A group of three students from PDA College of Engineering in Kalaburagi, Syed Yaseen Raza, Spoorti S. Patil, and Venkatesh Patil, has secured the second prize of ₹25,000 in cash at the 12th CSI-InApp International Student Project Awards 2023 for their project, Secure Digital Identity using NFTs.
This competition was held in collaboration with the Computer Society of India (CSI) and InApp Information Technologies. The final round of the online competition was held on July 29 and 30 and the results were declared late on August 6.
Shridevi Soma, head of the Computer Science and Engineering Department at PDA College of Engineering, has expressed a sense of pride in the exceptional students and lauded their unwavering dedication, their impressive work ethic and exceptional creativity that shone through in their project.
“The path to success was marked by three discerning selection rounds, each requiring rigorous evaluation. In the first round, their project outshone a competitive field of 300 submissions, propelling them to the ranks of the top 70. Demonstrating exemplary skill and innovation, the project advanced to the second round, where it secured its place as one of the elite 15 projects. In the final and culminating round, their remarkable project clinched the prestigious second prize, a testament to their unwavering dedication and outstanding achievement in the global tech competition,” she said in a media release here on Tuesday.
“We continue to join hands with the Kerala Technological University as our academic partner to take this competition to an international level. We are inviting students from foreign universities to submit their original project work to be considered and evaluated by pioneers in the field of technology,” she added.
The objective behind the establishment of CSI-InApp Awards, she said, is to provide a challenging and creative ground for students to showcase their skills in software development and the past 11 years of this esteemed competition have encouraged students from all over India.
“The project, aptly titled Secure Digital Identity using NFTs, represents a remarkable achievement in the realm of digital innovation, harnessed within the cutting-edge domain of blockchain technology. Blockchain, often referred to as a digital ledger, acts as a secure and transparent platform that records and verifies transactions. Rooted in the concept of safeguarding online identities, this project introduces a novel approach utilising a technology known as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), which are a unique type of digital asset,” she said and added that the project’s significance is underscored by the contemporary challenges posed by cybersecurity threats and data breaches in a landscape where digital identities are vulnerable.
She said that the students conceptualised and executed this ingenious idea under the guidance of team mentor Jayashree Agarkhed.
“By leveraging NFTs, the team has devised a sophisticated solution akin to a digital shield, safeguarding personal information during online interactions. Beyond its conceptual brilliance, the project boasts a diverse range of applications. Within the immersive metaverse, individuals can harness the secure digital identity for purposes as diverse as accessing podcasts, participating in virtual events, exploring extensive virtual libraries and engaging with vibrant web3 communities. Even within conventional web2 contexts, the project enables access to restricted content such as exclusive blogs, articles and sensitive material, all the while ensuring the integrity of personal data,” she said.
Bhimashankar Bilgundi, president of Hyderabad Karnataka Education Society, which runs the PDA Engineering College, has congratulated the talented students.
