US Consulate organises Air-O-Thon
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, March 31 2022:
US Consulate General in Kolkata, in partnership with KIIT TBI, hosted a 48-hour non-stop Air Quality Hackathon or Air-O-Thon in Kolkata from Wednesday at iLead College to find actionable solutions to mitigate air pollution in the Eastern and Northeastern part of India.
As per a release, the top three winners selected from the Hackathon will get an opportunity to develop and validate their product over a period of six months across three states.
The 20 teams that had been selected for the grand finale came from seven states of West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Manipur, Assam and Sikkim and is a diverse demographic mix of researchers, faculty, students and start-ups, it added.
The release mentioned that inaugurating the Air-O-Thon, American Center in Kolkata director Adrian Pratt stated that the US Consulate General Kolkata regularly engages with the local government, pollution control boards, policy makers, civil society members, students, youth leaders, media, think tanks, academic institutions, and other partners to work together and find ways to improve the air quality across East and Northeast India.
"We have implemented several public programmes to raise awareness and involve youth leaders in mitigating air pollution in the past...
No country can solve the climate crisis alone.
Everyone must do their part", he said.
iLEAD chairman Pradip Chopra and KIIT R&D director general and KIIT-TBI CEO Dr Mrutyunjay Suar were also present at the event, it added.
The release continued that top three ideas in Kolkata were selected by a panel of jury, consisting of DST TDB scientist V K Rai; IIT Delhi Electrical and Biomedical Engineering professor Tapan Gandhi and Sister Nivedita University, Kolkata vice chancellor Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay.
These top three selected ideas from the Hackathon will be provided with 360-de-gree support to complete their product development and product validation over a period of six months across three cities.
The ideas would be validated by the Pollution Control Board anil then be recommended for large-scale implementation, it also conveyed.
The release further stated that during the closing ceremony on Thursday, the winners were declared by US Embassy , New Delhi Minister Counsellor for Public Affairs Gloria Berbena.