Organised by Dept. of BCA, Cyber Security & Data Science · School of Technology
Your idea could be India’s next big fix.
iLEAD’s Internal Hackathon is your on-ramp to Smart India Hackathon 2026 — the country’s largest open innovation movement. This round isn’t just for coders: it needs the storyteller from School of Creativity, the strategist from School of Business and the builder from School of Technology, on the same team, chasing the same win. Every school. Every year. Every semester. If you can bring a perspective, you belong on this floor.
What is SIH
India's biggest invitation to build something that matters.
Smart India Hackathon is a nationwide innovation initiative by the Ministry of Education's Innovation Cell and AICTE, now heading into its 2026 edition. Every year it hands thousands of student teams real problems from central ministries, state governments, public sector units and industry — and asks them to ship working solutions, not just slide decks.
SIH 2026 spans 226 problem statements — 172 software and 54 hardware — across sectors like healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities, cybersecurity and sustainability. A strong statement needs more than an engineer: it needs a designer to shape it, a strategist to price it and a storyteller to sell it. There's a role in there for every kind of thinker on this campus.
But nobody walks onto the national stage directly. Every team first has to earn its place through an internal hackathon at their own college. This is ours — iLEAD's official selection round on 9th September 2026, organised by the Dept. of BCA, Cyber Security & Data Science and open to students from all three schools on campus. Win here, and your SPOC nominates your team for the national round.
Why it's worth your time
Why SIH matters — to government desks and corporate boardrooms alike.
Solve real problems
These aren't textbook cases. They're live pain points from ministries and industry, waiting for a working fix that someone can actually deploy — and a chance to put your name on it.
Get seen, nationally
SIH carries recognition across every premier institution in the country. A strong showing here follows you into placements, higher studies and every future pitch — whatever you majored in.
Think outside the brief
No single "correct" answer exists for any statement. Bring the weird angle, the unconventional stack, the business model or the visual language nobody on the panel saw coming.
Join the movement
You're not entering a college fest. You're stepping into the world's largest open innovation model — alongside the sharpest student talent in India, from every discipline.
Who this is for
Short answer: if you're a student at iLEAD, this is for you.
SIH doesn't run on code alone. Every winning team needs storytellers, strategists and builders in equal measure — here's what that actually looks like for each school on campus.
Make it seen, make it felt.
Make it viable, make it move.
Make it real, make it hold.
How it works
Five steps from idea to the national stage.
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01
Register your team
Fill out the registration form and lock in your six-member squad. Mixing Creativity, Business and Technology majors is strongly encouraged.
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02
Pick a problem statement
Explore all 226 statements on the official SIH portal and shortlist the one your team is genuinely fired up about — whatever your major.
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03
Build your idea deck
Put your solution into the official Idea PPT format — approach, business case, feasibility, impact and design. Structure matters here.
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04
Pitch at the internal round
Present live at the Lakshmi Chopra Auditorium on 9th September 2026, in front of the evaluation panel. Defend your idea, answer the hard questions.
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05
Get nominated for SIH nationals
Top teams are nominated by iLEAD's SPOC to represent the college at the Smart India Hackathon 2026 national round.
Pick your arena
A problem statement for every kind of curiosity.
These are the sectors SIH problem statements are drawn from — no matter which school you walk in from. Explore the full list and find the one that pulls you in.
Before you start building
Everything official, in one place.
Bookmark these. Your idea deck especially needs to follow the exact prescribed format — panels mark down submissions that don't.
Idea PPT format
The exact template your submission must follow — structure, sections and order included. Please stick to it precisely.
Open template → Official portalSIH 2026 website
The source of truth for announcements, rules and updates on the national programme.
Visit sih.gov.in → Problem statementsBrowse all 226 statements
Filter by category, ministry and domain to find the challenge that fits your team.
Explore statements → GuidelinesProject implementation guide
How SIH expects your solution to be scoped, built and demonstrated end to end.
Read guidelines →Where and when
Lakshmi Chopra Auditorium, iLEAD.
9th September 2026
113 J Matheswartala Road, Near Axis Bank,
Off Park Regency Hotel, Topsia,
Kolkata – 700046
Stop scrolling. Start building.
Registrations are open right now. Bring your team — storytellers, strategists and builders alike — pick your fight, and see how far one good idea can travel.
9th September 2026 · Lakshmi Chopra Auditorium, iLEAD Register your team →