Last updated on July 4th, 2023 at 03:31 pm
Dr. Jitendra Singh, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences, and MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, said today that StartUps in new emerging technologies are key to India’s future economy.
“Promoting Innovation and StartUps in India’s Geospatial ecosystem is the goal of this Hackathon,” said Dr. Jitendra Singh after launching it this morning here. He invited the nation’s youth to participate in and contribute to the building of the nation’s geospatial economy.
“About half of our population is under 40 years old and very aspirational,” the Minister said. “This is evident in the fact that the Indian Start-Up economy added the 100th Indian Start-Up to the Unicorn club in 2022.”
Dr. Jitendra Singh said that in line with the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, India is on the cusp of a Geospatial Revolution and that a healthy synergy among Government, Industry, and Scientific Community will tremendously boost economic output and help India become a 10 Trillion Dollar Economy by 2030.
He said the Geospatial Hackathon, which was planned and designed by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Survey of India, IIIT Hyderabad, and Microsoft India, will serve as a formal Launchpad to India’s geospatial strategy and policy.
This policy envisions making India a global leader in the geospatial sector in times to come and become truly Atmanirbhar. He also appreciated all the partnering agencies, academia, research institutions, industries, and think tanks who have joined the mission on the occasion of Makar Sankranti, celebrated across India under different names and rituals.
“The aim of this hackathon is to promote partnerships not only among the public and private geospatial sectors but also to strengthen our country’s geospatial Start-Up ecosystem,” said Dr. Jitendra Singh. There is an urgency for our country to have reliable geospatial information for effective policy development, programming, and project operation in order to achieve Sustainable development goals by 2030.
“After the unlocking of the Space Sector in 2020 for private participation, the Modi Government has taken various initiatives to neoliberalism and democratize the geospatial sector,” said Dr. Jitendra Singh. The Minister emphasized that the launch of the National geospatial policy will promote ease of doing business in the entire geospatial sector and catalyze the mission to build India’s vibrant and globally competitive Geospatial ecosystem.
“Geospatial technology is driving inclusivity across the nation leaving no one behind,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the inaugural message at the United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress 2022.
Survey of India is proposing a Geospatial Data Processing, Solution development, and Servicing Challenge inviting solutions for select problem statements from a wide range of data sources, to foster the adoption of modern geospatial technologies such as cloud, open APIs, Drone based mapping, and Sharing and integration.
The Geospatial Hackathon will end on March 10, 2023, with two sets of challenges – the Research Challenge and the Start-Up Challenge – to find the four best solutions to the Geospatial Select Problem Statements.
