Bangalore, January 30  2016: Microsoft in collaboration with Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore  conducted the first ever Data Science Student Challenge (DSSC), a 24-hour global hackathon series, today.
The hackathon was inaugurated on January 29 as a part of Pravega 2016, the annual festival by the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore. The hackathonsaw  participation from  some 200 students  who accessed open government data and derived insights from that dataset, using the power of data analytics.
Along with the students, a team of senior Microsoft mentors were present onsite to support and guide participants to create solutions based on predictions from the identified issues. The hackathon generated over 50 ideas that could help build digital solutions to address the socio - economic issues in the country and accelerate the pace of the government’s Digital India program.

Amog Mannekote, Tanmay Chinchore and Abhilash K from M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MSRIT), Bangalore were recognized as the winners of the challenge for prediction analysis on diabetes in Indian women. G Arun Kumar & Aravind Sundaresan from People's Education Society Institute of Technology (PESIT) Bangalore, South Campus won the second prize for prediction analysis on heart diseases and Amleshwar Kumar, Indranil Bhattacharya, Raghuram D Bharadwaj, Shreyas S and Swapnil Dhama from Indian Institute Science (IISC), Bangalore won the third prize for predicting mortality rates of patients in ICU. The winning teams were rewarded with a cash prize of Rs.50000, Rs.25000 and Rs.15000, respectively.
Said Yogesh Simmhan, Assistant Professor, Department of Computational and Data Sciences, IISc: “The demand for Data Scientists is making it one of the most promising career options for students today. There is a critical need to address the talent gap, both in data science research and its practice. As the premier institute of research and higher learning in India, we at IISc are working towards this in multiple ways. The recent creation of the Department of Computational and Data Sciences, the Big Data public lecture series, and new data science and analytics courses are some of these efforts. This spirit is embodied by our students as well, and I am pleased that IISc’s Pravega technical fest has partnered with Microsoft to host its first global Data Science Students Challenge in India at our campus. By collaborating with Microsoft, around 200 students from around the country have benefitted from the mentoring support provided by the team. We hope that this hackathon advances and sustains the diverse collaborations between IISc and data science leaders in the industry like Microsoft.”
Added Sundar Srinivasan, Partner Group Program Manager, Microsoft India Development Centre: “The Hackathon is an example of the deep partnerships we are forging with academia and students around Data Science and Machine Learning. At Microsoft, we are deeply committed to research and development efforts behind Azure and Cortana Analytics Suite. Data Science exists across Microsoft products and services including Azure, Bing, HoloLens, Xbox and Skype. Using data Science we can make high-value predictions that can guide better decisions and smart actions in real time without human intervention. We are delighted to see some interesting solutions being built by students within a span of 24 hours. Machine learning coupled with Big Data analytics will be the next big frontier for the computing industry.”