Chennai: The Centre of Excellence for Road Safety at IIT Madras has organised its first-ever international hackathon.
The Centre introduced a dedicated BIMSTEC track, bringing together students, engineers, researchers, and problem-solvers from across India and the rest of the BIMSTEC region - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, a release from IIT Madras on Friday said.
This was envisaged as the biggest hackathon for the Global South. The hackathon positions IIT Madras to bring together governments, regional bodies and academic institutions around the shared, high-impact problem of road safety using AI as the common language.
Held under the aegis of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the BIMSTEC AI Road Safety Hackathon 2026 was organised under the theme 'AI in Road Safety' on the campus recently, which is also the 'AI Appreciation Day'.
The initiative traces back to the announcement made by the Centre of Excellence for Road Safety (CoERS), IIT Madras, at 'India AI Impact Summit' held in Delhi during February 2026.
BIMSTEC region is home to nearly 1.8 billion people and records nearly 2 lakh road fatalities every year, highlighting the urgent need for data-driven, technology-enabled solutions to strengthen road safety across the region.
Highlighting the significance of the Hackathon, V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, "Road safety is one of the clearest examples of this responsibility. Through the centre of excellence for road safety, our institute has been able to bring research, technology, and policy together to address one of the most pressing challenges in India, as well as the world".
"The AI Road Safety Hackathon, bringing together young minds from across the seven BIMSTEC nations, represents the kind of collaborative spirit IIT Madras stands for. We are happy to provide a platform where students and researchers can apply their skills in artificial intelligence and technology toward saving lives on our roads. We look forward to continuing this partnership with our neighbouring nations in the years ahead", he added.
This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.