Nodal Center

Organizer Manual
and Guidelines
 Index
1. Introduction - 03
2. Hosting Space - 05
3. Accommodation Requirement - 08
4. Travel Facilities - 09
5. IT Requirement - 10
6. Food Arrangements - 11
7. Registration - 12
8. Manpower - 14
9. Other Requirements - 15
10.DOs and DON’Ts - 16

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 Introduction
The Ministry of Education has established the 'MoE's Innovation Cell'
with the primary objective of closely collaborating with our Higher
Education Institutions (HEIs). The purpose of this collaboration is to foster
the creative potential within our student community, encouraging them to
pursue innovative ideas and projects. The ultimate goal is to empower these
students to create their own start-ups and entrepreneurial ventures.
The Innovation Cell of the Ministry of Education, in partnership with
the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), has pioneered the
creation of the world's largest Open Innovation model, known as the Smart
India Hackathon. This unique event is designed to challenge and identify
the most promising solutions, not only from college students but also from
our school students. Solutions that exhibit scalability and the potential to
become world-class solutions in their respective domains will be harnessed
to address some of our nation's most pressing and formidable challenges.
The Smart India Hackathon represents a nationwide initiative aimed
at providing students with a platform to address the real-life issues that
impact our daily lives. It seeks to instil a culture of product innovation and
a problem-solving mindset among students. The previous four editions,
SIH2017, SIH2018, SIH2019, SIH2020, and SIH2022, have all been
remarkably successful in promoting innovative thinking among young
minds, especially engineering students from across India.
The SIH2024 hackathon will build upon the success of its flagship
program, "Smart India Hackathon," which has been organized successfully
for the past seven years. More than a thousand winners from previous
editions are now actively engaged in start-ups, organizations, government
departments, and multinational corporations. The identified
categories/themes will enable innovators and tech entrepreneurs to
develop solutions in line with the vision set forth by the Hon’ble Prime
Minister regarding the role of Hackathons, Innovation Challenges, and
Start-ups in contributing to the building of New India. This year, the sixth
edition, SIH2024, will be conducted across approximately 50 Nodal
Centers.
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The Smart India Hackathon is a continuous technical product development
competition that challenges technology students to devise innovative
solutions. Its key achievements include:
1. Leveraging the creativity and expertise of students;
2. Fostering institute-level hackathons;
3. Establishing a pathway for the 'Start-up India' campaign;
4. Crowdsourcing solutions to enhance governance and improve the
quality of life;
5. Providing citizens with an opportunity to contribute innovative solutions
to India's most daunting problems.
The Smart India Hackathon consists of two editions: the SIH Hardware
Edition, a 5-day competition focused on hardware product development,
and the SIH Software Edition, a 36-hour competition dedicated to software
product development.
Tentative Grand Finale Schedule for Hackathon – November
2024

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 Hosting Space
a. Hosting Hall: The Nodal Centers need a Hall large enough to host all
the teams (20 to 30 Teams).

b. Seating Arrangement: The Nodal Center needs to build seating

arrangement for approximately 200-250 people includes students,
judges, organizing staff etc. with enough number of power sockets for
charging their laptops, mobiles and other gadgets along with Wi-Fi
connection.

c. Printers: Nodal Centers need at least 2 printers, one of them being a

color printer. They also need to provide at least one scanner and access
to Xerox machines.

d. Work Tables: Seating/work spaces for teams can be arranged in the

following manner.
 Ideal table size would be 6ft* 4ft in size
 9 Chairs per team, on each table. 6 team members, 2
mentors, 1 judge.
 Each Chair should preferably be rotatable, should allow
height adjustment, Good Foam seating, and back. Nodal
Centers need to help these candidates achieve comfort
during the entire hackathon duration.
 10 Plug Points Per Work Table (8 Laptops, 2 Mobile
Charging Points, 2 Electronic Device Testing points)/.
 Emergency multi-plug: 3 pins or Extension boards, in case
of shutdown of specific plugs

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 e. PCs: The institutes can provide PCs to certain students if needed.

f. Dustbins: One mid-size dustbin amongst a set of 3-4 teams (Total 12-
15)

g. Breakout Zones: Institutes can provide breakout zones, a designated

area for participants to relax, socialize and/or brainstorm. The
breakout zone can have a bean bag for the convenience of the students.

