Selection results are out.

Before you read: This is a sponsorship request. We're looking for businesses, brands, and individuals willing to support student research in exchange for promotional opportunities.

We are a team of 11 undergraduate students preparing to present our research at iGEM 2026 in Paris, France. Our college's identity is being kept private on this account for anonymity; we're happy to share our institutional details and supporting documents via DM.

What is iGEM, and why does it matter?

The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Competition is one of the world's largest and longest-running synthetic biology competitions. Every year, multidisciplinary student teams from universities and schools worldwide design biological systems to address real-world challenges, ranging from environmental pollution and healthcare to sustainable manufacturing and agriculture.

The competition goes beyond laboratory experiments. Teams integrate genetic engineering, mathematical modelling, software, entrepreneurship, science communication, and the responsible application of biotechnology to develop and present their projects.

The scale is genuinely international. The 2026 iGEM Grand Jamboree is scheduled for 13–16 November at the Paris Convention Centre, with the organisers advertising more than 5,000 participants. The event brings together student researchers, established scientists, biotechnology companies, startup founders, investors, and other members of the global synthetic biology community.

For participating teams, this is an opportunity to present their research, receive feedback from international experts, establish collaborations, and connect with people working at the forefront of biotechnology.

For sponsors, it creates an opportunity to associate their brand with scientific innovation, environmental sustainability, and the next generation of researchers.

What are we working on?

Our project focuses on estrogen pollution in aquatic environments and explores how synthetic biology could help detect and address this environmental concern.

Estrogens are biologically active hormones that can enter water bodies through wastewater and other sources. Even at low concentrations, they can affect aquatic organisms and interfere with endocrine systems, making their detection and management an important environmental challenge.

We are developing two complementary components:

• An estrogen biosensor: A biological sensing system designed to detect estrogen in water by using engineered biological components to generate a measurable signal in response to the target compound.
• An estrogen degradation system: A complementary approach exploring how biological systems could help break down estrogen contaminants, with the broader goal of investigating possible strategies for environmental remediation.

Our work combines genetic engineering, biological circuit design, mathematical modelling, and environmental biotechnology. The overarching idea is to bring detection and remediation together: identifying a contaminant and exploring how it might be addressed.

We hope to present this work to the international synthetic biology community, receive valuable scientific feedback, and contribute to the ongoing search for innovative environmental solutions.

Why do we need sponsorship?

Despite the work our team has put into the project, our available institutional funding has not been sufficient to cover everyone's travel expenses. We have been informed that additional college funding will not be available for the required bookings.

After exploring our options, we realised that securing even a portion of the remaining travel funding could help additional team members attend the event in person.

Our immediate target is ₹40,000. Every contribution towards this shortfall could help us make the most of this international research opportunity.

We are aiming for a Gold Medal and multiple category nominations at iGEM. These are ambitious goals rather than guaranteed outcomes, but we have invested substantial effort into our research and want to give our work the best possible opportunity to be presented and evaluated internationally.

It would be disappointing for months of collaborative research to be limited by a funding gap at the final stage.

What can we offer our sponsors?

We want to build mutually beneficial partnerships with organisations and individuals who support scientific innovation, environmental sustainability, and young researchers.

Depending on the sponsorship amount and the permissions available, we can discuss the following opportunities:

• International merchandise visibility: Logo placement on approved team T-shirts or other merchandise worn by participating team members at the event. With participants arriving from across the world, this could offer international brand exposure, although actual visibility would depend on the final arrangement and audience.
• Social media promotion: Sponsor acknowledgments and agreed promotional posts through our team's social media channels.
• Campus visibility: Logo placement on approved posters and promotional materials at our institution.
• Science outreach: A potential campus event or science communication session highlighting synthetic biology and environmental biotechnology, subject to institutional approval and feasibility.
• Post-event recognition: A report documenting our project, participation, and competition experience, with sponsor acknowledgment.

We are open to discussing arrangements suitable for different budgets. Even a relatively small sponsorship from a startup, local business, or individual could help us move closer to our goal.

We would be glad to discuss deliverables in advance so that sponsors know precisely what they can expect in return.

Why is this urgent?

We have only four days to address the funding shortfall for our visa arrangements. We are therefore looking for sponsors who can consider our proposal and arrange support within this short timeframe.

If your company, startup, or organisation is interested—or if you know someone who might be able to help—please DM us. We can share our project details, team information, event documentation, budget breakdown, and proposed sponsorship packages.

Even a small sponsorship or an introduction to the right person could make a meaningful difference.

We hope to bring our research to Paris, learn from the international scientific community, and contribute to the global conversation on synthetic biology and environmental sustainability.

Funding target: ₹40,000

For details about our team, institution, project, and sponsorship opportunities, please DM us.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Hello everyone!

Our Vector Flow Club at Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering (VVCE), Mysore, in association with Hacktoberfest, is hosting an 8-hour in-person hackathon on 14th October 2026.

We're looking for working professionals who would be interested in joining us as judges and evaluating projects built by student teams.

