Key dates
The theme
Technology for a Cleaner Bharat
From awareness to action, from schools to streets - build AI-first (and hardware-enabled) products that make India cleaner. Your product can tackle behaviour change, civic infrastructure, waste systems, or the tools that support them.
India generates over 150,000 tonnes of solid waste every day. Much of it ends up on streets, in drains, and open dumps - not because people don't care, but because the systems to support cleaner behaviour are broken or absent. This hackathon asks you to build the missing pieces.
You can work on any of the following tracks, or combine them:
Instilling civic sense in school children. Gamified learning about waste and cleanliness. Apps or classroom tools that make "don't litter" stick. Parent and community engagement platforms. Neighbourhood pledge and reward systems.
Tools that make it easy for citizens to report dirty spots, blocked drains, or overflowing bins. Apps to coordinate neighbourhood clean-up drives. Platforms connecting volunteers to local municipal bodies. Real-time cleanliness mapping of localities.
Smart bin systems. IoT sensors that alert collectors when bins are full. Route optimisation for garbage trucks. At-source segregation guides (dry/wet/hazardous). Household pickup scheduling apps.
Hardware or computer-vision systems to detect and clear blocked drains before flooding. Reporting tools for encroached water bodies. Community-powered infrastructure audit platforms.
Marketplace apps connecting households to kabaddi walas and recyclers. Material identification tools. Micro-entrepreneur platforms for waste pickers. Plastic credit tracking.
Smart dustbins with fill-level sensors. Low-cost sorting conveyors. Drain-monitoring devices. Wearable or bike-mounted litter detection. Solar-powered compactors for public spaces. Hardware + app combos welcome.
Swachh Bharat Mission portal · CPCB solid waste data · Open Government Data (data.gov.in) · Municipal corporation open datasets · Google Maps Places API for bin/dump location data · Census of India ward-level data
Who can participate
The hackathon is open to everyone - from middle-school students to working professionals. Everyone competes in the same event but is judged within their own division, so you are always compared fairly to your peers.
| Division | Who qualifies | What judges expect |
|---|---|---|
| Current Middle School | Students currently in grades 6–8 (approx. age 11–14) | A working prototype or clearly demonstrated concept. Creativity and clarity of problem understanding matter most. Hardware prototypes are fully welcome. |
| Current High School | Students currently in grades 9–12 (approx. age 14–18) | A functional product with a real user flow. Technical depth grows in importance. Hardware + software combos encouraged. |
| Current College Student | Anyone currently enrolled in a college or university | End-to-end product with an AI/ML component, real data, and a credible deployment or pilot plan. Judges will probe feasibility. |
| Others | Professionals and everyone else - college graduates, working professionals, and anyone past formal education | The highest bar: a polished, deployable product with a clear AI/ML core and a credible path to real-world use. |
Teams & individuals
You can participate alone or as part of a team. Both formats are welcome - there is no penalty for going solo.
- 1Team size: 1 to 2 membersMaximum 2 members per team. At least one member must register on College.dev, and team details must be provided during submission.
- 2All team members must be in the same divisionYou cannot mix divisions within a team. A college student and a high schooler cannot be on the same team.
- 3Larger teams are held to a higher standardJudges scale their expectations with team size. A team of 2 is expected to produce a more complete product than a solo participant. This is by design - it rewards real collaboration.
- 4One submission per teamOnly one project may be submitted per registered team. Individual members may not submit separate projects while also being part of a team.
What to build
Your project must be an AI-first product that addresses the hackathon theme. "AI-first" means AI or machine learning is a meaningful, functional part of your solution - not just a label.
- ✓Must be built during the hackathon windowAll code, models, hardware, and design must be created after Jul 20, 2026 (the date the contest opens and the theme goes live). Pre-existing codebases, prior projects, or work started before Jul 20, 2026 are not permitted.
- ✓Open source libraries, APIs & tools are allowedYou may use any publicly available library, framework, API, or pre-trained model (e.g. TensorFlow, OpenAI API, Google Maps, Hugging Face models). Clearly credit what you used in your submission.