h. Projector: To project all forms of Video speeches and sessions during

the entire program

i. Speakers: One Set of Speakers for announcements or providing the

information to the participants

j. Mic: For video conferencing facility with Organizer and for

announcements or providing the information to the participants

k. Video-conferencing Facility: Pre Tested Video Conferencing

Facility. This will be required in a central location especially for the
opening ceremony; closing ceremony and any other Live sessions that
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 may be organized during the course of the hackathon. NIC will be
getting in touch with the respective nodal centers for setting up the
video conferencing system

l. Power Backup: UPS might not be sufficient, Nodal Centers need to

have a standby DG

m. Medical Kit: A First Aid Kit for any unprecedented events

n. Fire Extinguishers: A Set of at least 2 fire extinguishers

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 Accommodation Requirement
 Accommodation Facilities for participants &
Mentors
a. Institute can accommodate the participants and mentors in the
institute Hostel/s.
b. Accommodation facilities must be provided to all participants,
mentors, and judges.
c. Male and Female to have separate accommodation facility.
d. Provided hostel rooms must be clean and neat.
e. Hostel rooms must have bed, bedsheets, pillow, pillow cover,
blanket, Table, chair, Drinking water Facility, Electric power plug,
Fan and Light Tubes.

 Accommodation Facilities for Judges

a. Accommodation facility must be provided to all the judges.
b. Judges should be accommodated in Guest house or Hotel.
f. The Guest house/Hotel room must have bed, bedsheets, pillow,
pillow cover, blanket, Table, chair, Drinking water Facility, Electric
power plug, Fan, Air conditioner, TV Set, Light Tubes, and Wi-Fi
Facility

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 Travel Facilities
a. The participating teams (student participants and mentors) can
travel to the nodal centre on their own expenses.
b. The participating teams and Judges are entitling to get the travel
reimbursement.
c. The participating teams each member (participants and mentors)
can get the travel reimbursement fair of Sleeper Class Train
Tickets for shortest route.
d. Institute may provide the local travel facility for participating
teams and Judges.
e. Local transport to ferry the arriving students from railway station/
bus stand to your institute when they arrive for the hackathon and
back to the railway station/ bus stand when they depart post the
event.
f. Institute may also arrange for inter-institute transport for
students to shuttle between the lodging areas and the main
hackathon bay area by taking into consideration the distances
within the campus

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 IT Requirement
a. One Wired Internet Connection: A connection which is wired
that can be extended up to 5 meters to every table.

b. High Speed internet facility: 2 lease lines of 100 Mbps each. (Wi-
Fi is preferable)

c. Firewall security: Strong firewall for protecting the entire site

from outside world hacking.

d. Video Conferencing Facility: A facility that helps nodal center

coordinator to do video conferencing with NIC. The instructions
given by NIC to be followed for Video conferencing and web-
casting.

e. Projection Screen: A Place Projection could be made visible to all

the audience.

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 Food Arrangements
a. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner to be provided only on the basis of food
coupons.

b. Seating Arrangement for all participants and guests at a time

should be a shaded region.

c. Food Arrangements for 5 meals a day for 3 days for SIH Senior
Software/ SIH Junior Editions and 5 days for SIH Senior Hardware
Edition.

d. Snacks Packets: Biscuits, Local Snacks Availability.

e. Non-Oily Dinner to help people stay awake at night.

f. Tea/ Coffee/ Biscuits/ any bakery item to be available round

the clock for all participants.

g. Availability of paid 24x7 counter for food availability, if required.

h. Participants are expected to take care of the cleanliness of the place.

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 Registration
 Requirements for Student Registration

a. Registration kit: The kit would be given to each participant. The

registration kit must have:
 Stationary: Chart sheets with the branding of Smart India
Hackathon 2024 and the nodal institute.
 Lodging rooms assistant (Accommodation
Coordinator): An assistant’s number and a chart explaining
their residence facility. Also, someone at kiosk noting down the
place where each student would be put up. At least 1-2 female
accommodation coordinator is mandatory in this team to assist
the female students.
 Food Coupons: Coupons for each individual mean that would
be served during the span of 3/5 days. Can include coupons for
snacks and refreshments as well.
 Lanyards: ID card and lanyards for all participants.
 Venue map: A map of the venue with relevant facilities.
 A Student Booklet: Containing all of the following details:
 IT Coordinators contact nos.
 Food Coordinator contact nos.
 Accommodation Coordinator contact nos. (At least 1 female
in the team)
 Student Volunteers with at least 1 female candidate.

b. Standee/T-Shirt requirement: Each team will bring their own t-shirts

with them (SIH 2024 logo on the left side is mandatory). They also
need to bring a standee/ banner showing their college detail and team
name. Institute must verify that they bring the T-shirts and standees,
and banners.

