Overclock 2026 – bits&bytes × Techfest IIT Bombay Hackathon
bits&bytes
📌About the Event
Overclock is a nationwide, in-person hackathon for high school students in India, organised by bits&bytes™ in association with Techfest, IIT Bombay. The competition is designed around a simple builder-first philosophy: participants get 12 hours to choose what they want to create, build it from scratch, and demonstrate a working project by the end of the hackathon. Overclock will conduct qualifiers across 16 Indian cities, with the winning team from every city earning a place in the national finale at IIT Bombay on December 17–18, 2026.
ℹ️ Event Details
- Event Type: Nationwide hackathon / coding and technology competition
- Mode of Conduct: Offline / In-person
- Target Participants: High school students in India.
- Qualifier Format: A 12-hour, in-person freestyle hackathon conducted across 16 cities.
- Number of Qualifier Cities: 16 cities across India.
- Team Format: Participants are encouraged to form a team with 2–4 friends.
- Theme: Freestyle/open-ended. There are no fixed templates dictating what teams must build.
- Challenge: Teams choose their own project, develop it during the competition and must have something functional to demonstrate by the end of the 12-hour build period.
📅 Important Dates
- Overclock Finale at IIT Bombay: December 17–18, 2026.
- Finale Venue: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai.
🎯 Eligibility & Rules
- Eligibilty:
- The competition is specifically designed for high school students in India.
- Participants should register as a team and are encouraged to bring 2–4 friends to compete together.
- Overclock focuses on teenage/student builders rather than college-level or professional participants.
- bits&bytes itself operates as a teen-focused builder network, primarily serving students and developers in the 13–19 age group.
- Students should verify any final class/age eligibility restrictions when the complete Overclock rulebook is released.
🏆 Benefits for the Participants
- City Winner: The winning team from each of the 16 city qualifiers qualifies directly for the national finale at IIT Bombay.
- Finale Opportunity: Selected teams get the opportunity to compete at Techfest, IIT Bombay, during the December 17–18 finale.
- Finalists get exposure through a nationwide hackathon connected with the 30th edition of Techfest, IIT Bombay.
- The major currently confirmed competitive incentive is qualification from the city round to the IIT Bombay finale.