IBM puts together an AI competition for students in India

Bob
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Posted on: July 17, 2020 5:41 pm EDT

The program is designed to foster an interest in AI from an early age

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in India, along with IBM, is presenting a challenge for students to motivate them to learn about emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and Blockchain. The competition is the IBM EdTech Youth Challenge, where students can explore the resources given by these technologies towards solving existing or imminent problems in the society, according to a company statement.

According to the website dedicated to the IBM EdTech Youth Challenge, “[The] India competition will focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) concepts and the application of AI to climate change and pandemic health issues participating teams are experiencing across India.” The program consists of two phases, with the first one being the idea development or project ideation where teams will take time to figure out ways to use AI concepts for their project. This phase includes a one-day session with IBM experts and partners who will work with the students on developing those ideas. Leading labs across India are also working alongside IBM and partners to provide the space for these internships.

The second phase is called the hackathon – a two-day coding event – where 100 teams of school students and teachers from New Delhi and Bangalore get together to compete. Only the top 30 teams will be selected to submit their final proposals and, from that group, the top five will be crowned as winners.
For the winners, there is a two-week internship and mentorship experience hosted by IBM leaders. In addition to that, there will be an opportunity to participate in national or international hackathons or conferences.