Grand Hack IPEC
Inderprastha Engineering College
📌 About the Event
Grand Hack IPEC is a 24-hour national-level offline hackathon organized by the student developer community HackShastra in collaboration with Inderprastha Engineering College (IPEC), Ghaziabad. Standing out with an immersive theme inspired by the iconic GTA San Andreas video game, this hackathon challenges student developers to “enter the city, build without limits,” and transform conceptual software or hardware designs into functional, high-velocity prototypes.
The event serves as an accelerated pipeline where developers, designers, and tech enthusiasts can test their architectural roadmaps under tight constraints and catch the attention of regional startup networks and tech recruiters.
📅 The Hackathon Roadmap & Milestones
The event spans an extended three-phase lifecycle, transitioning from initial cloud filtering to a high-energy on-site final:
June 27 — Sept 15, 2026 Phase 1: Online Idea Submission & PPT Screening
Sept 18 — Sept 19, 2026 Phase 2: Online Expert Mentorship & Validation Loop
Sept 26 — Sept 27, 2026 Phase 3: 24-Hour Offline Grand Finale Sprint at IPEC
🛠️ Core Engineering & Innovation Tracks
Teams can engineer functional software frameworks, hardware integrations, or hybrid platforms targeting one of seven specialized tracks:
- Frontier Intelligence: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning automation pipelines.
- Digital Fortress: Cybersecurity infrastructure protocols and threat-mitigation tools.
- Decentralized Systems: Web3 & Blockchain distributed ledger technologies.
- Embedded Systems: Internet of Things (IoT) edge telemetry and hardware networking.
- Immersive Realities: AR/VR & Immersive Technologies application ecosystems.
- Civic Infrastructure: Smart Cities & Urban Innovation optimization frameworks.
- Unrestricted Creation: Open Innovation for out-of-the-box digital tools.
🎓 Target Demographics & Eligibility Rules
- Target Cohort: Open to all current undergraduate and postgraduate students from registered colleges and universities across India.
- Team Boundaries: Formed as agile squads of 2 to 4 members. Solo builders must find partners prior to moving past initial registration gates.
- Structural Flexibility: Cross-college and cross-disciplinary teams are fully permitted. However, each participant can explicitly map to only one team roster.
📥 Project Submissions & Evaluation Criteria
To clear Phase 1 screening, squads must upload a comprehensive presentation deck (PPT) detailing:
- A defined problem statement and its real-world relevance.
- The proposed software/hardware architecture and implementation approach.
- A clear breakdown of the chosen modern technology stack.
- Targeted end-user demographics and expected scalability projections.
⚖️ The Judging Scorecard Matrix
Final live-coded prototypes at the grand finale will be measured against a strict 6-point valuation system:
- Innovation & Creativity: Novelty of the core solution framework.
- Technical Implementation: Structural clean code practices, stable api routing, and functional execution.
- Problem Relevance: Practical real-world urgency and commercial applicability.
- User Experience & Design: Fluidity of the front-end interface (UI/UX).
- Scalability: System capabilities to handle performance stress and database scaling.
- Presentation & Demonstration: Clarity and focus of the final 24-hour build pitch.
🛑 Definitive Hackathon Code of Conduct
- Fresh Code Rule: All code bases must be compiled from scratch during the on-site hackathon timeline. Utilizing pre-built, production-ready private repositories is strictly prohibited and will lead to immediate disqualification.
- Open Source Frameworks: Teams are encouraged to utilize open-source frameworks, packages, and APIs while complying with their respective open-source licensing rules.
- Physical Residency: Qualified finalist teams must maintain physical attendance at the IPEC campus throughout the 24-hour overnight hacking block.
🏢 Physical Venue Locations & Logistics
- 📍 Offline Presentation Complex: Inderprastha Engineering College (IPEC), 63, Site 4, Sahibabad Industrial Area, Surya Nagar Flyover Road, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh – 201010, India.