📌About the Event

The Perceptron Hackathon 2026 is an AI-focused innovation challenge presented by the IIT Bombay–Optiver AI Innovation Lab as part of Techfest, IIT Bombay 2026. The hackathon challenges students to solve technically demanding problems in areas such as scalable AI systems, causal reasoning, financial markets and trading intelligence, multi-agent systems, AI-powered education, and trustworthy AI. Participants first submit a detailed technical plan, while shortlisted teams move on to build working solutions and demonstrate them before a joint panel of IIT Bombay and Optiver judges during the Techfest finals.

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ℹ️ Event Details

• Presented by: IIT Bombay–Optiver AI Innovation Lab
• Hosted at: Techfest, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
• Mode: Hybrid
• Round 1: Online technical abstract submission
• Final Round: Offline/in-person at IIT Bombay, Mumbai
• Team Size: 1–3 members
• Competition Format: Two main competitive rounds, with an additional progress checkpoint for shortlisted teams.
• Participants choose one problem statement from 10 problems across six AI themes.
• The six broad themes are:
• Efficient AI at Scale
• Cause & Effect in AI Decisions
• Markets & Trading Intelligence
• Agents That Compete, Cooperate & Adapt
• AI That Teaches

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📅 Important Dates

• Round 1 Abstract Submission Deadline: 31 October 2026
• Shortlisted Teams Announcement: 10 November 2026
• Midway Progress Check: 1 December 2026
• Final Round at IIT Bombay: 15–18 December 2026

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🎯 Eligibility & Rules

• Eligibilty:
• Open to students with a valid identity card from their educational institution.
• Undergraduate and postgraduate students can participate.
• Students from engineering as well as management, arts, commerce, science, law, medical and other academic backgrounds are listed as eligible.
• Teams can have 1 to 3 members.
• Cross-institutional teams are encouraged, meaning members do not necessarily have to belong to the same college or university.
• Participants must register through the required Techfest registration process.

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🏆 Benefits for the Participants

• Total Prize Pool: ₹2,00,000
• The prize pool is for the top three teams overall.
• Techfest’s official competition page and recent official Techfest communication both advertise a ₹2 lakh prize pool for Perceptron Hackathon.
• Participants qualifying for Round 2 receive certificates.
• Finalists also get the opportunity to:
• Present their AI solutions at IIT Bombay
• Demonstrate their work before IIT Bombay and Optiver experts
• Work on real-world AI and computational problems
• Gain exposure through Techfest, IIT Bombay.