Engineering students from across the country will participate in a 36-hour non-stop digital product development competition to be conducted by the Human Resource Development Ministry. <br/><br/>Breifing reporters in New Delhi today, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said, on 1st and 2nd of next month, thousands of engineering students will participate in the competition – Smart India Hackathon 2017. Mr Javadekar said, for the first time twenty-nine departments under various ministries presented 598 problem for students seeking innovative solutions. <br/><br/>The Minister said, of the 42,000 students who participated and worked on the problems for last two months, ten thousand of them have been shortlisted for the grand finale. He said, selected prototypes will be funded by different ministries for their further research and development. <br/><br/>Mr Javadekar said, Hackathon has been launched to build Digital India of country's dreams and to engage the youth directly with nation building. He further said that the concept of Hackathon is still new in India, therefore All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has arranged 26 awareness workshops across India to sensitize students.<br/>