AHMEDABAD: An esteemed event is held annually to celebrate the legacy of Dewang Mehta, a pioneering figure who significantly influenced the Indian IT sector. The “Dewang Mehta IT Awards 2024” ceremony, commemorating his birth anniversary, pays homage to his achievements and seeks to inspire the future generation of IT leaders. This event was a collaborative effort between the Dewang Mehta Foundation Trust, Gujarat Technological University, and NASSCOM, hosted at the Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Auditorium in Ahmedabad. The primary objective is to nurture a talented pool of engineers in Gujarat, highlight promising students to the industry, identify skill gaps, and provide support to gifted individuals from the region.
This year’s event witnessed an impressive turnout. Mr. Rajesh Nambiar, Chairman & MD of Cognizant India and Hon’ble Chairperson of NASSCOM, graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Joining him were Dr. Rajul Gajjar, the esteemed Vice Chancellor of GTU; Mr. Harish Mehta, the Managing Trustee of Dewang Mehta Foundation Trust and Founder of Onward Technologies Limited; Mr. Pradeep Udhas, an industry veteran, Board Director, Mentor, Entrepreneur, Acclaimed Ghazal Artist, and Playback Singer; Mr. Raj Jain, Chairman, Managing Director, and founder of RS Software India Limited in Kolkata, and former Chairperson of NASSCOM; and Mr. Jaimin Shah, Trustee of Dewang Mehta Foundation Trust and Director of Dev IT Limited.
The 12th edition saw a massive response where 170 projects were received from 59 Colleges/Universities of Gujarat (IT/CS/EC/IC Faculty) and 15 projects were short-listed by the jury for final assessment. These teams were invited to Ahmedabad for a personal presentation and finally jury announced the following winners.
Dewang Mehta IT Awards Winners : – In this competition, 1st winner was from the A.D. Patel Institute Of Technology- Anand (Non- GTU)- Students names- Aditya Sikarvar, Harshiv Patel & Denil Rameshbhai Dubariya. Their project name is Refreshable Braille Display Vizion
2nd Winner was from the Government Engineering College, Valsad (GTU)- students names- Joshi Mann Chandrakantbhai, Jadeja Dhruvrajsinh D, Patel Hetvi, Patel Mitul, Shewani Simran. Their project name is DIGITAL PLATFORM FOR SMART IRRIGATION SYSTEM
3rd winner was from the Atmiya University, Rajkot (non- GTU)- Students names- Kacha Brijraj & Dave Birva. Their project name is VU2 – AI Based Hexa-Wheel Robot.
Please note that there were no gold, silver or bronze categories. All 3 teams are the winners. And each team received an honour with a prize money of Rs. 1 lac each.In addition to the Dewang Mehta IT Awards 2024, the foundation and GTU, in collaboration with Shri Harish Mehta, hosted the Maverick Effect AI Challenge 2024. This online challenge was open to Gujarat students from various faculties (IT/CS/EC/IC) through the website www.maverickeffectchallenge.com. More than 120 teams participated, and the jury selected 19 projects for the second round. These 19 teams were then invited to Ahmedabad for the final presentation.
For Maverick Effect Challenge 2024: 1st winner was from UIT, Karnavati University, Gandhinagar. Students Names- Nishit Chaudhary, Kunjan Parikh, Sonia Joshi, Jaymin Tanna & Vansh Tiwari. Their Problem Statemenst was on Environmental Monitoring and Conservation.
1st runner up was from LJIET, Ahmedabad. Students names- Tirth Savalia, Perin Modi, Khushil Shah, Tirth Patel, Vinit Harishbhai Chokshi. Problem Statement was on Environmental Monitoring and Conservation.
2nd runner up was from Chandubhai S Patel Institute of Technology, Anand. Students Names- Sneh Shah, Pankil Mukundbhai Soni, Neel Deven Shah. Problem Statement was on Healthcare Optimization.
The winning team got the prize of Rs. 10,00,000, 1st Runner’s up – Rs, 90,000 & 2nd Runner’s up – Rs. 80,000
The Dewang Mehta Foundation Trust IT Awards winners will be chosen through a thorough assessment of their projects based on various factors. Criteria for selection include originality, innovative approaches, potential for sustainable social impact, feasibility of implementation, scalability, and effective presentation and communication skills. In the Maverick Challenge, students were tasked with selecting a real-world problem statement and offering an AI-related solution from five provided problems. The jury evaluated submissions based on criteria such as relevance, innovation, creativity of the problem statement, technical accuracy, quality of implementation, scalability, impact, and presentation. The Devang Mehta IT Awards stand as a guiding light for up-and-coming IT professionals, showcasing the trailblazing journey pioneered by the visionary Devang Mehta. Renowned for his significant contributions to the progression of the Indian IT industry and his lasting impact at NASSCOM, Devang Mehta represented qualities such as skill, articulacy, drive, generosity, innovation, and steadfast assurance.
