Swarrnim Startup and Innovation University (SSIU), in collaboration with GDG on Campus SSIU, successfully hosted HackSprint 2026, a national-level hybrid hackathon on January 17, 2026.Centered on the theme Open Innovation, the 12 hour hackathon brought together 500+ students from across India, generating 230 project submissions through both on campus and online participation. The event offered an intensive platform for ideation, coding, and prototyping, with projects evaluated by an expert jury panel.
HackSprint 2026 was organised with a view to encouragea problem-solving approach among students and practical application of theoretical technical concepts that students have learnt. The event provided a platform to participants to undertake hands-on learning, to ideate, code and prototype under the guidance of faculty members and industry mentors too.
The jury for the event includedVipul Parsiya, Vice President, Bank of America, Gandhinagar; Sunil Kapadia, Practice Head, Blockchain Innovations, GrowthAXL Technologies; Viral Parmar, Director, ComExpo Cyber Security Foundation; Parth Modi, Officer on Special Duty, IT Department of Education, Government of Gujarat; Dipen Patel, CEO, eLeoRex; Co-Founder & COO, HexaCoder Technologies; and Dr. Chirag Thakkar, Professor & Head of Computer Department, L D College of Engineering. Projects were evaluated on innovation, technical execution, scalability, real world impact, and presentation clarity.
HackSprint 2026 was institutionally supported by Dr. Kavita Kshatriya and led by student organisers Ms. Jasmeet Kaur and Mr. Nakshatra Pandya under GDG on Campus SSIU. The event was conducted under the academic leadership of Prof. Vikas Chandra Sharma (Head SSCIT), with faculty coordination by Mr. Akash Kumar and Dr. Chetan Gondaliya, hosted by Ms. Truhi Thakkar, and smoothly executed with the support of student volunteers.
A panel of 11 mentors from academia and industry provided continuous guidance throughout the hackathon. The mentors included Prashant Bhavsar, Utkarsh Barad, Abhishek Doshi, Raj Kapadia, Nikhil Butani, Prashant Chettiyar, Prince Dayani, Anand Shrivastava, Harshil Jain, Jay Patel, and Darshan Gupta
Amrutloka (Offline): Harshvi& Deep, a VR/AR platform for immersive digital preservation of India’s heritage, bagged the first prize of Rs. 15,000, a metaverse project featuring 3D/VR replicas of famous Indian locations like Red Fort (Delhi), Gateway of India (Mumbai), the Adalaj heritage site in Gujarat, etc. while Unit One (Online): Tisha Varma, a strong solo project noted for clarity and execution, and GettingError404 (Offline): Bashid Tagala & Manya Gupta, Nexus Vest, a FinTech platform for secure, data-driven investing, won the second and third prizes respectively, each receiving Rs. 10,000, from a total prize pool of Rs. 35,000.
HackSprint 2026 successfully fostered open innovation, collaboration, and real world impact, empowering young innovators across India.