Innovation Marathon 2.0

After the pickleball tournament, next up was the Innovation Marathon 2.0 on emerging technology. I was one of the jury members. This was a part of the CSR that our organization conducts. The initial process started around 7 months back with over 600 teams registering for the Marathon. With internal evaluations 85 teams got to the mentoring phase where they got dedicated mentors to help them progress further on their journeys. 50 of those 85 teams made it to the final round where these teams presented their projects to a panel of jury members who would then evaluate each team based on defined parameters. This exercise went on for a few hours in different rooms and finally the students were relieved of the anxiety that was being built up for the past few months. Post the evaluation all of us went for lunch. There were chit chats , discussions and some laughter during the lunch time. We went back to the main hall for some vote of thanks, experiences shared by the jury , by the participating students and also by representatives of different organizations. The jury members were felicitated followed by announcement of the Top 30 teams out of the 50 that presented their ideas since morning. That hall was full of enthusiasm, energy, hopes, happiness and a strong wish to create a better future. A day well spent understanding the thought process of today's students, their exposure and their confidence. After the conclusion of the ceremonies, we proceeded to have some coffee, clicked some pictures and left for home.