Catalyst 2K26
Amity University Kolkata
📌 About the Event
Catalyst 2K26 is a high stakes, 24 hour AI-centric hackathon held at Amity University Kolkata. Drawing inspiration from Stranger Things, this event challenges you to build “Hawkins-proof” solutions across four distinct AI verticals.
📅 Critical Mission Intel
- Dates: May 21 – 22, 2026
- Countdown: The “Gate” opens in 6 days.
- Venue: Amity University, Rajarhat, New Town, Kolkata.
- Format: 24 Hours, On-campus, Physical Prototype.
- Prize Pool: ₹50,000 total value (₹10,000 per track winner + swag/goodies).
🕹️ The 4 AI Frequencies (Tracks)
Each track is “Winner Takes All” for a ₹10,000 reward. Pick your patron and frequency:
| Patron | Track | Focus Areas | Technical Edge |
| Hopper | Healthcare | Diagnostics, Patient Triage, Drug Discovery. | Clinical reasoning & Privacy. |
| Dustin | Fintech | Fraud Detection, Risk Models, Trading Agents. | Real-time signals & XAI. |
| Will | Sustainability | Carbon Accounting, Biodiversity, Grid Ops. | Satellite fusion & Low-compute. |
| Eleven | Education | Adaptive Tutors, Accessibility, Skill Mapping. | Pedagogy & Regional languages. |
🚀 Strategy to “Survive” the 24 Hours
In an AI hackathon, the judges aren’t just looking for a “cool UI” they are looking for a robust Inference Pipeline.
- Select Your Model: Decide between using APIs (OpenAI, Gemini) for speed or Open Source (Llama 3, Mistral) for privacy-first tracks like Healthcare.
- RAG is Your Friend: For the Education and Healthcare tracks, implementing Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) will make your AI far more accurate and less prone to hallucinations.
- The “Hawkins” Presentation: Your demo at 1:00 PM on May 22 needs to be punchy. Show a “Live Signal” (Real data processing) rather than just a recorded video.