New Delhi
September 26, 2025
The C-DAC Urban IoT Challenge 2025 hackathon was successfully organized by the Delhi centre, with support from Hyderabad, as part of the Smart City 2.0 project funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). This national competition aimed to inspire students from technical institutions across India to develop innovative IoT-based solutions for building smarter cities.
The hackathon, launched on March 21th, 2025, drew strong national interest, with 158 teams and 520 students from 15 states participating. The main challenge focused on developing a "Smart IoT Dashboard for Real-Time Data Monitoring and Analytics," with a total prize pool of INR 1,75,000.
Evaluation and Grand Finale
A preliminary evaluation of the technical proposals took place at C-DAC Hyderabad on May 6th - 7th, 2025. The evaluation committee, appointed under the Smart City 2.0 project, comprised experts from Industry, Academia, and C-DAC.The five shortlisted teams advanced to the grand finale, held at C-DAC Delhi on June 13th, 2025. The winners, first runner-up, and second runner-up were selected by the evaluation committee on the same day.
Award Ceremony and Industry Center Inauguration
An award ceremony was organized at the C-DAC Delhi center on September 26th, 2025, to recognize the achievements of the top three student teams. The event was graced by Smt. Sunita Verma, Scientist G and Group Coordinator for R&D in Electronics at MeitY, as the Chief Guest. Other distinguished attendees included Shri. Arvind Kumar, Senior Advisor, C-DAC; Shri. S. A. Kumar, NSM Advisor; and Shri. Sandeep Wadhwa, Executive Director, Corporate Business Development, C-DAC.
After a welcome address by Shri. Jitendra Singh, Centre Head, C-DAC Delhi, and opening remarks by Shri. Devadatta Sasmala, Scientist F, the audience was briefed on the Smart City 2.0 project's milestones by Shri. Haribabu, Scientist G & Chief Investigator. The student teams presented a short video demonstrating their developed dashboards and shared their hackathon experiences.
Smt. Sunita Verma distributed the trophies and announced the winners:
- First Prize (INR 1,00,000): "The Incredibles" from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
- Second Prize (INR 50,000): "Energy X" from Vishnu Institute of Technology, Andhra Pradesh.
- Third Prize (INR 25,000): "Innovators" from Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu.
Shri. Naveen Kumar, Scientist E, MeitY, presented certificates and trophies to all members of the top three teams.
A highlight of the ceremony was the inauguration of the Industry Support Center at C-DAC Delhi, established under the Smart City 2.0 project, by the Chief Guest, Smt. Sunita Verma. The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. S. V. Srikanth, Scientist F, C-DAC Hyderabad, followed by the National Anthem.
