SIH 2026 — Official Document

Rules & Regulations

Official guidelines for the Amity Internal Hackathon — SIH 2026 Qualifier. Read all rules carefully before registering. These are based on the official Smart India Hackathon 2024 College SPOC Guidelines document.

Important — Please Read Carefully

Students cannot register directly on the national SIH portal. Only teams selected through this Internal Hackathon will be nominated by the college SPOC to the national Smart India Hackathon 2026. Participation in this event does not guarantee selection for the national event.

Jump To Section

Eligibility Internal Hackathon (This Event)Team Formation Team Nomination Process Idea Submission Process General Guidelines Mentors Problem Statements Miscellaneous

Section 01

Eligibility & SPOC Registration

Students cannot register directly — your college's SPOC (Single Point of Contact) handles all registrations on the SIH portal.
The SPOC can be any senior faculty: Lecturer, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor, HOD, Dean, Director, Principal, or another designated official.
After SPOC registration, the SIH implementation team authorizes the account. Once verified, the SPOC gains access to the SIH portal.
Students: only those selected in the Internal Hackathon (this event) can be registered on the SIH portal.
Maximum 50 teams (45 Shortlisted + 5 Waitlisted) per college can be nominated for Smart India Hackathon 2026.

Section 02

Internal Hackathon (This Event)

This is Amity University Bengaluru's Internal Hackathon — the qualifier round for Smart India Hackathon 2026.
The SPOC must upload a detailed Internal Hackathon report (maximum 15 pages) on the SIH dashboard portal.
Report must include: Event overview (1 page), Event photos (2 pages), Participating teams' pictures (2 pages), Judging process (1 page), Jury panel details (1 page), Nominated top teams (1 page), Judges' information (1 page), Total participating teams & students (2 pages), News articles (1 page), Social media promotion (1 page).
Social media posts must include hashtags #sih2024 and #smartindiahackathon2024 and tag the official page of Innovation Cell, Ministry of Education on Twitter.
The SPOC nominates top teams based on internal hackathon results for the national SIH round.

Section 03

Team Formation & Registration

Each team must consist of exactly 6 members, including the team leader.
All team members must be from the same college — inter-college teams are strictly NOT allowed.
At least one female team member is mandatory in every team.
Strict Problem Statement Capacity: A single problem statement can only be taken by a maximum of 2 teams. Once 2 teams select a problem statement, it is marked as FULL and locked for any further selection.
Open Innovation Category: Available across all 15 domains. If your desired problem statement is full or you have an out-of-the-box solution, you can select Open Innovation under your domain and submit your own unique idea.
For Software Edition: programming skills are crucial. For Hardware Edition: multi-disciplinary teams are encouraged (Mechanical, Electronics, Product Design, Programming, etc.).
Maximum 50 teams (45 Shortlisted + 05 Waitlisted) can participate in Smart India Hackathon 2026 per institution.
Only students selected in this Internal Hackathon can be registered for the Smart India Hackathon 2026.

Section 04

Team Nomination Process

The College SPOC must enter team details in the prescribed format only (Annexure A). Team details once entered cannot be altered.
The authorization letter must be issued on college letterhead, clearly stating the team name and all 6 members' names, duly signed by the Principal/Dean/Director with the college seal.
The team name must be unique and must NOT contain the name of your institute in any form.
A maximum of 50 teams (45 Shortlisted + 05 Waitlisted) per college can be nominated, combining both Problem Statement-based and Student Innovation category teams.
The letter is mandatory if the team is selected for the Grand Finale.

Section 05

Idea Submission Process

Nominated Team's team leader will receive login credentials after the SPOC uploads team details on the portal.
The last date for team nomination and idea submission by College SPOC and Team leader on the SIH portal is till 20th September 2024. No requests will be entertained after the deadline.
Team leader must verify: Team name, College authorization letter PDF, Names and gender of all 6 members, Email IDs and mobile numbers of all members, Chosen problem statement or Student Innovation Category, Idea title, Idea description, and Idea presentation (PDF).
The ideas or solutions proposed must be new and must not have been presented in any previous event or program.
Selected ideas will be supported further so that industries/government institutions can utilize them — additional effort beyond the finale is required.

Section 06

General Guidelines

Idea selection criteria include: novelty of the idea, complexity, clarity and details in the prescribed format, feasibility, practicability, sustainability, scale of impact, user experience, and potential for future work progression.
SIH Grand Finale will be held offline at various nodal centers across pan India. Teams must travel to their assigned nodal center.
Each college/institute will issue a stamped photo ID to each member of teams selected for the finale. College photo ID and consent letter copy are MANDATORY for participating in the finale.
College faculty members traveling with teams for the grand finale are NOT eligible for reimbursement of travel expenses.
Shortlisted teams are eligible for Sleeper Class Non-AC fare reimbursement, payable at the nodal center upon submitting train tickets and forms. Teams/institutes are responsible for booking tickets.
The nodal centers will arrange accommodation for teams during the Grand Finale.
Be available for meetings, sessions, and trainings during the preparation phase — you will be notified in advance.

Section 07

Mentors

For Software Edition: after teams are shortlisted, each team may select up to 2 mentors from industry or academia with relevant experience.
For Hardware Edition: 2 industry mentors are encouraged, specifically those with over 5 years of hands-on hardware industry experience.
Each team of 6 members may have up to 2 mentors.
Mentors must guide teams via phone/video-chat or in person before the finale to help convert ideas into a working prototype.
Mentors collaborate with their allotted student team during the SIH Grand Finale to build a working prototype.
Travel and accommodation of students and their mentors is taken care of by SIH organizers. Both mentor and students are eligible for the same class of stay and travel.

Section 08

Problem Statements & Prizes

SIH 2026 brings problem statements from leading public and private organizations, union ministries, state governments, and NGOs in India.
There is ONE single winning team for every problem statement posted on the portal.
Prize money of ₹1,00,000/- (One Lakh Rupees) per problem statement will be awarded by the collaborating ministry/industry ONLY IF they like the winning idea.
It is NOT mandatory to announce a winner — the prize is awarded only if student proposals meet the problem statement creator's expectations.
If there is a tie between two or more teams, the final decision on prize money distribution will be taken by the problem statement creator only, and once made, will not be changed.
Intellectual property (IP) of the winning idea will be split equally between the industry that provided the problem statement and the winning team, or decided on mutual agreement.
Teams are encouraged to think out-of-the-box and provide creative solutions, especially for the Student Innovation category.

Section 09

Miscellaneous & IP Policy

The ideas or solutions provided/developed/proposed by the teams must be new and must not have been present in any previous event/program of any sort.
Selected ideas will be supported to be developed further so that industries/government institutions will be able to utilize them — more efforts beyond the finale are required from selected teams.
Notification about selected teams will be put up on the SIH portal and will also be sent to their respective email IDs.
4–5 teams per problem statement may be selected for the Grand Finale, but the final decision rests with the problem statement-creating organization.
IP of the winning idea would be split equally between the industry that gave the problem statements and the winning team, or will be decided on mutual agreement.

Contact — SIH 2026 Helpdesk

Phone

011 2958 1239 / 40 / 41

sih@aicte-india.org

hackathon@aicte-india.org

Website

sih.gov.in ↗

Ready to participate? Register your team now.