- ✓Hardware builds are welcomeYou may use Raspberry Pi, Arduino, ESP32, or any other microcontroller or sensor hardware. A short demo video showing the hardware working is required alongside the code submission.
- ✓AI tools may assist your workflowYou may use AI coding assistants (GitHub Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT, etc.) as development tools. However, the product idea, product decisions, and final submission must be your own original work. Submitting AI-generated content wholesale as your project is not permitted.
Repurposed or resubmitted work from other hackathons or classes · Projects that have no working component (idea-only submissions are not accepted) · Work that violates the code of conduct
Rules
- 1Registration on College.dev is mandatoryAll participants must be registered on College.dev before submitting. Projects from unregistered participants will be disqualified. If you registered as part of a team, all team members must be listed and confirmed before submission.
- 2Submit only original workYour submission must be your team's original creation. Plagiarism, copying another team's work, or submitting previously published projects will result in immediate disqualification.
- 3Your work. Your IP. Your responsibility.Everything you build belongs entirely to you. College.dev makes no claim over your code, ideas, designs, or any part of your submission - you are free to commercialise, publish, or continue developing your project after the hackathon without any restriction. In return, you take full responsibility for your submission being original work. It must be built by your team, created during the hackathon window, and free of plagiarism or copying from another participant's project. Submitting work you did not create is a disqualification offence.
- 4Judges' decisions are finalAll judging decisions, including finalist selection and winner determination, are final and not subject to appeal. Judges may request a re-review of a submission only in the case of a clear technical error (e.g. broken submission link).
- 5Organisers may disqualify at any timeThe organising team reserves the right to disqualify any participant or team that violates these rules, the code of conduct, or the spirit of the event.
- 6Participants are responsible for their own equipmentThis is a virtual, self-hosted hackathon. You are responsible for your own internet connection, devices, development environment, and any hardware components you use.
Submission requirements
All submissions must be made through your College.dev dashboard before Oct 10, 2026 · 8:00 PM IST. The submission portal opens on Jul 20, 2026 and closes automatically at Oct 10, 2026 · 8:00 PM IST. You can submit and update your project at any time during this window.
The platform supports re-submissions right up until the deadline. Because you have the full contest window, there is no excuse for a last-minute scramble. Submit a working version well before Oct 10, 2026 and use the remaining time to improve it. Judges see your final submission only.
Your submission must include all of the following:
Judging criteria
Projects are judged within each division. All divisions use the same rubric, but judges calibrate their expectations to the division and team size.
Teams are capped at 2 members. A two-person team is expected to produce a more complete and polished product than a solo participant.
Code of conduct
This is an open, inclusive event. Everyone - participants, mentors, judges, and organisers - is expected to maintain a respectful environment.
- →Be respectfulTreat all participants with respect regardless of age, experience level, background, or division. This event includes students as young as 11 years old.
- →No harassment or discriminationHarassment, bullying, or discriminatory behaviour of any kind will result in immediate removal from the event. This includes behaviour in Discord, and in any event session.
- →Compete honestlyDo not share or copy another team's code, design, or ideas during the hackathon. If you find a bug in the platform or an unfair advantage, report it - don't exploit it.
- →Use communication channels appropriatelyDiscord will be used only for hackathon-related discussions. Keep conversations constructive. Unsolicited promotion, spam, or off-topic content is not permitted.
If you experience or witness a conduct violation, contact the organising team immediately via the #help channel on Discord or email the team directly. All reports are treated confidentially.
FAQ
Get help
If you have a question not answered here, here's how to reach us during the event:
- 💬Discord - #help channelFastest way to get support during the event. Monitored by the organising team and volunteer moderators throughout the contest window.
India's garbage problem is real, urgent, and unsolved. Whatever you build - a neighbourhood reporting app, a classroom game about civic sense, a smart bin prototype, or a recycling marketplace - you are working on something that matters. Build boldly.