HACK CORE  2026’is a national AI Hackathon to build AI-enabled solutions for farmers and the agri ecosystem across India. It invites students, researchers, and early-career technologists with a passion for AI, data science, agriculture and sustainable innovation.

ANNAM.AI, India’s first Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture, hosted at IIT Ropar under the Ministry of Education, Government of India has launched HACK CORE 2026, a National AI hackathon in collaboration with Syngenta and Google, inviting innovators to develop AI-driven solutions for crop health, pest management, soil intelligence, climate-resilient farming, and the wider adoption of biological products across India.

Turning ideas into innovation and field-level implementation

HACK CORE 2026 offers participants a platform to turn their ideas into innovation and field-level implementation. The winning team will visit the Syngenta’s Research Centre in Atessa, Italy, to see first-hand cutting-edge facilities and tools in biologicals research. The winning teams will be awarded Google Cloud credits, giving them access to Google’s cloud platform and a range of infrastructure, data, AI, and software to support their work. Participants will gain access to expert mentorship, hands-on ground-level research opportunities, and valuable knowledge exchange with agronomy experts from ANNAM.AI and Syngenta.

The hackathon is open to students, researchers, developers, startups, and innovators from across India. Interested participants can register, explore the challenge tracks, and access detailed information about the competition at https://www.annam.ai/hack-core. Applications for HACK CORE 2026 will close on July 21, 2026.

Dr. Pushpendra P. Singh, Project Director, ANNAM.AI, IIT Ropar, said, “As agriculture is now moving to more sustainable and climate-resilient practices, biological products are emerging as a key alternative to traditional crop protection solutions. By harnessing AI-tech, we innovators have an opportunity to help farmers improve productivity while enhancing environmental sustainability. By partnering with the world’s leading agricultural innovation company, Syngenta, HACK CORE 2026 brings together India’s brightest innovators to build practical, technology-led solutions that can help solve some of the most pressing challenges faced by farmers today.”

Intensive 36-hour Build Sprint

What sets HACK CORE 2026 apart is its intensive 36-hour Build Sprint to be hosted at IIT Ropar, where shortlisted teams will work alongside researchers, industry experts, and educators to transform ideas into working prototypes. The sprint will challenge the short-listed candidates to develop scalable solutions that can be translated into practical on-ground beneficial impact for the farmers.

As India is ready for a technology-enabled agricultural future, HACK CORE 2026 aligns with the Government of India’s vision of leveraging technologies to boost the agriculture sector and improve farmer livelihoods in India. This initiative supports the country’s dedicated efforts to advance digital agriculture by fostering AI backed innovations that enable smarter decision-making, greater productivity, and more sustainable farming practices in the country.