Introduction

As road safety continues to be a pressing concern of public safety, particularly in developing countries, there is a dire need for fresh inventions and an upward trajectory in technology to reform the road and transportation arena. Mindful of the same, the Indian Road Safety Campaign, in collaboration with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, presents the Safer India Hackathon, extending a warm invitation to all those who are enthusiastic in presenting unique innovations that can potentially transform the landscape of road safety in India.

Banking on cutting edge ideas, fertile minds and skillful hands of young innovators, the Hackathon aims to foster solution-based models to problem statements that could help tackle contemporary challenges for road safety including the frequency and effect of road accidents and quality of emergency care, by empowering the students with technical expertise and support throughout.

Problem Statements

Road mishaps are a constant concern for public safety, particularly in developing countries. Hence, there is a dire need to potentially transform the landscape of road safety for a safer India on roads. As the name suggests, hackathon revolves around road safety and aims to build solutions that can save lives. Participants are free to choose the ideas which impact road safety however they must fall in at least one of the below-mentioned categories:

• Safer Road Infrastructure: Under this theme, participants are required to brainstorm and develop solutions to tackling issues in road network infrastructure. Possible innovations (but not limited to) could be mechanisms to efficiently and effectively identify defects in road infrastructure, conduct a road safety audit, identify accident-prone areas, potholes and map them which can help authorities to come up with recommendations.
• Enforcement: Under this theme, participants are required to brainstorm and develop solutions to aid the officials in stricter enforcement of road traffic rules. Possible innovations (but not limited to) could be devices, cameras, applications that cater to the most common traffic violations.
• Safer Vehicles: Under this theme, participants are required to brainstorm and develop solutions to reduce the crash occurrence frequency and reduce the impact of the crash in case a crash happens. Possible innovations (but not limited to) could be a vehicle fitness check device, fatigue analyzer, mechanism to ban underage driving, etc.
• Emergency Connect: Working on a web/tool that can improve the post-accident emergency space in India. From working on making, it easy for the victims to claim financial support to the process of getting an ambulance on time- there is a lot of gaps in the space that can be worked upon by using technology to improve the same.
• Behavioral Aspect: Under this theme, participants are required to brainstorm and develop solutions to improve driver skills and build applications and/or simplistic integrable devices that can make driving much easier and more efficient. The aim should be to target both domestic as well as commercial drivers. Such improved techniques and assistive technologies can prove to be very beneficial in bringing down the number of accidents.

Format

The Hackathon will be held in two stages:

1. Zonal (Online)
2. National- Finale (Offline)

To encourage participation from all states and focus on regional issues, the event has been divided into five zones:

South Zone- Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Orissa

North Zone- Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand

East Zone- Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya

West Zone- Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra

Central Zone- West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh

Online Hackathons will be conducted in each zone i.e., 5 online Zonal Hackathons in total.

Following the completion of all phases for each Hackathon, each zone will be left with up to five teams that will compete in the National Finale (We are working hard to organize it offline but final decision shall be taken considering the Covid situation of that time)

Phases

The Zonal Hackathons will be conducted in 3 phases:

Phase 1: Concept Note
In this phase, teams will be required to submit a concept note, based on the problem statement given, on the provided portal. After expert evaluation of the concept notes, maximum of 25 teams will be selected and will move on to Phase 2 of the Zonal Online Hackathon

Phase 2: Execution Plan
In this phase, selected teams will be required to submit an execution plan of their concept note on the provided portal. After expert evaluation of the execution plan, maximum of 10 teams will be selected and will move on to Phase 3 of the Zonal Online Hackathon

Phase 3: Prototype Presentation
In the third and final phase, selected teams will be required to present their prototype and presentation to a jury in an online room. The jury will hence select a maximum of 5 teams that will represent their zone and compete at the National Finale.

National Finale

Here, the 25 teams from 5 zones will work on their prototypes with the mentorship of experts and present their work to the Jury.

