From Ideas to Impact: Smart Cities Revolution

HACKNOVA'26 is a State Level Hackathon organized by the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Rajalakshmi Institute of Technology (RIT) in association with the RIT IEEE Student Branch, IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (CIS), IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS), and IEEE Computer Society (CS).

Centered around United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities, HACKNOVA'26 invites students to transform innovative ideas into practical, technology-driven solutions for real-world urban challenges.

Participants will collaborate in teams of 2–4 members to design and develop impactful solutions addressing domains such as smart mobility, healthcare, energy, waste management, environmental sustainability, public safety, digital governance, and intelligent infrastructure. Problem statements will be provided through the official Google Drive link before the event.

This hackathon offers a platform to showcase creativity, technical expertise, teamwork, and problem-solving skills while connecting with industry experts, IEEE professionals, and fellow innovators.

Requirements

What to Build

Teams must develop an innovative and functional solution based on one of the official problem statements provided. Projects should be original, relevant to the SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities & Communities theme, and demonstrate technical feasibility and real-world impact. All submissions must be made through Devpost before the specified deadline. Late or incomplete submissions will not be considered.

What to Submit

Each team must submit

• Project Title

• Team Details (Names, College, and Contact Information)

• Selected Problem Statement

• Project Description

• Source Code (GitHub Repository or ZIP File)

• Demo Video (3–5 minutes) demonstrating the working prototype

• Presentation (PDF/PPT)

• Screenshots or Images of the Project

• List of Technologies Used

• Installation and Usage Instructions (if applicable)

Note:

• All submissions must be completed before the submission deadline.

• Incomplete or late submissions will not be considered.

• The submitted project must be original and developed by the participating team.

HACKNOVA'26

Prize breakdown

Timeline

About

Requirements

What to Build

What to Submit