Gujarat Police Innovation Challenge 2026 — ₹51L CCTV & AI Hackathon — Frequently Asked Questions

The total prize pool is ₹51,00,000. Of that, ₹18,00,000 is paid in the Phase 1 Sandbox Round — ₹4,00,000, ₹2,00,000 and ₹1,00,000 for the top three in Category 1, and ₹5,00,000, ₹3,00,000 and ₹2,00,000 for the top three in Category 2, plus four consolation awards of ₹25,000. The Grand Finale carries ₹31,00,000: ₹16,00,000 for the winner, ₹8,00,000 for the first runner-up and ₹7,00,000 for the second. A further ₹2,00,000 goes out as additional awards — ₹50,000 each to the three finalists outside the top three, and a ₹50,000 Special Jury Award.

Anyone from across India, entering either alone or as a team. There are two tracks. Category 1 is for students, graduates, postgraduates, doctoral scholars, academic and research teams, and DPIIT-recognised startups — covering student teams along with small and medium startups. Category 2 is for companies, system integrators, technology solution providers, LLPs, partnerships and other businesses that are not DPIIT-recognised startups, covering large startups and established companies.

Only if you want to enter under Category 1. Startups in that track must show a valid DPIIT Startup Recognition Certificate when you register or during verification. If you do not hold recognition, you can still compete under Category 2.

You must register and upload your submission by 15 September 2026. Shortlisting is announced on the evening of the same day, 15 September 2026. Registration had opened on 4 August 2026.

The Grand Finale runs on 22–23 September 2026 at i-Hub Gujarat. Results are declared and prizes distributed on 23 September 2026.

No. This is a prize competition, not an investment programme — the awards are cash prizes and grants towards building the solution, and no equity stake is involved.

Yes. Model 1, the Centralised CCTV Registry & GIS Foundation, is compulsory and has to be combined with at least one of the other integration models. You can also propose a hybrid architecture of your own.

Four things: a solution presentation in PPT or PDF format, a technical proposal or high-level design, a 2–3 minute demo running on your own feed, and a demo on the government feed accompanied by an output report listing detected vehicles or number plates with timestamps. Videos should be shared as an unlisted YouTube link or a Drive/OneDrive link. A hosted URL with test credentials or a code repository link is optional.

On the day, each team receives a vehicle number and must track that vehicle across camera locations, producing its full route with a timestamped, location-wise movement history. Judges then look at seven things: the government-feed test case, the presentation, the architecture and high-level design, the maturity of your working platform, the quality of the video analytics output, scalability and proof-of-concept readiness for around 80,000 cameras, and how complete the submission is. Bonus credit is possible for extras like hybrid architectures, cross-camera tracking, edge processing or automated alerts, but it cannot cover for a missing mandatory requirement, and demonstrations must be working software rather than mock-ups.

Around 12 hours of footage from each of 30-plus cameras belonging to five Government departments, including Health, Police, GSRTC, Panchayat and Municipal. It is served as simulated live streams through RTSP, WebRTC and HLS endpoints, and the footage cannot be downloaded. Roughly 50 geographically spread feeds are available for building and testing.

Registration is free. Create an account at https://sentinel.gujarat.gov.in/register, choosing Student / Researcher / Professional, DPIIT Startup, or Company / SI, then verify your email with an OTP. For help, email sentinel.hackathon@gujarat.gov.in or call +91 95370 89982 — the helpdesk operates Monday to Saturday, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

Gujarat Police Innovation Challenge 2026 — ₹51L CCTV & AI Hackathon is open to startups at any stage. It is open to startups registered anywhere in India.

Gujarat Police Innovation Challenge 2026 — ₹51L CCTV & AI Hackathon is offered by Gujarat Police, a government body. It is provided as non-dilutive funding.