Timeline

*Depending on the pandemic situation

Prizes

1. Taxes on the prize money will be the sole responsibility of the winners. Prizes may be subject to tax reporting and other purposes. The winner agrees to provide necessary information to affect the same and to fully cooperate in fulfilling all applicable legal requirements. Taxes on the prize money will be applicable as per the rules on the day of disbursement.
2. Mode of payment - The prize money will be transferred to the bank account of the winner. Bank account details must be shared after the results are announced.

Eligibility

1. Indian nationals only.
2. Students studying at any Indian university/ Institute.
3. Teams must consist of a minimum 2 and maximum 3 participants.
4. Teams with members from different institutes are permitted, as long as the colleges are from the same zone.
5. Removal/ voluntary withdrawal of members from any team is not encouraged. No modification will be entertained at any point after original submission.

Judgement Criteria

1. The submission will be evaluated by experts on different parameters, including but not limited to the market need, novelty of the idea/innovation, stage of development, scalability, potential impact, technical & financial feasibility, commercialization capacity, the team, and the overall business plan.

Application Submission

1. Teams must register on time for the event and adhere to deadlines for submission of the tasks at hand.
2. Incomplete submission will be disqualified.
3. Submissions can be submitted in either Hindi or English.
4. All entries obtained through unauthorized sources or which are incomplete, illegible, mutilated, altered, reproduced, forged, irregular, or fraudulent in any way or otherwise not in compliance with the rules would automatically be deemed void.
5. Applicants should avoid uploading any proprietary information on the platform as the
6. submitted entries shall be shared with evaluators & mentors for the purpose of evaluation & mentoring.
7. The participants are required to verify that the submission is original, and not plagiarized/copied from any individual or firm. 
8. The participants should ensure that the submission contains no violation of any existing copyright or another third party right including but not limited to copyrights, patents, trademarks, service marks, trade secrets or other proprietary rights or any material of an obscene, indecent, libelous or otherwise unlawful nature and does not infringe the rights of others.

Terms And Conditions

1. The Contest is open to Indian Citizens only.
2. All entries must be submitted on www.mygov.in. Entries submitted through any other medium/ mode would not be considered for evaluation.
3. The evaluators reserve the right to select or reject any submission without assigning any reasons whatsoever and without thereby incurring any liability to the participant(s) whatsoever.
4. Organizers shall not be responsible for non-receipt of entries on account of server errors/ traffic.
5. Organizers do not take any responsibility in case of patent right(s) violation(s) if the innovation(s) submitted is awaiting patent or is in the process of patent filing.
6. The participants are solely responsible for the accuracy of any information and conclusions contained in their respective submissions. Further, the participants understand that any submission in violation of the instant clause shall stand disqualified, without any intimation to the participants.
7. The organizers shall be entitled to, without limitation, publish the submissions (or part(s) thereof) on their promotional materials, including but not limited to websites, their newsletters or any other publications; without payment of additional consideration.
8. Organizers reserve the right to cancel the competition or modify the rules, dates of the competition anytime. The Organizers shall have no liability whatsoever for any inconvenience/loss directly or indirectly caused to any Participant due to such modification of rules/cancellation of competition and the Participants shall accordingly not be entitled to raise any claims pertaining to the same.
9. Once the participants have made submissions on the platform, they shall have no claim even in the event of stoppage/cancellation of the competition.
10. Teams shall maintain detailed documentation of their idea and solution at all stages of the hackathon for reference and record purposes. The organizers reserve the right to review these documents any time during the event.
11. Any decision by the organizers on any aspect of the hackathon at any point of time during the course of the event is final and binding to all the participants, without any reservations.
12. The Participants shall indemnify organizers against any claim raised by any party regarding the submission. The participants shall be liable to compensate the organizers for all costs and expenses they may have to incur against such claims.
13. The Participants shall preserve the confidentiality of all communication & information and shall not use the same for any other purpose whatsoever.
14. If any question, dispute or difference (hereinafter referred to as a ‘Dispute’) between the participant and the organizers hereto arises, the decision of the President, IRSC will be final and binding.
15. This prize competition is run by Indian Road Safety Campaign (IRSC). For queries contact, competitions.irsc@road-safety.co.in.