IIT Gandhinagar’s FloodAI Hackathon 2024: Innovating Solutions for Urban Flooding

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (IIEC) IIT Gandhinagar, is excited to share the success of the FloodAI Hackathon 2024, an event specially designed to tackle the pressing global challenge of urban flooding. Organised by IIT Gandhinagar in association with the Interdisciplinary Program in Climate Studies at IIT Bombay, this hackathon provides a one-of-a-kind platform for students and innovators to develop cutting-edge solutions to reduce the impact of urban floods—a major issue that’s becoming increasingly critical in cities around the world. The program was held under CoE AI-powered Sustainable Cities at IIT Gandhinagar under Make AI in India and Make AI Work for India Project.

From a whopping 160+ applications received from across the country, 55 participants were finalised and split into 11 teams. 

The hackathon kicked off on August 24, at 9:00 AM and concluded with a series of exciting presentations the very next day. Prof. Rajat Moona, Director of IIT Gandhinagar, inaugurated the event, highlighting the crucial need for actionable solutions to urban flooding. His words set the perfect tone for a hackathon that was all about delivering impactful results.

The winners of this year’s FloodAI Hackathon are as follows:

“We’ve come up with a comprehensive flood detection system that doesn’t just identify potential flooding but also analyses its impact and explores ways to mitigate its effects on affected areas. Our approach zeroed in on three key parameters: first, identifying the probability of a flood; second, forecasting the depth of waterlogging; and third, estimating how long the flood might last. We’re aiming to deliver an end-to-end solution and are eagerly looking for opportunities to take this project all the way to deployment,” said Hima Soni from the first prize-winning team.

“We focused on three critical areas because we know how vulnerable our cities are to flooding. We developed an AI/ML-based solution to tackle this issue. Even though we were all knackered by the end, it was a brilliant experience,” added Raviraj Dave from the second prize-winning Team.

The innovative solutions developed during this hackathon hold tremendous promise for boosting resilience in urban areas and reducing the impact of future floods. This event has truly shown the power of technology and collaboration in solving real-world problems.