ITC Infotech’s iTech 2017 Sets Technology Benchmark to Ride Waves of Disruptive Change

ITC Infotech, the service provider of technology solutions and a fully owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd, successfully concluded the third chapter of ‘iTech 2017’, its annual technology innovation & co-creation platform. As part of iTech 2017, ITC Infotech organised a codeathon and a startup showcase on July 22 & 23, 2017, at its Bangalore campus. Microsoft Azure was the official cloud partner for the event.

At the Start-up Showcase, innovative start-ups from across the country got an unique opportunity to present their solutions in front of ITC Infotech’s global client representatives and senior leadership of ITC Infotech and ITC Ltd.. These solutions, based on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, AR, VR etc., addressed real-world industry challenges crowd sourced from across ITC Infotech’s global client base, as well as from ITC Ltd. Two start-ups, inFeedo and Aindra won a grant of Rs. 5 Lacs for a paid POC each, and the chance to co-develop their solution with ITC Infotech as a part of its go-to-market strategy. inFeedo presented a chatbot that can talk to employees and proactively identify those who are unhappy or most likely to leave. AIndra developed an AI based - face recognition/ verification/ validation, visitor tracking, damage detection to use in machine learning, also, asset review and management.

The codeathon brought together some of the sharpest technology minds in the country to compete, create and code for complex business applications. The participants addressed various challenges ranging from social chats to jigsaw puzzles to demonstrate their programming expertise and mettle in technological innovation. . The winning group titled: Latch, used Node JS, Django and Bots to create a social chat application. They walked home with a cash prize of Rs. 3 Lacs. The first runners-up titled: Offline Champs, demonstrated how to cache and update content offline using Magnolia CMS on the iOS Platform. They won a cash prize of Rs 2 Lacs. The second runners-up, titled: Sparks, created a smart solution for push notifications for all mobile platforms using Node JS and won a cash prize of Rs. 1 Lac. Special jury awards of Rs. 25,000 each were also given to three promising participants.

The panel of judges consisted of business leaders from ITC Infotech’s partners and global clients, such as KONE, Sutter Health and Woolworths along with senior leaders from ITC’s businesses.

Commenting on the success of the event, Ms Sushma Rajagopalan, CEO & MD, ITC Infotech, said, “iTech is not just another technology event but an innovation platform that creates an ecosystem of students, IT professionals, entrepreneurs, start-ups, technology enthusiasts, clients and partners to create solutions for real business challenges. With each passing year, iTech has grown into an extremely sought after platform, inspiring new waves of technological advancements and innovations. This year again, it was successful in spotting the best talents across the country and brought to light the great technology potential of “digital India”. Like each year, we will work closely with the winners and help them implement their solutions and assist them in gaining global market access in an accelerated time frame.”

The third chapter of iTech 2017 received around 3,500 entries for its codeathon and 36 teams were shortlisted for the final round of development. For Start-up Showcase, 15 shortlisted start-ups were invited to showcase their solutions at the event as a part of the start-up showcase. Adding to the success of iTech 2015 and iTech 2016, iTech 2017 was another milestone achieved in nurturing the digital ecosystem and bringing together entrepreneurs to celebrate technology.