Solutions for Financial Fraud Detection and Delivering Financial Literacy at Scale Take Top Honours at Third Singapore-India Hackathon 2023

BusinessWire India
Gandhinagar (Gujarat) [India], July 20: A tool to help regulators detect potential suspects of insider trading created by students of Nanyang Technological University, Amity University, and Dwarkadas College of Engineering took the top student prize at the third edition of the Singapore-India Hackathon, jointly organised by India’s Ministry of Education’s All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore).
 
In a message from PM Modi, he said, “The mantra of the G20 Presidency, ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, is Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. The Singapore-India Hackathon is an initiative that encapsulates this noble thought.”
 
India’s Minister for Education, Skills Development and Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan, and Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Lawrence Wong presented the prizes to winning teams of the student and start-up categories.
 
Minister Pradhan highlighted at the awards ceremony: “Singapore is a knowledge-based economy. It has transformed itself through knowledge and excellence in education in the last 30-40 years. Through NEP 2020, India has made great strides in becoming a knowledge-based society. Close collaboration through initiatives like Singapore-India Hackathon would help in knowledge transfers between our two countries.”
 
Singapore is now the highest foreign direct investor in India with investment of US$137 billion accounting for roughly 25 per cent of its overall foreign direct investment inflow. More than 10,000 Indian companies are registered in Singapore, making India the number one source of foreign companies in Singapore.
 
Lawrence Wong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Singapore stated: “The Singapore-India Hackathon is unique and precious. It is supported by the leaders of both the countries and is conceived from PM Modi’s vision The Hackathon brings our best youths and minds to solve global challenges together.”
 
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, initiated the first Singapore-India Hackathon in 2018 on an official visit to Singapore, with the past two events held in Singapore in 2018 and India in 2019 at IIT Madras.

Preeti Dawra, Director, Global Marketing & Strategy, Nanyang Technological University, highlighted what was special about this year’s Hackathon: “Support from the highest levels for the Singapore India Hackathon is emblematic of the growing ties between the two nations. Nanyang Technological University along with Indian Ministry of Education brought together the most talented student and startup community of Singapore and India to compete and collaborate to find innovative solutions for boosting climate action, financial inclusion and trade connectivity. Given the the impressive expanse of our partners from the public and private sector, and the profile and prestige of this event, it got included as one of the showcase events of India’s G20 Presidency that underscores Singapore-India friendship and ties.”
 
Partners of the Singapore India Hackathon 2023 include the Monetary Authority of Singapore, DBS Bank, TATA AIA Life Insurance, CII, Enterprise Singapore, Indian Scholars Association, NTUitive, Singapore Fintech Festival, IIT Gandhinagar, TiE Singapore, AIA, the High Commission of Singapore in New Delhi, and the Consulate-General of Singapore in Mumbai.
 
Surojit Shome, DBS India CEO, and sponsor said: “We are proud to partner with NTU and be a part of the Singapore India Hackathon 2023. DBS Bank has sponsored two unique challenges in the Hackathon, one on facilitating cross-border trade for SMEs and the other on solutions for sustainably achieving zero food waste. Coinciding with India’s presidency of the G20 this year, this association underscores DBS Bank’s commitment to fostering increased collaboration between Singapore and India.”
 
This year’s Singapore-India Hackathon brought together research-intensive academic institutions like NTU Singapore and IIT Gandhinagar and leading corporates and the public sector from both nations to mentor the aspiring entrepreneurs.
 
NTU Vice President (Industry) and Hackathon Patron Professor Lam Khin Yong noted, “NTU broadened the tent this year and brought together some of the most prestigious private and public sector partners in Singapore and India in our Triple Helix Partnership model involving academia, industry, and public agencies. These diverse stakeholders can support our students and start-ups in the creation of impactful solutions that can stand the test of the market.” 
 
Singapore India Hackathon brought together some of the most talented start-ups (12 from India and 12 from Singapore) and students (24 from Singapore and 24 from India in teams of 4 comprising of two students from each country) to compete and collaborate in innovating solutions for climate change, financial inclusion, and trade connectivity. In the start-up category, Haqdarshak, won for enabling 2.8 million Indians to unlock close to S$700 million in government welfare services. Singapore students from Nanyang Technological University and a wide range of higher education institutions from Singapore and leading institutions from all over India won in the student track. The top three student teams won S$15,000/ INR 9 lakh, S$10,000/INR 6 lakh, and S$7,000/INR 4 Lakh respectively. The top three start-ups, Haqdarshak, Pawsible Food and Pints, won S$20,000/INR 12 lakh, S$15,000/INR 9 lakh, and S$10,000/INR 6 lakh respectively.
 
Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore explained how this Hackathon provides an ideal platform for building a holistic ecosystem for start-ups: “India has great capacity and capability of talent, and Singapore has enormous capital. When you combine the three, you have a winning formula.”
 
Venky Iyer, President and Chief Distribution Officer, TATA AIA Life Insurance and sponsor, said: “We are excited to be a part of the Singapore-India Hackathon, which aims to find innovative solutions to global and locally relevant issues of environment, financial inclusion and sustainability.”
 
The grand finale jointly hosted by Nanyang Technological University Singapore, one of the world’s leading universities and Indian Ministry of Education’s AICTE was attended by over 600 students, start-ups, investors, policymakers, corporates, and academics at IIT Gandhinagar.
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