IEEE St. Joseph’s College of Engineering student branch chapter organized Conocithon’3.0, a two-day online hackathon event held from 7th to 8th September 2024. The event featured two tracks: a 10-hour “Ideas Sprint-a-thon” and a 24-hour “Innov-a-thon.” The hackathon saw the registration of around 180 teams, with 26 teams being shortlisted for the Sprint-a-thon and 23 teams for the Innov-a-thon.
In the Ideas Sprint-a-thon-10 hrs track, participants were required to pitch their ideas, present them, and submit a detailed project writeup for evaluation. Two teams were awarded winners’ prizes of Rs. 2000 each: “The Visionaries” (Ashneet Kaur Sukhija, SRM Institute of Science and Technology) for Agriculture and Food Technology, and “REFIXERS” (Koundar Barathiraja Sudhakar, Sri Sairam Engineering College) for IoT and Automation. Two runner-up teams received Rs. 1000 each: “Hustlers” (Nivedhita, Sri Sairam Engineering College) for IoT and Automation, and “Tensai” (Vishalini R, St. Joseph’s College of Engineering) for Waste Management.
 In the 24-hour Innov-a-thon track, participants were required to submit a prototype and presentation, which underwent three rounds of evaluation. At the closing ceremony, a panel of juries, including Mr. Nishanth Rajalingam (Associate Lead Software Engineer at Explore Group), Mr. Vijayaraghavan D (Software Engineer at Explore Group), Mr. Zaid Aasi (Associate 2 at PWC Acceleration Centre), and the Chief Guest Dr. Jayarama Pradeep (HOD of EEE at St. Joseph’s College of Engineering), along with Mr. Kumaran M.S (Electronic Engineer at Advanced Energy Industries, Inc., Plasma Power), were invited to oversee the awards.The first prize of Rs. 4000 was awarded to the “Technocrafts” team (Jeffery J, SRM Easwari Engineering College) for their project in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. The second prize of Rs. 2000 went to the “Build Wheels” team (Daniel Das K, Rajalakshmi Engineering College) for their work in the same field. The third prize of Rs. 1000 was given to the “Hactivate” team (Dhanush TS, Rajalakshmi Engineering College) for their project in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Outcome of the Event: Conocithon’3.0 successfully fostered innovation and collaboration among students from various disciplines. The event encouraged participants to think critically, solve real-world problems, and develop creative solutions using emerging technologies .
