Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd., a global technology consulting and digital solution company, today announced the formal completion of ‘Infinity’ – a unique hackathon for MBA students – which witnessed participation of over 400 teams from 11 top Indian B-schools and 127 solutions being designed by them.
The winners included: First Place — Deepti Zain and Ajit Singh (IIM Bangalore), First Runner-up – Ritvik Gupta, Aadya Tewri and Dheeraj Rajpal (IIT SJMSOM) and Second Runner-up – Niteesh Sood, Ruthvik Priyatham and Nandita Ramesh (XLRI Jamshedpur). The participant schools included IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Kolkata, XLRI, ISB, SIMSOM, SPJIMR, NITIE, Great Lakes and NMIMS.
The Infinity hackathon had been designed to challenge students to produce innovative ideas benefitting Society and Industry, and featured six unique business problems — across the banking, insurance, manufacturing, energy and auto domains — to be solved within three months that started October 2018. In response, the students came up with remarkable submissions that highlighted the new age, disruptive thinking of the participants,” Nachiket Deshpande, Chief Operating Officer, LTI., said, adding that LTI now plans to hold this event annually.
One team came up with a blockchain-based microgrid infrastructure to provide electricity in rural areas by using solar energy, thus enabling local communities to become self-sufficient ‘prosumers’ and also creating a new revenue stream for them.
Another innovation involved designing a ‘Bank’ for the millennials by using new age digital transformation technologies such as AI and mobility, while one innovative model was about large FCMG companies building a mutually-beneficial digital ecosystem comprising their suppliers, distributors and end customers for greater efficiency, agility and loyalty. A ‘Design-Thinking-based’ solution enabled businesses to understand customers’ rational and emotional needs, thus enabling them to provide customized and relevant products and services.
Noting that LTI has embraced the Zen concept ‘Shoshin’ which calls for all to have a beginners’ mind, Deshpande said the success of Infinity served as a perfect testimony to gauge the power of a beginners mind within the student community, which showcased development of ‘disruptive’ ideas in using this approach. The present results highlighted how, in the years to come, Infinity would serve as a much sought-after platform for the academia community, he said.
