Hosted byIIT (BHU) Varanasi
Sustainable e-Micromobility
Hackathon.
A 24-hour hackathon on e-scooters, e-rickshaws, e-cycles and e-cargo. There’s no problem statement: bring one you found, and the evidence that it’s real.
WithWMG, University of Warwick/IIT Kharagpur/SimLionics Funded byBritish Council Who does what ↓
We don't hand you
a problem statement.
Finding one is half the challenge. Tell us a real problem you have found in India's e-micromobility space, show us how you know it is real, and build something about it in a single day.
- 1Form a team of two or three.
- 2Answer the five questions below, in the form — nothing to attach.
- 3Send it in by 2:15 pm, Thursday 8 October 2026.
off an extension cord
eleven-hour delivery shift
dead pack, 14 months
What problem did you find, and who has it?
Name a real person or organisation — a rider, a fleet, a lender, a workshop, a city.
How do you know it is real?
You watched it happen, you asked someone, or you found data. One honest sentence beats a confident guess — talking to one real rider counts as evidence, and we score it as such.
What will you build?
Software, built at the hackathon. Explain how it addresses the problem you named.
What could run in 24 hours?
You build from 12:00 on Saturday to 14:00 on Sunday. Tell us honestly how far you expect to get.
Who is in your team?
Two or three of you. Say who does what.
The weekend, hour by hour
You arrive with a problem you found. At 12:00 you start building it, and on Sunday afternoon you pitch something that runs.
- 09:30RegistrationYour entry pass, an ID check and your seat, in the E-Hall.
- 10:10OpeningKeynotes from Prof. KK Pathak, IIT (BHU); Sheikh Yameen, Curve Electric; and Dr. Amruta Joshi, WMG, University of Warwick.
- 11:30RoundtableOne-to-one with the guests on format, judging, check-ins and conduct.
- 12:00Build startsMentors are on hand from the first minute.
- 17:00Check-in 1Mentors visit your table for five minutes.
- 20:00DinnerThe E-Hall closes at 20:30; keep building from your hostel.
- 10:00Check-in 2The mentors again: what changed overnight?
- 12:00Check-in 3The last visit: are you ready to submit?
- 14:00FreezeBuilding stops. Everything is in your repo.
- 16:00PitchesThree minutes each, to a jury that has read your repo first.
- 17:30Results₹1 lakh in prizes, and the projects picked to carry on.
- 17:50CloseA vote of thanks, and a group photograph.
Pick a corner
of the problem.
Illustrative, not a menu. Plenty of these vehicles already collect data — it just stays locked inside whoever built them, rarely shared and almost never standardised. If your idea sits outside these and you can argue for it, send it anyway.
swappingWhere energy meets the street
operationsUptime, utilisation, driver income
safetyOverloading, night visibility, roads
retrofitMaking what already exists electric
lifeWhere the pack goes after the vehicle
policyWho pays, who lends, who regulates
& AIWhat the vehicle knows, and who can see it
Swap cabinet, 18:40
Hear it from the people
who work on it.
Four webinars from Sustainable e-Micromobility Futures, the Warwick–IIT research project behind SHIFT. They show where the hard questions are. They are not a problem statement: the problem is still yours to find.
-
01
Role of e-micromobility in urban transport
University of Warwick · Connected Places Catapult · ICCT India · Curve Electric · moderated by IIT (BHU)
-
02
Sustainability of batteries in e-micromobility
University of Birmingham · Innpact Solutions · Deloitte India · WRI India · moderated by WMG, Warwick
-
03
Battery analytics for e-micromobility
About:Energy · Amara Raja · IIT Madras · BatteryIQ · moderated by IIT Kharagpur
-
04
The potential of AI in battery analytics
WMG, Warwick · Oorja · Envision Energy · moderated by SimLionics
The rules
Everything you build happens between 12:00 on Saturday and 14:00 on Sunday.
Build for the problem you found
The one in your abstract, for the person or organisation you named. Your answer to question 04 is your plan, and your progress is measured against it.
