New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) The seventh Smart India Hackathon will begin concurrently on Tuesday at 51 centres nationwide, Union Ministry of Education officials said.

The Smart India Hackathon (SIH) is a nationwide initiative to provide students with a platform to solve some of the pressing problems faced daily and thus inculcate a culture of product innovation and a problem-solving mindset.

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"For SIH 2024, more than 250 problem statements have been submitted by 54 ministries, departments, state governments, PSUs and industries. This year, an impressive 150 per cent increase has been recorded in internal hackathons at the institute level, growing from over 900 in the 2023 edition to over 2,247 in SIH 2024, making this the largest edition so far," the ministry said in a statement.

"More than 86,000 teams have participated in SIH 2024 at the institute level and around 49,000 student teams (each consisting of six students and two mentors) have been recommended by these institutes for the national-level round," it added.

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The grand finale serves as a ground for open interaction between officials from different ministries and departments and students, teachers from educational institutes, the ministry said and called it "very unique and also very encouraging for the students and teachers".

The challenges identified and addressed cover 17 major areas and themes linked to sectors of national importance and national priorities.

These are health care, supply chain and logistics, smart technologies, heritage and culture, sustainability, education and skill development, water, agriculture and food, emerging technologies and disaster management.

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