PARTICIPANT HANDBOOK / PUBLIC EDITION
Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University)
College of Engineering, Pune
ACM Student Chapter
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
Online screening round
Two-day onsite finale in Pune
The programme is intended for students from recognised colleges or universities. Participants must be at least 18 years old on the day they register; if any team member is under 18, the team must contact the organising committee before registering so that guardian consent can be arranged. Final enrolment verification requirements will be communicated with selection results.
Each team must contain 2–4 registered students. A participant may belong to only one team. Substitutions after selection require written approval from the organising committee.
Every application must select one primary track from the Sustainable Development Goals the Challenge Book draws on, and identify a specific, evidence-backed problem and intended outcome. Teams building against a published challenge should quote its Challenge ID.
Teams may use open-source libraries, public datasets, APIs and AI tools. All reused components, pretrained models, datasets, prompts and generated assets must be disclosed. The event submission must contain meaningful original work.
Teams must explain data provenance, privacy, potential bias, safety considerations, limitations and appropriate human oversight. Unsafe or misleading demonstrations are not permitted.
The final package must include a working prototype, accessible source-code repository, concise solution deck, live or recorded demonstration, impact statement, disclosure of reused components and known limitations.
Judging uses a 100-point rubric: SDG impact 25 points; Technical execution 25 points; Innovation 15 points; Responsible AI 15 points; Feasibility 10 points; Demo + communication 10 points.
Teams retain ownership of their original work. By participating, teams permit the organiser to display project titles, summaries and event photographs for academic and promotional reporting. Third-party rights must be respected.
Participants must follow campus policies and interact respectfully. Harassment, plagiarism, falsified evidence, credential misuse, deliberate service disruption or unsafe demonstrations may lead to removal or disqualification.
The first round is an online idea-screening round. Teams submit a 5–7 slide PPT or PDF explaining the problem, primary SDG track, proposed solution, AI contribution, technical plan, impact and team. A complete product is not required for this round.
Applications are reviewed during the online screening window. Reviewers assess relevance, clarity, AI fit, feasibility, impact and the quality of the proposed solution. Up to 30 teams are invited to the onsite finale, with finalists announced on 19 September.
25 September: online finalist orientation (rules, venue briefing, Q&A). Online only, shortlisted teams only. Not a hackathon day. 26 September: Day 1 of the hackathon, onsite in Pune, 11:00 AM–7:00 PM. 27 September: Day 2 of the hackathon + awards, onsite in Pune, 11:00 AM–7:00 PM. Both onsite days end at 7:00 PM. Overnight stay is neither required nor permitted.
A one-time fee of Rs. 100 applies per team, covering all members. Pay securely by card, UPI or netbanking through Razorpay on the last step of the registration form; the application cannot be submitted until payment is confirmed.
The confirmed total prize pool is Rs. 15,000. Winner: Rs. 8,000. 1st Runner-Up: Rs. 5,000. 2nd Runner-Up: Rs. 2,000.
Registration and idea submissions close on 15 September 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Online screening runs from 16–18 September. Finalists are announced on 19 September. Finalist orientation is online on 25 September at 6:00 PM. The onsite hackathon runs on 26–27 September from 11:00 AM–7:00 PM each day, with awards on 27 September.
The organising committee may clarify rules, verify eligibility, adjust the programme for safety or logistics and resolve disputes. Material updates will be communicated to affected participants.
Registration details are collected for hackathon administration, screening, eligibility checks and official event communication. Team leaders must have permission to submit other members’ details. To request access, correction or deletion, contact the official organiser using the addresses above.
What we collect. Team and member names, email addresses, a contact phone number, institution, city, programme and year; your chosen SDG track, working title and problem statement; a link to your Round 1 deck; and the Razorpay order and payment identifiers created when the team fee is paid, which the application form requires before it will accept a submission.
Payment.The team fee is paid on this site through Razorpay, a licensed payment gateway. Card, UPI and bank details are entered directly into Razorpay's own secure checkout and never pass through or get stored on this website; we only receive and record the resulting payment identifier as proof the fee was paid.
Where it is stored. Application details, including the Razorpay payment identifier, are held in a managed database provided by Turso, on infrastructure in Mumbai, India. This provider acts as a data processor for the organising committee.
Access and retention. Access to applications is limited to the organising committee through an authenticated administration area. Details are retained for the 2026 event cycle and removed on request.