Build it here
Your solution is software, built at the hackathon in one public GitHub repo. Libraries, public datasets and your research notes are fine. Mentors score the progress they see at three check-ins, so work you arrive with earns nothing.
Everyone writes a case study
Two pages, in your repo by 14:00 on Sunday. It goes into the project's published report, with your names on it.
Build night
How you’re judged
The problem you find and how you solve it count for half.
- 25Problem
- 25Solution
- 20Practicality
- 15Progress
- 15Presentation
- 25
Problem
Is it real, and do you know who has it?
A named rider, fleet or workshop, and evidence you gathered.
- 25
Solution
Does it actually solve that problem?
A working demo that tackles the problem you named.
- 20
Practicality
Would it work in India?
Costed in ₹. Runs on a cheap phone, a patchy network or weak power.
- 15
Progress
Did you keep moving forward across three check-ins?
Real steps between the mentors’ visits, against your own plan.
- 15
Presentation
Is your pitch clear?
A live demo inside three minutes. Straight answers to questions.
Mentors score Progress at three check-ins — Saturday 17:00, Sunday 10:00 and Sunday 12:00 — and you can ask them anything. From 14:00 on Sunday a jury of five reads every repo, then hears three-minute pitches from 16:00 and scores the other four lines. Saying honestly what didn’t work counts in your favour.
Who can enter
Open to all, until 2:15 pm on Thursday 8 October 2026. Enter as a team of two or three. No hardware, no entry fee.
- Entrants
- 2–3
- Entry
- Free
- Hackathon
- Sat–Sun 10–11 October 2026
- Abstracts close
- Thu 8 October 2026, 2:15 pm
What to bring
A laptop, its charger, a GitHub account and whatever you normally code on. Research and data, yes; project code, no. No hardware needed.
Where
The E-Hall, opposite the Proctor’s Office at IIT (BHU) Varanasi, Saturday 09:30 to Sunday 17:50. You stay on campus on Saturday night, and we provide the accommodation. The ghats are a twenty-minute ride away.
What you get
A ₹1,00,000 prize pool, awarded at the results on Sunday. The jury also picks projects to carry on with a partner after the event. Your case study is published with your names on it.
Common questions
Is there a problem statement?
No, and that is deliberate. The problem you find and your solution to it are half your score. The eight areas on this page are examples, not a list to pick from — and the four talks under them are a good place to start looking. You build for the problem in your abstract.
Can I use code I wrote before?
Please don’t. Mentors score the progress they see at three check-ins, so work you arrive with earns nothing. Libraries, public datasets and your own research notes are fine.
Can I enter on my own?
No. Teams are two or three people, so find a teammate before you register. A team of two is judged exactly the same way as a team of three — there is no allowance either way.
Do I need hardware?
No. Your solution is software. Bring a laptop and your usual setup.
Where do we sleep?
On campus. Everyone stays on Saturday night, and we arrange the accommodation for shortlisted teams. The E-Hall closes at 20:30 on Saturday, so you keep building from your hostel overnight.
What if my build isn't finished by 14:00 on Sunday?
Say so clearly, in your case study and your pitch. The jury scores an honest account of what did not work above a demo it cannot check.
How are teams shortlisted?
On your abstract. We read for a real, evidenced problem first, and the build you propose second. We score it out of 100: the problem 30, your evidence 30, the build 20 and your 24-hour plan 20.
Are there prizes?
Yes — a ₹1 lakh prize pool, awarded at the results at 17:30 on Sunday 11 October. A jury of five decides the prizes, and also picks projects to carry on with a partner after the event.
Who owns what we build?
You do. Case studies are published CC-BY-4.0 and code under MIT, so the work can go into the project's report with your names on it.
Still have a question?
Write to Dr. Agnivesh Pani at agnivesh.civ@iitbhu.ac.in. If the same question comes up often enough, we will run an online session before the deadline and post the details here.
Find the problem.
Build the fix.
One day.
Trunk road, 21:10
Funded through the British Council Going Global Partnerships Industry–Academia TNE Grant 2025–26.