Express your interest to be a Judge for the GreenMind Sustainable AI Hackathon 2.
Open form₹25,000
Winner, in each category
Green Computing Foundation presents
GreenMind
Sustainable AI Hackathon 2.0
Build AI that earns its carbon.
Every submission is a balance sheet
What your AI costs
- Training energykWh
- Inference energykWh / 1,000
- CarbongCO2e
- Waterlitres
What your AI saves
- Emissions avoidedtCO2e
- Energy avoidedkWh
- Water avoidedlitres
- Material recoveredtonnes
Your net-impact ratio is the second column divided by the first. You will be asked for it from Stage 2 onwards.
₹1,50,000 in awards · nine teams
₹15,000
Runner-Up, in each category
₹10,000
2nd Runner-Up, in each category
Student · Start-up and MSME · Corporate. No overall winner across categories — you are ranked only against teams like yours.
Get involved
Judge, mentor or volunteer
If you are not entering a team, there are three other ways to put your name on GreenMind 2.0.
Express your interest to be a Mentor for the GreenMind Sustainable AI Hackathon 2.
Open formExpress your interest to be a Volunteer for the GreenMind Sustainable AI Hackathon 2.
Open formRead before you build
Both documents are free, ungated and complete
No form, no email capture. Teams who read the rubric before they start consistently score better than teams who read it afterwards, which is the whole reason it is published.
Dates, tracks, five stages and awards for the 1–15 December 2026 hackathon. Registration is open. Stage 1 closes 30 November 2026.
Read moreEvery criterion, every scoring band, the cross-cutting rules on measurement, net impact, responsible AI and greenwashing, and the judging process itself.
Read moreFive per track. Each with a named buyer, evidence the problem is real, obtainable open data with links, a prototype that fits the window, and the route to incubation.
Read moreCombined sponsorship tiers and programme details for GreenMind 2.0 and the Sustainable AI India Summit 2027.
Read moreGreenMind Sustainable AI Hackathon 2 Rubrics explained. View this video to understand how the measurement and elimination will happen in the Hackathon.
Why this one is different
Most AI hackathons judge the demo. This one judges the evidence.
Measured environmental impact carries 30% of the score at every one of the five stages. From Stage 2, every team reports energy, carbon and water on the same standard data sheet, using free open-source tools. A numeric claim without a stated method, baseline and source is scored as if it were absent.
You will not be scored on green intentions. You will be scored on numbers you can evidence.
The full evaluation rubric is published before anyone builds anything. Read it, then decide.
Three entry categories
You are ranked inside your own category
A student team is never scored against a funded company. The standard of evidence is identical for everyone; what differs is who you are measured against. Awards are given in each category.
Student
Every member enrolled full-time in a recognised institution for the 2026 academic year.
Start-up
An incorporated entity under seven years old, or an independent builder team with no corporate affiliation.
Corporate
Entered by, or substantially resourced by, an established company, public body or research institution.
Eight tracks
Pick the field you already understand
Your track decides which judges read your submission. It carries no separate award. Pick the closest fit — the open track exists for anything that fits nowhere else.
01
Energy & Grid Intelligence
Forecasting, grid balancing, storage, renewable integration, energy access.
02
Agriculture, Food & Water
Irrigation, soil and crop intelligence, watersheds, groundwater, food loss.
03
Mobility, Logistics & Supply Chain
Routing, fleet electrification, emissions accounting, Scope 3 traceability.
04
Circular Economy & Materials
Sorting, recovery, reuse markets, e-waste, materials discovery.
05
Built Environment & Urban Systems
Design and retrofit, embodied carbon, HVAC, urban heat, planning.
06
Industry & Manufacturing
Process optimisation, heavy-industry decarbonisation, predictive maintenance.
07
Green Software, Efficient AI & Data Centres
Compression, edge inference, carbon-aware scheduling, data centre operations.
08
Nature, Resilience & Open Track
Biodiversity, air and water quality, early warning, climate finance.
Five stages
Advancement is proportional, not a fixed head count
The cuts are percentages, so the rubric works whatever the size of the field. Only the finale is fixed, at 25 teams, with a guaranteed minimum of five places for each category.
| Stage | What you submit | Advances | Due |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Screening | Concept proposal: problem, AI approach, sustainability integration, team | Top 12% | Rolling · closes 30 Nov |
| 2 · Blueprint | Architecture, Green-AI plan, roadmap, net-impact model | Top 33% | 4 Dec |
| 3 · Prototype | Working build, repository, measured energy / carbon / water, model card | Top 30% | 8 Dec |
| 4 · Full solution | Deployment-ready build, measured impact report, business case | 25 finalists | 11 Dec |
| 5 · Grand Finale | Live pitch and demonstration at Sir M V School of Architecture, Design and Planning, Bengaluru. The business assessment here also selects the Summit investor shortlist. | Winners + Summit shortlist | 14–15 Dec |
Beyond the finale
The competition ends in December. For some teams, it does not.
Ten to fifteen finalist teams — selected on the strength of the business case, not the technology alone — will pitch to investors and incubators at the Sustainable AI India Summit in Bengaluru on 29–30 January 2027.
That selection is made from the Stage 4 and Stage 5 assessment of business viability, market validation and scalability. A technically excellent solution with no route to anyone paying for it will win awards at the finale and will not be on that stage in January.
