Students from 71 educational institutions across Goa will come together for a statewide technology and innovation programme under the Seva Sankalp Abhiyan 2026, led by the Department of Information Technology, Electronics & Communications (DITE&C) in collaboration with the Directorate of Higher Education (DHE). The programme will give students a hands-on platform to apply technology, innovation and entrepreneurial thinking to real-world challenges, including public service delivery, while building skills for Goa’s emerging digital economy.
The campaign commemorates 25 years of visionary leadership and dedicated service of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, anchored in the guiding philosophy of ‘Jan Seva Hi Prabhu Seva’ (Service to humanity is service to God).
Highlighting PM Modi’s unwavering focus on youth-led development, citizen-centric governance and digital empowerment under the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, the campaign seeks to transform everyday administration into a shared social responsibility through active youth participation.
The official launch event was graced by Chief Minister, Dr. Pramod Sawant alongside Minister for Information Technology, Electronics & Communications, Rohan Khaunte. Also present on the dais were MLA of Bicholim and Chairman of InfoTech Corporation of Goa Ltd., Dr. Chandrakant Shetye, MLA of Priol, Govind Gaude, Prasad Lolayekar, IAS, Secretary, Education, Bhushan K. Savaikar, Director, DHE, Kabir Shirgaonkar, Director DITE&C, Praveen Volvotkar, MD, ITG, Revati Kumar, CEO, Goa Electronics Limited., Dr. Sneha Bhagwat, President, Goa AYUSH Council and Radhika Ghai, Founder and CEO Kindlife.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Sawant highlighted the valuable contribution young minds can make towards realising the vision of a Viksit Bharat 2047. He encouraged the youth to actively look into entrepreneurship, pointing out that launching their own ventures not only opens up new avenues, but also transforms them from job seekers into job creators who can drive sustainable growth across Goa. Applauding the departments for identifying key sectors including health, education, environment, agriculture, tourism and disaster management, CM urged the youth to take the lead in developing practical solutions and drive innovation for these sectors.
Addressing the students, ITE&C Minister, Rohan Khaunte said, “Projects are no longer just about marks today, true innovation starts right inside our classrooms. Through our Startup Policy 2025, we have introduced 12 dedicated schemes to ensure our startups and students receive direct government support to scale. The Goa AI Policy is focused on skilling, with an ambitious goal to make 50,000 AI-certified resources by 2030. AI is not the future, it is the present and our aim is to empower students to become job givers rather than job seekers. Initiatives like Seva Sankalp Abhiyan offer our youth a meaningful opportunity to give back to society through technology. The hackathon, panel discussions and bootcamps will offer students a platform to test their ideas, tackle real public service challenges and refine their technology with industry experts.”
The month-long campaign introduces a three-tier programme designed to take students from building solutions to exchanging ideas and developing entrepreneurial skills. Sankalp Setu, the statewide hackathon, will run from September 30 to October 23 under the theme ‘Bridging Ideas to Impact’. Student teams from 71 participating colleges will develop technology-led solutions across multiple sectors, addressing real-world challenges including public service delivery. Winning teams will get an opportunity to present their solutions to government departments and stand a chance of having their ideas adopted for implementation. The winning teams will also be felicitated at the end of the campaign.
Sankalp Manthan, scheduled from October 5 to October 12 under the theme ‘Think, Explore, Solve’, will bring students together across six regional hubs for keynote addresses, panel discussions and solution showcases, with over 600 participants expected at each session.
Sankalp Nirdhar, taking place from October 26 to November 6 (phase 1) across 10 engineering and polytechnic colleges, will focus on entrepreneurship, innovation and industry readiness through bootcamps led by industry experts and alumni.
The launch featured impactful talks by Joydeep Rakshit, Founder, TAWAI Studio on AI for Employment and Radhika Ghai, Founder & CEO, Kindlife on her entrepreneurial journey and building sustainable startups. D. S. Prashant, CEO, Startup & IT Promotion Cell (SITPC) also presented a detailed overview of the entire programme. Highlights of the day also included the official launch of the Ayur Hackathon to encourage tech-driven healthcare innovation, along with spot quizzes on IT and startups that kept participating students engaged.
Through Seva Sankalp Abhiyan, DITE&C and DHE are creating a platform for students to move beyond the classroom and apply their ideas to real-world challenges. By connecting student innovation with government departments, industry and the startup ecosystem, the initiative aims to turn young talent into active contributors to Goa’s digital transformation and create pathways for their ideas to move from concepts to solutions.
