ITC Infotech, a global
scale full service provider of technology solutions and a fully owned
subsidiary of ITC Ltd, successfully concluded the 2nd chapter
of ‘iTech 2016’, its annual technology
innovation & co-creation platform aimed at promoting
entrepreneurship. As part of iTech 2016, ITC Infotech organised a 30-hour
hackathon on augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) at its
Bengaluru campus on July 16 and 17, 2016.
The event concluded with
ITC Infotech hosting a unique ‘Showcase’ session where the winners were
provided the opportunity to directly present their solutions to ITC Infotech’s
biggest global customers as well as the business division heads from ITC Ltd.
to explore real-time business opportunities.
The hackathon was organised
for professionals, developers and students as well as talented individuals from
start-ups. It provided the participants with an opportunity to develop their
ideas into prototypes, addressing a host of crowd-sourced business challenges
from the Manufacturing, Consumer Goods,
Retail, Hospitality, Education & Stationery Products, Banking, Financial
Services & Insurance and Agriculture sectors.
A total of 45 teams were
shortlisted from over 1,700 entries. The winning teams received cash prizes in addition to mentorship and go-to-market partnership offers. The winners, a team of 4 students from SRM
University, created a smart phone app, titled ‘Nomi’,
that would re-define the shopping experience in stores. The app, designed using
artificial intelligence and advanced machine learning, creates an immersive and
interactive AR and VR environment to assist customers choose the right product.
The first runner-up, a team
of 3 students from M. S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, created a Smart
Helmet, ‘ridAR’, based on AR to help bikers navigate smoothly on roads.
The second runner-up, a team of 4 professionals from SAP India, created
a Virtual commerce platform aimed at increasing the sale of
lifestyle retailing products by reaching customers through the various digital
communication channels available in the market today.
The teams ranking fourth
and fifth were also recognised for their AR/VR solutions in the categories of hospitality and education
& stationery products, respectively. Further, 7 teams
were identified and felicitated for conceptualising, prototyping and presenting
business-relevant solutions.
The panel of judges
consisted of business leaders from ITC Infotech’s partners and global clients,
such as KONE, BAT, Microsoft, PTC and SAP Labs along with senior leaders from
ITC’s businesses.
Commenting on his
experience as a jury member, Jason Schern, Senior Vice President, Global
Services, PTC, said, ‘It was great to see a
mix of both students and professionals from start-ups applying emerging
technologies and combining augmented reality and virtual reality to create
business transforming solutions. I am taking back with me a really great
perception of the level of capabilities of both of students and start-ups here
in India. iTech 2016 made it much easier for me to understand the skills and
capabilities that can be leveraged for companies like PTC global services and
others.’’
Commenting on the success
of the event, Sushma Rajagopalan, CEO and MD, ITC Infotech, said, "Though AR and VR
technologies are still at a nascent stage, they have the potential to
revolutionise customer and employee experience. The maturity of the solutions
that emerged at the hackathon was indeed encouraging. In addition to selecting
3 winners, we were compelled to award prizes to the two other teams in the top
5 as well as 7 ideas that had high business relevance. Through iTech, our
annual technology festival, it is our endeavour to offer a platform that will
build an ecosystem of students, IT professionals, entrepreneurs from start-ups,
technology enthusiasts, clients and partners and help create solutions for real
business challenges. We will help the winners implement their solutions and
assist them in gaining global market access in an accelerated time
frame”.
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