Continental hosts Fiction2Science hackathon in India

In a global initiative to build an innovation ecosystem, Continental hosts fiction2science hackathon in India for the first time. It provided an opportunity to over 100 teams from various engineering institutions across India to present their innovations in future mobility on two themes: ‘Pre-crash safety’ and ‘intelligent asset tracking’ using IoT. The teams from VIT and IIT-Madras emerged winners and received Rs 1 lakh each.

The initiative, ‘Fiction2Science’ comprises of hackathons and challenges bringing together startups, students and entrepreneurs to address the issues of future mobility. The finale, held in Bengaluru on 11 December, featured 15 shortlisted teams who assembled to complete the final leg of the challenge and present their ideas.

The teams who chose the first topic of ‘pre-crash safety’ showcased solutions on improving safety in situations where collision cannot be avoided, by gathering environment and cabin data. An Industry 4.0 problem statement, ‘intelligent asset tracking using IoT’ challenged the students to solve problem of lost assets, where GPS cannot be a solution. This solution can be employed in factories, warehouses, parking centres and several other locations.

Speaking on the occasion Prashanth Doreswamy, country head continental india and managing director, Continental Automotive India, said, “Enhancing the mobility experience is at the heart of what we do at Continental. Fiction2Science is an opportunity for every idea to possibly shape the mobility of tomorrow, where technology visions can come true to tackle societal problems that look towards a future with Zero accidents, Zero emissions and Zero stress”.

Continental Fiction2Science Bean Bag Session: (Left to Right) Deepa Sasidharan, head corporate communications (moderator), Continental India; Kartik Hajela, co-founder, Log9 Materials; Tushar Mishra, co-founder, Survaider; Varsha Shivanagowda, senior associate, Keystone Partners; and Alexander Klotz, head, technical centre India, Continental Automotive India

According to Alexander Klotz, head, technical centre india, Continental Automotive India, “There are a lot of things that can be improved in mobility – to make it cleaner, safer, and more convenient. We always think about how we can encourage innovation – both internally and externally.”

One winner was picked for each topic. In the ‘Pre-Crash Safety’ topic, Srivatsan Raveendran, Prithviraj N Indi  and Krishna Prasad Bhat from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) won the first place for their idea Autonom. While in the ‘Intelligent Asset Tracking’ using IoT Sashank from IIT-Madras won the first place for his Solution using Image processing for smart Asset tracking.

The event also featured a Bean Bag Session on the theme ‘Nurturing Vision, Enabling Possibilities’. The discussion focused on various aspects related to startups in future mobility, exploring various facets of innovation, validating an idea, inviting investments, addressing legal procedures and starting-up a company.