The government has initiated the second edition of the ‘5G Innovation Hackathon 2026’ to drive the creation of advanced telecom solutions using 5G and related technologies. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has introduced this event as part of the ‘100 5G Use Case Labs’ Initiative, with submissions open until April 17. The Hackathon is open to students, startups, MSMEs, and innovators nationwide.
Proposals for the Hackathon will be accepted through the designated 100 5G Use Case Lab institutions, serving as nodal centers for the process. The evaluation will involve multiple stages, including institute-level screening, regional committee assessment, national-level evaluation based on presentations, prototype development support, and final assessments through physical demonstrations. DoT emphasized a broad range of thematic areas for applications, encompassing 5G and 5G Advanced-based use cases, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning applications in telecom technology, network operations, IoT-enabled solutions in sectors like healthcare, agriculture, education, and industrial automation.
Selected teams will receive financial and infrastructural aid to transform their concepts into functional prototypes, with a dedicated seed funding pool of Rs 50 lakh allocated for this purpose. Additionally, teams will have access to advanced facilities at the 100 5G Use Case Labs located in top academic institutions for testing, validation, and enhancement of their solutions. The Hackathon offers a prize pool exceeding Rs 10 lakh, with the first prize worth Rs 5,00,000, followed by Rs 3,00,000 for the runner-up, Rs 1,50,000 for the second runner-up, and a special Best Idea award of Rs 50,000. Furthermore, up to 25 teams will receive support for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) filing.
The final results of the Hackathon are scheduled to be announced on October 1, 2026, with the selected innovations being displayed and honored at the India Mobile Congress 2026, as per the DoT’s statement.
