CUSAT Internal Hackathon for Smart India Hackathon 2026
Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT)
📌About the Event
The CUSAT Internal Hackathon for Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2026 is an institute-level innovation challenge organised by Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) to identify promising student teams for the national-level Smart India Hackathon 2026. The event encourages students to develop innovative and practical solutions to real-world problems and serves as the internal selection stage for SIH participation. CUSAT has scheduled the hackathon for August 21, 2026, at its Department of Electronics.
ℹ️ Event Details
- Type: Institute-level hackathon and SIH 2026 selection round
- Date: August 21, 2026
- Time: 10:00 AM onwards
- Mode: Hybrid – Online & Offline
- Offline Venue: Department of Electronics, CUSAT, Kochi
- The hackathon acts as CUSAT’s internal screening round for selecting teams that can be nominated for Smart India Hackathon 2026.
- SIH requires participating institutes to conduct an internal hackathon before nominating student teams to the national competition.
📅 Important Dates
- Official CUSAT announcement: August 18, 2026
- CUSAT Internal Hackathon: August 21, 2026
- Reporting time/start: 10:00 AM
🎯 Eligibility & Rules
- Eligibilty:
- Participants should be students of CUSAT, as this is an internal institute-level selection event.
- Under official SIH 2026 rules, all members of a team must belong to the same college/institute.
- Students from different branches or disciplines within CUSAT can form a team.
- Each SIH team must have 6 student members, including the team leader.
- Every team must include at least one female member.
- Students enrolled in regular courses are eligible; students pursuing distance or part-time programmes are not eligible under SIH 2026 rules.
- For hardware solutions, multidisciplinary teams are encouraged.
🏆 Benefits for the Participants
- Major incentive: Selected teams get the opportunity to be nominated by CUSAT for Smart India Hackathon 2026.
- SIH 2026 conducts its initial idea screening online, while the Grand Finale is conducted offline.
- SIH 2026 national winner prize: ₹1.5 lakh for winning teams in both the Hardware and Software categories.
- Participants also gain exposure to real-world problem solving, innovation, mentoring and the opportunity to represent CUSAT at the national level.