In March 2026, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), under Ministry of Communications, launched the ‘5G Innovation Hackathon 2026’, the second edition of its flagship initiative under the ‘100 5G Use Case Labs program’, to promote indigenous, scalable solutions using 5G (Fifth Generation), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.
- Open to students, start-ups, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and independent innovators across India, the hackathon runs from 20 March 2026 to 17 April 2026, with final results announced on 1 October 2026.
5G Innovation Hackathon 2026:
Process: Applications are submitted via the official portal through nodal 5G labs and evaluated through institute screening, regional assessment, national presentations, prototype development, and final demonstrations.
Support: Provides Rs.50 lakh seed funding, financial assistance, and access to 100 5G Use Case Labs for testing, validation, and refinement.
Awards: The competition offers a total prize pool exceeding Rs. 10 lakh, with Rs. 5,00,000 for the first prize, Rs. 3,00,000 for the second prize, and Rs. 1,50,000 for the third prize, along with a Rs. 50,000 award for the Best Idea. In addition, IPR support will be provided to up to 25 teams to assist with Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
1st Edition: 2025 (launched March 2025, winners Oct 2025 at IMC)
Focus: Covers applications in healthcare, agriculture, education, industrial automation, and disaster management, including advanced areas like Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), network slicing, and telecom security.
Outcome: Winning innovations will be showcased at India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026.
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