Mangalore Diocese News

Media Release

Mangaluru, April 27 : “It is not about winning the game; for life and career are rarely like that. It is the opportunity to learn and grow that builds great leaders”, said Mr. Mikkel Bardram, CEO – EG at the conclusion of the HackToFuture Hackathon at St. Joseph Engineering College (SJEC) on April 26, 2023. The 24 Hour Hackathon was organized by EG India Private Limited in partnership with SJEC and was held on the 25th & 26th of April 2023, at the Kalam auditorium.

The hackathon hosted at the SJEC campus had over 150 young aspiring students from Engineering and allied IT courses collaborate to develop innovative solutions in the field of Energy and Sustainability, Social Innovation, Healthcare, and Finance. Mr. Mikkel Bardram, CEO - EG, Ms. Tina Bodin, Global Head of HR – EG, Mr. Allan Bech, CTO - EG, along with Mr. Søren Tranberg Hansen, Consul - Deputy Head of Mission - Science and Technology, Consulate General of Denmark, Bangalore and Mr Anand Fernandes, CEO & Director, EG India Ltd awarded the winners of the hackathon. The winners across the four tracks walked away with a total cash prize of INR 1,50,000.

Mr. Soren Tranberg Hansen, the Guest of Honor, expressed his appreciation for the students' creative approaches and technology solutions to engineering and societal issues. He also discussed Danish culture and its scientific bent, highlighting some of the country's technological innovations and the current robotics trend.

The event's chief guest, Mr. Mikkel Bardram, expressed his delight in working with SJEC on the hackathon. He was ecstatic to witness the bright, youthful students' original concepts and intellectual processes. He discussed various EG products and encouraged the students to join the organization. He discussed EG's plans to rapidly expand its Mangalore office, its Indian headquarters, and hence contribute to the local society and nurture talented individuals.

Mr. Allan Bech was impressed by the students' use of the latest technologies to tackle the problems. He emphasized the necessity for cutting-edge solutions to shorten the time between an idea and the market so that companies can compete on a global scale. Ms. Tina Bodin commended the attendees and expressed her gratitude for their collaboration with SJEC. She discussed the corporate culture as well as the demand for talent and growth possibilities. Dr. Rio D'Souza, the Principal of SJEC spoke about the innovation ecosystem at SJEC, including the Incubation grant from the Government of Karnataka, the SJEC-AICTE IDEA lab, and the recently launched SJEC Innoventure platform to fuel innovation and entrepreneurship among young graduates.

The HackToFuture event aimed to bring young innovators and industry experts to a common platform to collaborate and empower tomorrow's world. The hackathon witnessed registrations from over 600 teams from 90+ colleges across India, with the top 50 teams shortlisted after an hour-long proctored online preliminary round. The final round featured over 150 students working on realizing their ideas in the spur of excitement and creativity.

EG India, a market-leading vendor of Nordic Vertical Software, sponsored the Hackathon. EG is a software product development company headquartered in Denmark, with additional offices in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Spain, and India. EG focuses on developing and delivering innovative software solutions and services that help businesses optimize their operations and achieve their goals. They opened their first Indian office in Kapikad - Mangalore in late 2022.