EmberGround AI Hackathon 2026 | Bangalore

Organized by EmberGround — a London-founded global tech community of engineers from top tech companies (Google, Amazon, Microsoft) and breakout AI startups this event is designed for builders who want to ship production-grade AI projects in a single day. Why Attend? Elite Builder Network: Collaborate and compete alongside senior software engineers, ML researchers, and technical founders. World-Class Mentorship: Get direct 1-on-1 technical feedback and guidance from senior engineers across big tech and AI scale-ups. Sponsor Perks & Tooling: Access exclusive API credits, compute, and cutting-edge developer tools provided by our partners. Prizes & VC Visibility: Demo your project in front of active early-stage AI investors, startup founders, and technical leaders. Event Details Date: Saturday, September 27, 2026 Time: 9:00 AM – 8:00 PM IST Location: Koramangala / Indiranagar, Bangalore (Exact venue announced to accepted builders) Format: In-Person | Teams (Up to 5) Who Should Apply? This event is curated for experienced builders and serious practitioners: Full-stack and backend engineers looking to integrate foundation models. Machine learning and AI engineers building agentic workflows or fine-tuning models. Technical founders prototyping their next venture. Note: Spots are strictly limited to 120 hackers to maintain high project quality and meaningful networking. Approval is required to attend. 🚀 Hackathon Tracks Choose a problem that excites you, build something useful, and show us what you can do in one day. 🇮🇳 Track 1 - Bharat AI: AI for the Next Billion Build AI that makes technology more accessible to people across India. Ideas: Vernacular AI, voice-first assistants, education, accessibility, government services, translation, and citizen support. 🏗️ Track 2 - Bharat Infra: Fix the Broken Systems Build agents that tackle India's biggest infrastructure and operational challenges. Ideas: Transport, logistics, agriculture, healthcare operations, energy, supply chains, and urban infrastructure. 💼 Track 3 - Bharat Business: AI for MSMEs & Workers Build AI that helps India's businesses and workforce do more with less. Ideas: AI employees, WhatsApp business agents, accounting, sales, procurement, customer support, operations, and compliance. 🌏 Track 4 - Bharat Future: Build for 2030 Think beyond today's problems. Build for the challenges India will face tomorrow. Ideas: Climate, water, urbanisation, financial inclusion, cybersecurity, public safety, and the future of work. 🤖 Track 5 - Open Agentic: Build Something Crazy No restrictions. No predefined problem. Build anything using AI agents and autonomous systems. Multi-agent systems, coding agents, research agents, voice agents, computer-use agents, AI-native products, robotics, games if you can imagine it, build it. The only rule: make us say, “Wait… you built THAT in one day?” 🏆 Judging Criteria Every project will be judged on: Problem & Impact - 20%Does it solve a real and meaningful problem? Agentic Depth - 25%Does AI actually act, reason, use tools, and complete tasks autonomously? Technical Execution - 20%Does the prototype actually work? How well is it built? India Impact & Scalability - 20%Could this create meaningful impact in India and scale to many users? Wow Factor - 15%Is the idea creative, surprising, and memorable? Event Agenda 09:00 AM: Check-in, Breakfast & Networking 09:30 AM: Keynote & Hackathon Kickoff 10:00 AM: Hacking Begins 01:00 PM: Lunch & Mentor Office Hours 06:00 PM: Project Submissions & Code Freeze 06:30 PM: Top 10 Demos & Judging 07:30 PM: Winner Announcements & After-Party Sponsors & Partners AI & Voice Partner: ElevenLabs 🎙️ Developer Tools Partner: n8n Cloud & Infrastructure Partner: Render Venue Partner: Startup Park Bengaluru Community Partners: Announcing Soon More sponsors and partners will be announced soon. (Interested in sponsoring, mentoring, or partnering with the hackathon? Reach out directly via the organizer contact button below.)