E-Cell DBCE holds LAUNCH IN 24 HACKATHON

The Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell) of Don Bosco College of Engineering, Fatorda, successfully organized an intensive 24-hour hackathon titled 'Launch in 24' on the 21st and 22nd of August. As a premier innovation sprint, the hackathon challenged engineering students to tackle real-world industry problems, demanding rapid ideation, end-to-end technical execution, resilience, and entrepreneurial thinking within a high-pressure, continuous timeframe.

The journey to this 24-hour finale commenced with a rigorous preliminary qualifier titled 'Launch in 12', an intensive 12-hour hackathon designed to evaluate foundational ideation, technical capabilities, and feasibility. Out of the competing teams in the qualifier round, the top 9 most promising teams were shortlisted to advance to the grand finale of 'Launch in 24'.

The hackathon was framed around three distinct problem statements. To ensure focused competition and fair benchmarking, the 9 finalist teams were divided equally, with exactly three teams competing head-to-head within each problem statement track. To test participants' agility, adaptability, and teamwork under strict deadlines, surprise micro-tasks and technical checkpoints were introduced dynamically throughout the 24-hour sprint. Individual winners were awarded for each problem statement vertical, recognizing specialized excellence in solving each specific challenge.

The evaluation and mentoring were conducted by an esteemed jury panel featuring prominent industry leaders: Mr. Kiren Mehta, Chief Executive Officer of FiiRE Goa (Forum for Innovation Incubation Research & Entrepreneurship), and Mr. Shane Ray Furtado, Quality Engineer from Persistent Systems Limited. The judges reviewed the architectures, functional prototypes, UI/UX designs, and viable go-to-market strategies of each team, offering valuable industry perspectives and constructive feedback to the participants.

The entire event was smoothly coordinated by the student core management committee comprising Mr. Tanishq Kavlekar (Chairman, E-Cell), Mr. Shreeshant Upadhye (Secretary, E-Cell), Mr. Samarth Naik (Treasurer, E-Cell) and the entire team of E-Cell. The foundational backbone and guiding force behind the initiative was Mr. Amey Shet Tilve, Convener of E-Cell, whose mentorship was instrumental in the planning, execution, and grand success of the hackathon. 'Launch in 24' concluded on a high note, equipping participants with invaluable hands-on experience in collaborative development, rapid prototyping, and industry-aligned problem solving, further reinforcing DBCE E-Cell's commitment to nurturing an active entrepreneurial ecosystem on campus. The winners of the event were Team Night Hawk comprising of Sagar Tikadar, Mukta Deshpande, Sharv R F Dessai, Team Hackies comprising of Risvon Fernandes, Shanaia Martins, Prutha Delekar & team Runtime Terror comprising of Devanshu Yelurkar & Aditya Bingekar.