Sahasrabudhe told newsmen here that a hardware hackathon would be held as early as June.

"We are probably going to have 11 centres. In each centre students will face with a unique problem or challenge for tackling problems ranging from water, energy and others."

The centres, which would be spread across the country, will be equipped with hardware facility. IIT Kharagpur is overseeing the Hard Hackathon and the centres will be confirmed soom.

In the Hard Hackathon students of a hackathon centre will stay for five days and brainstorm to come up with "exciting and interesting" idea, he had said yesterday.

"We would like to have an innovation in every institution. Innovation cannot just take place in IITs and NITs," he said.

The Hard Hackathon, will be the first such hackathon on hardware after the successful hosting of Smart India Hackathon in the past couple of years to offer digital and sustainable solutions to real life problems faced by the country.