Build with AI: Code for Communities Hackathon 2026
Google Developer Groups (GDG)
📌About the Event
Build with AI: Code for Communities – Second Edition is a nationwide AI hackathon that invites developers, students, AI/ML practitioners, product builders, professionals, and startups from India to create scalable technology solutions for challenges relevant to India and other emerging economies. The initiative is powered by Google Cloud and supported by the Google Developer Groups (GDG) India ecosystem. Participants use Google AI technologies to develop practical solutions across areas such as governance, climate resilience, healthcare, supply chains, and agriculture.
The second edition expands the scope of the challenge to problems shared across BRICS nations, encouraging participants to design solutions that can work across geographies, languages, and communities rather than addressing only a single local use case.
ℹ️ Event Details
- Category: AI Hackathon / Technology Innovation Challenge
- Focus Area: Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, Google Cloud, civic technology and real-world problem solving.
- Mode of Conduct: Hybrid. The main development and submission process is conducted online, while selected participants may advance to physical showcase/finale activities. Hack2skill currently lists the competition as a hybrid event.
- Geographical Scope: Participants from across India can take part.
- Core Objective: Develop AI-powered, scalable solutions for challenges that can potentially be applied across India and other emerging economies/BRICS nations.
📅 Important Dates
- Registration Status: Registrations are currently open as of August 29, 2026.
- Registration Deadline: September 30, 2026, according to the current Hack2skill event listing.
- Hackathon Launch: The second edition was publicly announced in August 2026 by Google Developer Groups India.
🎯 Eligibility & Rules
- Eligibilty:
- Open to students, software developers, AI/ML practitioners and technology builders from India.
- Professionals, product thinkers, freelancers and startup teams can also participate.
- Participants can register individually or as a team.
- Team Size: Up to 4 members.
- Teams should work on solutions relevant to the specified hackathon tracks.
- Solutions should demonstrate practical use of AI technologies, with Google AI integration forming a key part of the technical ecosystem.
- Projects should address real-world problems and demonstrate the potential to work at meaningful scale.
- Solutions with applicability across multiple regions, languages or emerging economies are particularly aligned with the second edition’s theme.
🏆 Benefits for the Participants
- Cash Prize: A cash prize pool is expected for the second edition
- Google Cloud Credits: Top-performing teams may receive Google Cloud credits to continue developing and scaling their solutions.
- Final Showcase: Shortlisted teams can receive an opportunity to showcase their projects before industry experts and policymakers.
- Technical Support: Participants can benefit from GDG India-led technical learning activities, bootcamps and developer-community support.
- Networking: The hackathon provides access to the wider Google Developer Groups and AI developer ecosystem.