NASSCOM’s first edition of TechNgage, a celebration of technology and technologists, found its first Technology Adopter in Tejas Venugopal of Bengaluru. The 26-year-old had come up with a tech-based solution to problems in the energy sector.
His solution for implementing a smart power grid using two technologies — Internet Of Things and Block Chain —bagged him the top award the national level event, the valedictory of which was held at VIT University on Sunday.
The idea of launching TechNgage was to draw hidden talent, according to Sushma Rajagopalan, chairperson of NASSCOM IT Services Council. “We launched this platform and started off with 18,000 applications from students, professionals and entrepreneurs,” she said.
The participants were given the problem of how to make a city smarter, and 300 persons were selected from across six-city hackathons, she said. The top 30 were selected to compete for the national-level awards, of which the top five were shortlisted.
While Mr. Venugopal bagged the first prize, Chaitanya Amin was the runner-up for his e-watt, a distribution block chain solution, while Ravi Suhag was the second runner-up for smart metering and monitoring solution.
Mr. Venugopal’s solution included translation of power consumed into virtual currency using block chain, which was ‘non-tamperable’ technology. “This way, we are bringing the market economy in a power grid. As an improvement, I also put forward an idea of having micro grids through which people can buy and sell electric power within a small neighbourhood. This will be useful at times of a disaster when there is a blackout in parts of the city,” he said.
Speaking at the valedictory session, Ms. Rajagopalan said in future, it might not be necessary for candidates to attend interviews. They can be asked to build software solution in a hackathon. “The day is not too far when hackathon is a way to recruit people and many of us are using this method already,” she said.
Ravi Viswanathan, TCS president, said technology was moving incredibly fast. “The capability of people to learn and imbibe new technologies is what will define the next generation technocrat,” he said.
He added that technology was not static and there was a need to apply technology differently to solve social problems. Citing demonetisation as an instance of a social situation, he pointed out what technology could do to enable such a huge social change.
Rising IT revenue
G. Viswanathan, VIT University chancellor, noted that the IT industry, which was once contributing one per cent to the country’s GDP, was now contributing seven per cent. “Its revenue was $ 147 billion in 2015. This will go up to $ 350 billion in 2025 and engage millions of workers directly and indirectly,” he said.
