Accenture Innovation Challenge 2026 — AI Prizes Up to ₹6.8L for Students — Frequently Asked Questions

The winner takes prizes worth ₹3,00,000, the 1st runner-up receives prizes worth ₹2,25,000, and the 2nd runner-up gets prizes worth ₹1,50,000 — a combined purse of ₹6,75,000, which is the "up to ₹6.8L" figure attached to the challenge. Beyond the podium, the remaining finalist teams receive exclusive Accenture merchandise, and all top 10 teams get a certificate of participation, with certificates of achievement for the winners.

The challenge is for students in their pre-final or final year, studying at campuses the organiser considers eligible. The accepted courses are B.E./B.Tech in any stream, M.E./M.Tech in any stream, MSc, MCA, and integrated dual degree programmes such as BE+ME, BTech+MTech, and BE/BTech+M.Sc.

Registration closes on August 16, 2026. Applications are submitted through the official Unstop page for the challenge.

No. DPIIT recognition and MSME registration are not part of the eligibility conditions. This is a student innovation competition, so what matters is your year of study, your course, your campus and your team composition.

You can register individually or as part of a team of up to 3 members. Cross-specialisation teams are allowed, provided every member individually satisfies the eligibility criteria. The one restriction is that a participant can be part of only one team throughout the competition.

No. It is a competition with prizes, not an investment or a funding scheme, so there is no equity component. Winners simply receive their prizes, and top teams also receive certificates, merchandise and mentorship.

Round 1 asks for a 2–3 slide presentation in PDF or PPT format, prepared on the template the organisers provide, outlining your proposed solution and strategic approach. You also submit a 2–3 minute video in MP4 or MOV format covering the problem, your approach, and the impact your solution could create.

Shortlisted teams move to Round 2, where they develop a working prototype that leverages AI. That submission includes the working prototype, a README document detailing the solution approach and architecture, a prototype demonstration video, and a public GitHub repository containing the source code.

The top 10 teams are shortlisted for the Grand Finale, with finalists travelling to the offline, in-person finale in Bengaluru. There they showcase a production-ready, scalable version of their solution through a 10-minute pitch, followed by a 5-minute Q&A with the jury. Ahead of that, they get mentorship from Accenture experts and industry experts to refine their work.

Applications go through the official Unstop page for the challenge, with registration closing on August 16, 2026. Register either as an individual or as a team of up to 3 members, and make sure each member meets the course, year-of-study and eligible-campus criteria.

Accenture Innovation Challenge 2026 — AI Prizes Up to ₹6.8L for Students is offered by Accenture, a corporate programme. It is provided as non-dilutive funding.