New Delhi [India], July 31 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the grand finale of the Smart India Hackathon 2020 (Software) on Saturday, said the Education Ministry on Friday.

"The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi will address the grand finale of the largest ever online hackathon in the world, from 7 pm onwards on August 1, 2020, through video-conference," the ministry said in a statement.

Announcing this, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' today said that the grand finale of the Smart India Hackathon 2020 (Software) will be held from 1 to 3 August.

The Union Minister said that the hackathon is a "unique initiative to identify new and disruptive digital technology innovations for solving challenges faced by our country." "Students would have the opportunity to work on challenges faced by government departments and private sector organisations for which they can offer out-of-the-box and world-class solutions," the ministry said in the statement.

The ministry said that owing to the Covid pandemic, the finale of the hackathon would be conducted online.

Pokhriyal said that considering the Covid-19 pandemic, the grand finale for SIH 2020 shall be organised online by connecting all the participants throughout the nation together over a specially-built advanced platform, according to the ministry.

"This year, we will have more than 10,000 students competing to solve 243 problem statements from 37 central government departments, 17 state governments, and 20 industries. Each problem statement carries prize money of Rs 1,00, 000 except the student innovation theme which will have three winners, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd with prize money of Rs 1,00,000, Rs 75,000 and 50,000 respectively," the ministry said. (ANI)