be shortlisted and evaluated by a team of experts, drawn from academia, industry, and government in a structured manner. Winners would be adequately rewarded by UIDAI and few lucky ones shall be extended a placement offer to work for UIDAI, subject to fulfillment of certain other criteria.

Details of the ‘Aadhaar Hackathon 2021’ are available at https://hackathon.uidai.gov.in/