The pandemic has taken the world by storm, changing every sector of our lives at depths we are still processing. It has accelerated the digitalisation of society and introduced a new stage of transformation. While we look ahead to an end to this life-changing pandemic, IEEE-SBM calls upon all bright and curious minds to take this opportunity of limitless growth, stunning innovation and virtual collaboration to tackle the issues in a post COVID-19 era!

We look forward to your valuable ideas!

[IMPORTANT]: To be eligible for participating, teams must register at the following link once all the team members are finalized. (Only team leaders should fill this form).

Problem Statements:

• EDUCATION

Develop a referral process platform that helps teachers to raise and escalate major behavior issues in the classroom in real-time. The platform would work like a classroom management tool that will help teachers to share real-­time information on their student’s classroom behaviors with students, other teachers, parents, and administrators. The system should record all assessments made by the teachers for future reference and annual evaluations.

• CLIMATE ACTION

The global outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is affecting every part of human lives, including the physical world. On the positive side, studies indicate that the pandemic has significantly improved air quality which has aided the restoration of the ecological system. On the other hand, there is an exponential increase in generation of non-recyclable and organic waste leading to waste management getting difficult day by day. The consumption of resources is increasing at an alarming rate. This is bound to give rise to a new kind of pollution. The threat to marine life with the amount of covid wastes in water bodies is grave. Brainstorm and implement a smart and economical solution for the improvement of the biosphere.

• FINANCE

COVID 19 has disrupted financial aims of the mass. The cost of living has surged higher and people are forced to reassess their financial inflow in this situation. The pandemic witnessed a decline in investment avenues such as stock markets, mutual funds, real estate, fixed deposits etc due to loss of jobs. Several insurance companies burdened the COVID-19 economy loss on policyholders. Insurance premiums hence resulted in a hike of approximately 10-20%. Students have had to put their careers on halt while the middle-aged workers are facing a heavy cash crunch along with the retired individuals being at risk of drying up their savings. Come up with a creative and a flourishing solution to resolve the situation. 

• HEALTHCARE

The healthcare system all over the world was already in a fragile state during the pre-Covid era. The healthcare infrastructure in many countries is incapable of dealing with the covid-19 crisis today- shortage of medicines and the inability to provide adequate testing are only some of the few problems faced all over the world. A major problem faced by hospitals, both private and government-funded, is the shortage of beds, due to which high-risk patients do not get the right care that they need. Due to the increasing cost of healthcare, families are finding it difficult to pay their medical bills. Come up with a solution that will help improve aspects of the healthcare system.

• BUSINESS RESILIENCE

The ability of an organisation to absorb and adapt in a changing environment to enable its objectives and to survive and prosper is business resilience. In the post-covid world, both small scale and large scale businesses have faced a multitude of problems. Money management has been a major problem, and the shortage of funds has caused the employees to be laid off, leaving them without jobs in this dangerous situation. Many organisations have had problems in establishing a professional-personal life balance due to the work from home situation. Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs) need to go digital, but face problems like lack of inherent technology expertise, managing data, insufficient capital growth etc. Keeping these in mind, design the best possible solution that you can think of to tackle problems faced by the businesses in the post-covid world.

• RURAL SECTOR

The COVID-19 spread has disrupted life in India — the immediate effect created chaos among people. This has severely affected the lives and livelihood across rural India. The country-wide lockdown had caused massive migration of the people to their rural hometowns, rendering them jobless. Daily wage workers are finding it extremely difficult to make ends meet. Due to shortage of resources in rural areas, the people are faced with a difficult situation during these trying times. Come up with an optimal solution for the upliftment of the condition of the rural areas!

• CYBERSECURITY AND SURVEILLANCE

The pandemic has created an enormous challenge for businesses and other firmwares. The world became digitally connected in a very short interval of time and hence, more vulnerable. Security and risk management leaders must now safeguard their companies on a massive scale. They must ensure that their enterprises’ online services and digital platforms are resilient against cyberattacks. A lot of IT departments have deployed new types of collaboration software. Such software increases the risk of hacking sensitive data that may be placed in less secure remote workplaces. Design an optimum and scalable solution to battle this problem!

• Clarity of Problem Statement
  
• Technical and Economical Feasibility
  
• Originality, Innovation and Uniqueness
  
• Sustainability
  
• Reliability and Scalability
  
• Presentation quality