For many young innovators, artificial intelligence is helping turn ideas into practical solutions for real-world challenges. From improving urban infrastructure and public services to supporting healthcare and agriculture, students are building AI-powered applications that address real-world problems while creating meaningful public impact.
One such innovation is NalaWatch, an AI-powered urban flood intelligence platform built by Hyderabad students, which won the top prize at NxtWave’s ‘Idea to Impact’ Grand Finale. The platform predicts waterlogging and drain overflows in real time, enabling early warnings and faster disaster response. It was selected as the best project among 90 AI-powered Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) developed by more than 250 students from over 15 states during the nationwide hackathon.
Designed to strengthen urban disaster preparedness, NalaWatch combines AI models with geospatial and environmental data to monitor flood-prone locations and forecast potential waterlogging before it becomes critical. By providing real-time intelligence on overflowing drains and inundation risks, the platform aims to support civic authorities in disaster response while helping residents receive timely alerts.
The 24-hour offline Grand Finale of NxtWave’s ‘Idea to Impact’ hackathon was held at Kapil Kavuri Hub in Nanakramguda, Hyderabad, after the nationwide competition began online on July 10. Built around the theme ‘AI as a Core Component,‘ participants developed AI-powered solutions for public infrastructure, governance, healthcare, education, agriculture, logistics, software development and smart cities.
Students aged 18 and 19 developed their projects using more than 80 AI technologies and models, including React, Python, FastAPI, Google Gemini 2.5 Flash, IBM-NASA Prithvi-100M, Llama 3.3 70B, Claude, LangChain and Hugging Face. The AI-powered applications were developed across themes such as smart automation, open innovation, industry solutions and public impact, covering sectors including healthcare, agriculture, education and urban infrastructure.
“The idea behind NxtWave’s ‘Idea to Impact’ hackathon is to create an environment where students learn by building. The hackathon is designed to cultivate critical thinking, problem-solving and the ability to apply AI to solve real-world challenges. Unlike traditional hackathons that focus only on competition, it encourages students to identify genuine problems, think like innovators and develop AI-powered solutions,” said Rahul Attuluri, Co-founder and CEO of NxtWave.
Apart from the winning entries, students showcased AI-powered solutions for healthcare, agriculture, supply chain management and software development. Notable projects included ChainCommand AI, AgriNova AI, ShelfWise AI, DischargeCare AI and ProjectPilot AI, each designed to address practical industry and public service challenges.
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