Smart India Hackathon (SIH)

INTRODUCTION In December 2025 the Smart India Hackathon (SIH) Grand Finale — a nationwide student innovation challenge organised by the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell and AICTE — took place across multiple nodal centres around India on 8–9 December 2025. Manav Rachna International Institute of Research & Studies (MRIIRS), Faridabad, served as Haryana’s nodal centre for the SIH 2025 Software edition, hosting participating teams, mentors and event activities at its campus. KEY HIGHLIGHTS Nodal-centre designation (Haryana): SIH 2025 nodal listings include multiple problem-statement assignments that were routed to Manav Rachna for the Software edition, confirming its formal role. Event timing & format: The Software edition ran over a ~36-hour hackathon window on 8–9 December 2025 (central inauguration and distributed grand-finale format). Institutional outreach & leadership participation: MRIIRS promoted the event across social channels and hosted dignitaries/mentors during inauguration, strengthening industry-academia linkage. Student engagement: Multiple student teams participated at regional nodal centres; the event offered mentorship and evaluation to push promising prototypes toward incubation. (SIH national coverage and MRIIRS social posts highlight student involvement.) CONCLUSION Manav Rachna’s role as Haryana’s nodal centre for the SIH 2025 Software edition positioned the institute as an active regional node in India’s largest student innovation challenge. By providing infrastructure, mentorship and a public platform, MRIIRS contributed to the SIH objective of converting student ideas into practical solutions for government and industry problems. Official listings on the SIH portal and MRIIRS’s own announcements corroborate the institute’s nodal-centre status and on-campus activities during the 8–9 December 2025 Grand Finale.