Founded 2007 Prize money 1 Million INR | Place Chennai, India | |
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Type Student-run, non-profit Institute College of Engineering, Guindy Major events Xceed, Robowars, Godspeed, Onsite and Online Programming Contests, Initiatives | ||
Kurukshetra is an international techno-management fest conducted annually by the College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is a four-day event organized by the college's technical body, the CEG Tech Forum (CTF). The name of the fest derives from the location of the apocalyptic battle between the Kauravas and the Pandavas in the ancient Indian Epic, the Mahabharata. The tag-line of the fest, "The Battle of Brains", refers to the battle. The fest was first held in 2007 and is the first techno-management festival in India to be awarded UNESCO patronage. Its logo, the Cyclotron, symbolises the celebration of the indomitable spirit of engineering and innovation.
Contents
Working committee
The festival is organized by the CEG Tech Forum. Founded in the year 2006, the Forum is a student-run, organisation consisting of 18 teams: Brand Relations, Creativity and Content, Management, Creativity and Initiatives, Design, Events, Finance, Guest Lectures, Hospitality, Human Resource, Industrial Relations, Logistics, Marketing, Media, Projects, Quality Assurance and Control, Tech Workshops, XCEED and Karnival.
History
Hosted for the first time in January 2007, the fest included workshops entitled "Autonomous Robotics", "Ethical Hacking" and "Need for Speed" as part of the event. The project exhibition event received an overwhelming response with more than 250 entries and 25 teams short-listed for the final display. In subsequent years the fest has evolved as a platform to facilitate interaction between students and industry. The 10th edition in 2016 hosted 8 guest lectures, 9 workshops and 12 events in 7 categories with participation from not only students but multiple corporate houses as well; over 20,000 participants from over 800 institutions competed for 1 million in prize money. The fest’s eleventh edition is under the support of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Digital India and the National e-Governance Division, Government of India and its theme is “Combating Climate Change”
Certification
Kurukshetra was the first student organised tech fest in India to receive UNESCO patronage in 2011. Kurukshetra was also titled Green Fest by the UN Conference for Sustainable Development in the previous edition in 2012. The student-managed committee is certified to the ISO 9001:2015 quality standard.
Karnival
Karnival is an event that presents displays on science, technology, arts, history and culture. Some of the past exhibits are a magic show and 3D-floor painting held in 2014, an Arjun tank demonstration and laser tag game in 2015, and caricature workshop, photography workshop, Rubik’s cube workshop and virtual reality exhibition in 2016.
Workshops
The workshops range all over the radar of technology from aero-modelling, and robotics to motorcycles. Some of the notable workshops in previous editions are:
Events
Kurukshetra presents an assortment of events under multifarious categories: Engineering, management, coding, robotics, quizzes, online events and general.
General
Online
Engineering
Xceed
Xceed, the nation-wide robotics, coding and quizzing championship, is a precursor to Kurukshetra. It serves as a platform to bring the smart brains from across the country to participate in Kurukshetra. Xceed is usually conducted at various institutions between 30 and 60 days before Kurukshetra. The winners of the xceed events conducted elsewhere are given a direct chance to participate in the Grand Finale of the same event conducted at Kuruskehtra. In 2016, xceed was conducted in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
Social initiative
E-for-Educate is an e-waste drive which aims to create awareness in school students about e-waste and also its hazardous effects on nature, collect e-waste from the public through students and utilise the funds from the recycled waste for the education of under-privileged children via the BHUMI non–governmental organisation.
Projects
Some of the past innovative projects displayed in K!16 are: