VMPL

Bangalore (Karnataka) [India], September 11: The grand finale of the "Hackathon on Plastic-Free Rivers with AI," hosted by REVA University in partnership with Kyndryl, marked an inspiring culmination of efforts to combat plastic pollution in rivers. Environmental champions who are making significant contributions to conservation were honored during the event.

Among 750 teams from 19 countries with 1311 participants, the competition came down to the top 15 finalists. After an intense competition of 3 months, 3 elimination rounds, and a grand finale with a live demonstration by the Top 15 solutions, the jury announced 5 teams as winners: 1st Place went to Team EcoGuards (Maanaav Motiramani, Pratham Soni, Abhitay Shinde, Anurag Singh), rewarded with a prize of 1,50,000 INR. 2nd Place: Team Syntax Slayers (Mohammed Feroz. A, Feron. S, Rahul. G) awarded 1,00,000 INR. 3rd Place: Team Vision Giants (Sahil Kakria, Baladev, Debasis Jena), receiving a prize of 50,000 INR. In the REVA Kyndryl track, Team Nuoc Tot (Gaurav Satav, Vinay Kumar Gajanana Hegde, Raj Parihar) was declared 1st Place and was rewarded with a 50,000 INR prize, while Team Kiernans (Tommy Sam, Isaac Cheng, Sam Turner, Janarthan Sivasubramaniam) achieved 2nd Place, earning a prize of 25,000 INR.

The challenge of the hackathon was to build Vision AI-based solutions that can detect, classify, and segment the plastics in a river body from a set of drone images. The grand finale showcased 15 brilliant submissions by the top short-listed teams with exceptional creativity and technical prowess. Their solutions were not only practical but also showed a deep understanding of environmental issues and leveraging technology to address them. [Watch all the AI solutions from the event recap, YouTube link: Grand Finale of Hackathon on Plastic-Free Rivers with AI ]

Kyndryl, the world's largest infrastructure services provider, has been a key partner for REVA in hosting this event and is committed to being a sustainable and responsible business. REVA and Kyndryl will leverage the hackathon as a platform for spreading environmental awareness with a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly SDG 14: "Life Below Water" and SDG 6: "Clean Water and Sanitation."

Dr P. Shyama Raju, Chancellor of REVA University, expressed his delight, stating, "The "Hackathon on Plastic-Free Rivers with AI" has not only showcased the remarkable talent and creativity of our participants but also highlighted the immense potential of technology to address real-world environmental challenges. Congratulations to the winners and all the participants for their outstanding contributions to our collective mission of preserving our planet."

Naveen Kamat, Vice President and CTO, Data and AI Services at Kyndryl said, "We are proud to partner with REVA to build an event that contributes to creating an environmentally stable and sustainable world. Kyndryl is committed to contribute towards the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and this collaboration is an extension of that commitment as well as managing the impact of climate change. The winning solutions demonstrate a strong potential for practical application and scalability, and will make a deep impact on national and global environmental conservation efforts."

All the participants were rewarded with branded merchandise from REVA University and Kyndryl in addition to their cash prizes.

REVA University is a top-ranked private university in Bangalore, offering 100 plus undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programs in 10 plus faculty, including Engineering and Technology, Management, Science, Legal Studies, Architecture, and more. The University's sprawling green campus, with state-of-the-art infrastructure, caters to the learning needs of 16000 plus students.

REVA Academy Corporate Excellence-RACE, an initiative of REVA University, hosts this hackathon. RACE offers a range of specialised, techno-functional programs in emerging technologies, custom-designed to suit the needs of working professionals to fast-track their careers. To know more about RACE programs, follow this link https://race.reva.edu.in.

Kyndryl (NYSE: KD) is the world's largest IT infrastructure services provider serving thousands of enterprise customers in more than 60 countries. The company designs, builds, manages and modernizes the complex, mission-critical information systems that the world depends on every day. For more information, visitwww.kyndryl.com

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