It is a deliberate second bar. The rubric asks you to prove your AI does more good than harm; this asks whether anyone will pay for it. Both are worth being able to answer.
Who is selected
Ten to fifteen of the twenty-five finalists, chosen on business merit across all three categories. Student teams are eligible on the same terms as anyone else.
What you get
A pitch slot in front of investors, incubators and corporate partners at a single-track summit — an audience that is in the room rather than passing through a breakout.
What it is judged on
Validated demand, a credible route to market, unit economics that work, and a scalability plan. Assessed at Stages 4 and 5 under the published rubric.
Key dates
The build clock starts when you submit
Not when you clear Stage 1. Reviews are rolling and you get a result within 72 hours, but Stage 2 is due 4 December whatever date you entered on. The difference between entering today and entering at the deadline is measured in weeks of build time, not days. Enter early.
- NowRegistration open. Rolling review; Stage 1 result within 72 hours of review.
- 30 Nov 2026Stage 1 submissions close, 23:59 IST. No extensions.
- 2 Dec 2026Final Stage 1 results.
- 4 Dec 2026Stage 2 blueprint due. Results 6 December.
- 8 Dec 2026Stage 3 working prototype due. Results 10 December.
- 11 Dec 2026Stage 4 complete solution due.
- 12 Dec 2026Finalists announced — 25 teams, and the Summit investor shortlist.
- 14–15 Dec 2026Grand Finale at Sir M V School of Architecture, Design and Planning, Bengaluru.
- 29–30 Jan 2027Selected finalists pitch to investors and incubators at the Sustainable AI India Summit, Bengaluru.
What you take away
Whether you win or not
Criterion-level written feedback
At every stage, for every team, including those that do not advance.
A free measurement toolkit
CodeCarbon, EcoLogits, Green Algorithms. Open source. No paid platform is required to enter or to win.
GCF Academy certification
Sustainable-AI certification for every team clearing Stage 2.
Mentorship and masterclasses
From the Sustainable AI Center of Excellence, on measurement, model efficiency and carbon-aware deployment.
₹1,50,000 in awards
Winner ₹25,000, Runner-Up ₹15,000, 2nd Runner-Up ₹10,000 — in each of the three categories. Nine awards, paid to the team. There is no overall winner across categories: a student team and a funded corporate team are not comparable, which is why the categories exist.
Two stages, not one
Twenty-five finalist teams present in Bengaluru in December. Ten to fifteen of them, selected on business merit, pitch to investors and incubators at the Sustainable AI India Summit in January 2027.
Questions
Answers, including the uncomfortable ones
Who can enter?
Anyone, anywhere. Teams of 2 to 6. Students, start-ups, independent builders and corporate teams each compete in their own category.
Is there an entry fee?
No.
If I register in November, can I still win?
You can, but you are choosing a hard road. Stage 2 is due 4 December regardless of when you entered, and Stage 3 needs a working prototype by 8 December. The difference between entering today and entering at the deadline is measured in weeks of build time, not days. Reviews are rolling, so submitting early is the single biggest advantage available to you.
Do I need to be an AI expert?
No. You need a real problem, a defensible approach, and the honesty to measure what your solution costs as well as what it saves. Cross-disciplinary teams score better on the rubric than purely technical ones.
Do I need to buy any software?
No. The measurement toolkit is entirely free and open source. No proprietary platform is mandated this edition.
What exactly do I have to measure?
From Stage 2, energy, carbon and water for your solution, on the standard Impact Data Sheet. Stage 2 accepts a web-calculator estimate. Stage 3 requires measured figures from a named tool. Stage 4 requires a pack a judge could reproduce.
What if my honest net-impact ratio is below 1?
You are not disqualified. A transparent negative finding with a credible path to positive scores above a fabricated positive one.
Can I use AI coding assistants?
Yes. Declare what you used and where. Disclosure carries no penalty; concealment does, and at Stage 3 any team member may be asked to explain any part of the submitted code.
Can I enter work I have already built?
Yes, if you declare it with a written statement of what was built for GreenMind. Undeclared reuse is grounds for disqualification.
What are the prizes?
In each of the three categories: Winner ₹25,000, Runner-Up ₹15,000, 2nd Runner-Up ₹10,000. Nine awards in total, ₹1,50,000, awarded to the team rather than divided per member.
There is no overall winner across categories. The categories exist because a student team and a funded corporate team cannot be meaningfully compared, and an overall award would undo that.
Every award also carries GCF Academy certification, mentorship and inclusion in the published impact report. Separately, ten to fifteen finalists selected on business merit pitch to investors and incubators at the Sustainable AI India Summit in January 2027.
How do I get the investor slot at the January Summit?
By having a business case, not just a working system. The shortlist of ten to fifteen is drawn from the twenty-five finalists on the strength of the Stage 4 and Stage 5 business assessment — validated demand, a credible route to market, unit economics and a scalability plan.
A technically excellent solution with no evidence that anyone will pay for it can win at the finale and still not be selected. Student teams are eligible on exactly the same terms as start-ups and corporates.
Who owns what I build?
You do. Entry grants the Foundation a licence to publish your submitted summary, impact data and imagery for reporting and educational use.
I do not have a team.
Register anyway and we will point you to the team-formation channel.
Register your team
Teams of 2 to 6. Open worldwide. Working language English. No entry fee. Stage 1 proposals close 30 November 2026, 23:59 IST.
niladric@greencomputingfoundation.org · #GreenMind2026
