Rajasthan Government organises four-day Digifest and IT carnival to foster innovation

Tuesday March 13, 2018 , 4 min Read

In the third edition of Rajasthan Digifest and IT Day, the four-day technology carnival has a lot to offer. From insightful workshops to display of latest inventions, the platform is looking to create 10,000 job opportunities through the Job Fair and to promote entrepreneurship with Startup Fest.

Leveraging the power of technology, Rajasthan envisions to become the DigitalSthan of India. The state celebrates an annual IT Day on March 21 every year, and has a launched a host of initiatives to leapfrog in terms of technology. The government has introduced tech platforms like e-Mitra (service delivery network), Bhamashah Yojana (DBT platform), RAJ wi-fi (state wi-fi facility for residents), and iSTART (integrated startup platform), among others.

For its significant contribution to the Prime Minister's ambitious Digital India Mission, the state also bagged the ‘Digital India Summit Award’ in 2017.

After witnessing a good response over the last two years, the Department of IT&C, Rajasthan, is organising the third edition of Rajasthan Digifest & IT Day from March 18-21, 2018 in Jaipur. The event aims to bring together business leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, and changemakers turning ideas into solutions.

Unravelling the four-day affair

Spread over four days, Rajasthan Digifest & IT Day will host multiple events, aimed at setting up a new benchmark in the field of technology.

The four-day technology megaevent will be held in Jaipur from March 18-21.

On March 18, 2018, the event would kick-start with a 5 KM technology marathon – TecRush - organised by Rajasthan Government’s IT and communication department. The fun run aspires to bring together the people of Rajasthan to run for turning Rajasthan into DigitalSthan.

“It is one-of-a-kind marathon to promote technology and innovation. Anyone can come and participate. We are expecting at least 20,000 people to come and join the initiative,” added Uday Shankar, Director (Technical) of RajCOMP Info Services, Jaipur.

On March 19, 2018, the platform will host the World’s Biggest Single Location Hackathon ‘Hackathon 4.0’ with more than 5000 coders. A 36-hour coding competition – the event is expected provide a platform to coders, developers and designers to use their out-of-the-box thinking on numerous themes and take home prizes worth Rs 65 lakh along with an opportunity to work with the Government of Rajasthan.

The four-day carnival will also have ‘Green-a-Thon’ – a Hackathon in which the participants will develop, programme or present their ideas that will help in making the world a greener place. In addition, EduHack - a 24 hour Hackathon which aims at giving a unique platform to teachers, professors, lecturers, and educationists wherein they can create path-breaking solutions to improve the education system, is also being organised.

Also, the biggest technology exhibition to decipher innovations that are changing lives - Rajasthan IT Day - will bring ‘Tech State’, ‘Happy City’, ‘Happy Village’– a one of its kind experience that will open doors to latest inventions by the Government of Rajasthan. Along with this, the event will also give an iconic platform for emerging startups to showcase their products and services at the ‘Startup Expo’.

Benefits for participants

The platform will generate more than 10,000 job opportunities with the Rajasthan IT Day Job Fair that will bring together recruiters, tech managers and candidates who are looking for that right company and excellent opportunities.

Rajasthan IT Day will witness multiple sessions with eminent speakers discussing thought-provoking ideas, display of latest innovations in the field of IT, workshops for emerging startups and learners and the unveiling of latest citizen-centric projects by Government of Rajasthan.

With more than 20,000 prizes to be won, in addition to the Hackathon awards worth Rs 65 lakh, the four- day IT carnival claims to be the biggest IT and Startup Fest in India ever organised and is expected to be attended by more than one lakh people from the digital and entrepreneurship community across the world.

What’s in store for entrepreneurs?

Rajasthan government has aggressive plans to promote entrepreneurship in the region. The region’s startup policy includes benefits like sustenance allowance of Rs 10,000 per month for one year to the Startups at Idea/Prototype Stage, marketing assistance for startups at pilot stage, and support for accelerator programme, among others.

The state government also recently announced the framework through which it will provide loans and equity funding from its Startup Fund of Rs 500 crore, which includes Rs 100 crore fund for "Women Startups" and Rs 50 crore for "Green Startups".

The four-day carnival will include a startup fest to promote entrepreneurship and provide a platform for budding entrepreneurs to showcase their innovative business ideas.

“We are expecting participation of at least 500 startups in the Startup Fest. The platform will have over 50 VCs, angel investors and HNIs. We will also have boot camp and mentoring clinic for startups,” added Ravindra Shukla, Managing Director of Rajasthan Knowledge Corporation.

Interested participants may click here to register for the event for free.