Bengaluru, 01st February 2025: The future of innovation is in safe hands as Quest Alliance successfully concluded its transformative five-day hackathon, Hack to the Future: Innovating for Participatory Futures. This groundbreaking initiative brought together over 57 young minds from five states — Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, and Odisha — to develop impactful, scalable solutions to real-world challenges.
Held from January 27 to 31 at the Quest Learning Observatory (QLO) in Bengaluru, the event fostered creativity, technological expertise, and problem-solving skills. Young participants from diverse socio-economic backgrounds came together, overcoming language barriers to collaborate, explore new technologies, and engage with industry mentors. Over the 5-days learners developed their prototypes integrating advancements in AI, IoT, and sustainable technologies. The event concluded with a grand showcase where students presented their solutions to a distinguished jury.
In the last year alone (2023-24) the schools program in Karnataka reached out to 268 schools, 507 educators, and 16,834 learners
What made this exercise so relevant is the fact that the nine students from Karnataka looked at problems that affected them and the community they lived in and found workable solutions. For instance, students from the Morarji Desai Residential Schools, S. Hosakote, Mysore, tackled the monkey menace in their school hostel and public areas. What concerned them was the fact that monkeys were aggressive, disrupting daily activities and attacking students. Using ingenuity and tech, the students sought to solve the problem by creating an image-processing monkey detection and chasing system.
The rising air pollution in metro cities like Bengaluru and Delhi is a matter of serious concern, felt the students of GHS Garudacharpalya, Bengaluru. This is leading to various health problems, including breathing difficulties, an increase in asthma cases, and the chances of getting infected by airborne diseases. Looking at all these issues, the students created a mask that not only purified the air but also acted as a pollution monitoring device.
Talking about the experience, Bhagyashree, a class 9 learner from Government High School Garudacharpalya, Bengaluru said, “The hackathon process enabled me to foster collaboration with other state students with the activities given. I also learned new words, and made new friends…earlier we depended on our Mentor for prototype building but now we engrossed ourselves independently in creating applications, coding, etc. My presentation skills have improved in this process. Overall, the experience was fun and engaging. Every surprise from here is learning.”
On her part, Roshan Ara Begum, Tejaswini’s teacher, observes, “Girls generally took a back seat in expressing their ideas, but after the hackathon, they have started to voice their opinions. The biggest challenge the learners overcame was the ability to mingle freely irrespective of their gender. When we noticed that male and female learners preferred working in gendered silos — I and a few mentors from Quest intervened and ensured they collaborated to bring out the best as a team. This taught them the importance of empathizing with eachother irrespective of one’s gender. The hackathon has taught them lessons that apply to the world outside…much beyond tech skills.”
Observing the process, Aparna Balakrishnan, Senior Program Manager, Schools Program, Quest Alliance, adds, “The hackathon has brought together like-minded learners with shared challenges under one roof to solve complex societal problems using technology. Their self-reflective journey in identifying problem statements and designing solutions has made them think like innovators who now have the vocabulary to articulate injustices and find solutions to their lived problems that impact their community. It has also given them the confidence to question and think critically and creatively as they explored multiple pathways to arrive at a solution. The week-long journey has taught them technical skills (that might become redundant with time) but has put them on the path of self-learning which is essential for a future job seeker.”
Beyond technical skills, participants honed essential life skills such as communication and storytelling — critical for securing support and scaling their innovations. The event placed a strong emphasis on inclusivity, ensuring equal opportunities for girls and students from marginalized communities.
The hackathon is a unique initiative designed to equip young minds with essential skills, mentorship, and technological exposure to succeed in an ever-evolving job market. This initiative not only plays a vital role in enhancing individual growth but also plays a crucial role in shaping a workforce that can drive.