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 c. Registration form: Each nodal center will share the electronic copy of
the teams’ registration which should include the team name, team
members’ names, mobile, and email id.

d. Wi-Fi Password: Name and Password of Wi-Fi they need to connect

to. This could be common amongst a team of 6-8 members.

e. College Letter/College ID check: It would be mandatory for the

Registration desk to check the Entry ticket received by the team,
College IDs for each individual, and a letter from the college allowing
participation.

f. Travel Allowance/Reimbursement Desk: A desk that checks train/bus

tickets, accepts the Travel Allowance forms from the team leader, and
takes down details of the online transaction of money into the team
leaders’ account.

g. Collection of Physical Copies: The Nodal center to keep copies of:

 A Valid Government photo ID per individual
 A valid College ID per individual
 A TA form per Team
 A college letter allowing participation
 Copy of Travel Ticket

 Requirements for Registration of Judges

Please note the details of judges (from Industry, Ministries) on a Form.

a. Evaluation Kit: The kit which will include guidelines, scoring
sheets that would help judges to evaluate ideas
b. Judge registration kit: A kit provided to judges for a better
understanding of the entire schedule.
 Judge Badge

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 Please provide them a list of all teams with details of
their solutions
 “Thank you” letter from the Nodal Centre for each
judge.

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 Manpower

a. Accommodation Coordinator: Coordinators for Accommodation

Arrangement for students. At least 1-2 female accommodation
coordinator is mandatory in this team to assist the female students.
b. IT Coordinators: 2 x IT coordinators for managing IT problems.
c. Internet Coordinators: 2 x Wi-Fi Coordinators for managing Wi-Fi
Related problems.
d. Media Coordinators: 2 x Media Coordinators for arranging regional
press conference and for continuously updating social media about
the event tagging SIH/SIH2022/MIC/AICTE social media handle.
They need to work with DD as per their instruction.
e. Registration Volunteers: Campus Staff at Registration Desk.
f. Student Volunteers: 15-20 Volunteers for Crowd Control and other
work.
g. Session Moderator: The moderator shall coordinate with the
Judges/Mentors and teams. The moderator should be a senior
member/ person/ faculty member. He/She shall also act as a time-
keeper and monitor all the activities and sessions. A big watch should
also be there at the venue
h. House-keeping staff to maintain cleanliness on the floor, washrooms,
Hostel, and Hackathon venue etc.
i. Security personnel for Hackathon venue.
j. Lady Security personnel for women safety on floor and travel outside.
k. On Call Emergency Doctor/Ambulance should be available.
l. Food organizers, waiters etc.
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m. Operators / Helpers for machines (on need basis)
Other Requirements
a. Mattresses: Participants may take short breaks to rest or have
a brief nap. Separate areas must be provided for men and women

b. Special Location for Visitors to meet: The place where

visitors could wait and meet the participants whenever required.

c. Special Location to address the Press: The Nodal Centre

should have a separate room to address the press.

d. Water Coolers & water kegs with chilled and hot water
facilities. 1 keg for every 2 teams. Regular changing of water kegs
with filled kegs.

e. Special water bottles for Judges.

f. Coffee Machines must be functional 24x7

g. Music System: A music system with proper sound quality

h. Sporting Facility: Board Game Facilities such as Chess, Carom,

and Table for Table Tennis, Pool Table Etc.

i. Mementoes and Certificates for Judges/Mentors/ Special Guests

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 DOs and DON’Ts
 Dos for the Nodal Center
 Do Arrange for Chief Guests for Inaugural as well as Prize
Distribution Ceremonies.

 Do allow teams to place their standees and banners etc.

 Do allow teams to take rest in different sets.

 Do create a WhatsApp Group and a bridge for all

communications with the help of the Student Coordination
Committee that you appoint internally.

 Consumables procured by the nodal centers for the student

teams will be carried back with the teams after the hackathon.
Nodal centers are requested to take approvals on purchase prior
to the hackathon and not after.

 Don’ts for the Nodal Center

 Do not let teams change team members at the Nodal Center in the
last minute. They will bring a letter from MIC to support prior
change;

 Do not allow Drinking liquor on campus;

 Do not allow consuming any form of drugs without a prescription on

campus;

 Do not allow judges to leave the arena at the time when their
activity has been scheduled;

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 Contact Us

 Website: sih.gov.in
 Email : [email protected],
[email protected]

Mr. Pradeep Mr. Sarim Moin Mr. Ankush

dhage Sharma
Innovation Officer Innovation Officer
Asst.Innovation Director MoE's Innovation Cell MoE's Innovation Cell
MoE's Innovation Cell innovationofficer2@aicte- ankush.sharma@aicte-
Aid_mic@aicte- india.org india.org
india.org 011 2958 1241 011 2958 1223
011 2958 1241

Mr. Sourabh Mr. Nitin Kumar Mr. Gopal

Nirmale Statrtup Fellow Sharma
Regional Consultant MoE's Innovation Cell Statrtup Fellow
MoE's Innovation Cell startupfellow2@aicte- MoE's Innovation Cell
rc3.mic@aicte- india.org startupfellow6@aicte-
india.org 011 2958 1240 india.org
011 2958 1239 011 2958 1222

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