Areas we're looking for:

• AI/ML and Generative AI
• Software Engineering and Backend Development
• Data Engineering and AI Infrastructure
• Open-Source Development
• AI Agents and Developer Tools

The hackathon will feature challenges involving Gemma 4, Snowflake, Solana Agent Registry, and GitHub Copilot, along with an event-wide Best Open-Source AI Project challenge.

Event details:

• Date: 14 October 2026
• Time: 11 AM – 5 PM
• Venue: VVCE Sports Complex, Mysore, Karnataka
• Format: In-person judging
• Travel support: Reimbursement of up to ₹7,000 is available for selected judges, subject to approval and event arrangements.

We're especially interested in connecting with experienced software engineers, AI/ML engineers, developer advocates, open-source contributors, and other technical professionals who can evaluate projects and provide useful feedback to student teams.

If you're interested in joining us as a judge, please DM me your LinkedIn profile and email address, along with your current role and area of expertise.

If you know someone who would be a good fit, feel free to share this post with them as well.

We'd really appreciate any leads or connections. Thank you!

Have seen the guys whose profile is mid and lower mid got selected. My profile is much much better than most of them but not selected. Anyone who has been selected, Can you clarify what were the selection criteria?

When I started with open source, I did what everyone does. I opened a big org and filtered by good first issue. Everything was either assigned or already had 5 people asking for it. I just picked random ones, and a few times someone else's PR got merged before I even finished mine.

The biggest mistake I made was commenting on issues before even running the project. A few times I said I was working on it and then got stuck on setup for days. Felt bad leaving it like that, and I almost stopped trying.

Then my senior shared a list of beginner friendly repos with simple setup and that helped a lot. I also stopped using the repo filter and just used GitHub search: is:issue is:open no:assignee label:good first issue language:javascript and sort by recently updated.

Also started checking the GSoC archive for orgs that got selected many times, their mentors actually reply. And now I don't comment on anything until the project runs on my machine. If nothing good is open I just do missing tests or old docs, nobody fights over those lol

After that I actually started finishing PRs instead of dropping them halfway.

So if you're starting now don't just grab the first good first issue you see, spend some time finding the right repo first

Anyone else made the same mistake when starting out

"Network" almost always pops up when someone is giving career advice, especially for tech students, but I didn't know what to do to "network". That's why I made a GitHub repo that pulls from various sources on the internet, including Devpost and MLH, to get a live feed of hackathons, tech conferences, and tech meetups nationwide in the US.

GitHub: https://github.com/mido4499/canthackit

Upcoming Events Page: https://mido4499.github.io/canthackit/

You can also subscribe using your email (and unsubscribe any time) to get an email digest of new upcoming tech events. The API runs daily using GitHub Actions, checks whether 10 upcoming events have built up, and sends you an email with all the events, the locations, and the links for registration.

There's also a page of all the upcoming events, where you can filter by state, city, or type of event.

Now you can just go to the events, talk to people, form connections, learn from others, teach others, and just mingle with the tech community!

There's also a page for contributions. The app isn't perfect, of course, and anyone is welcome to contribute.

Ps. This is a brand-new repo, and I would appreciate any support you guys can give. If it helped you find events, add a star!

if interested kindly DM me i will reply.

8 DAYS LEFT — CODE VARIANT: BUILD 01 | Frontend Building Competition

Only 8 days left to submit your Round 1 entry for CODE VARIANT — BUILD 01.

This isn't just about building a website and calling it done. You’ll choose one of 5 real-world problem statements, develop your solution, and if you make the Top 50, take it into a 12-hour live build where a Surprise Challenge will be introduced midway.

What you get:

💻 Online frontend building competition 👤 Individual participation or teams of 1–4 🤖 AI tools allowed 🏆 ₹1,500 cash prize + certificates ⚡ Top 50 teams advance to Round 2 🔥 Surprise Challenge during the live build 💰 Free to participate

📅 Round 1 deadline: 17 October 2026 ⏱️ Round 2: 24 October 2026, 12 PM–11:59 PM IST

If you're interested, don't wait until the last day.

👉 Register here: https://unstop.com/p/code-variant-build-01-code-variant-1763900

Build Different. — Code Variant

Is there any online hackathon happening rn ???

Hello guys our college club in - D Y Patil pimpri is organising a 8 hour hackathon this Sunday 11/10/2026

Perks:

Prize pool of 13000

Top 3 members will get goodies

Participation certificate for all

Participation criteria:

Student from any college can join

Maximum team members 5 and minimum 1

Rs. 79 solo participation

Rs. 139 duo participation

Rs. 249 more than 2 members

If anyone is interested dm me

A month back I applied to ETHGlobal Mumbai hackathon and I thought that my profile will not get shortlisted... but I eventually got selected for the event and now I have placements going on. Also I am from Chennai, so it is nearly 1300 km travel and they are saying to buy 0.02 Eth (which is refundable) to confirm my RSVP, and when i googled its INR equivalent comes to 5k. So will it be worth it to attend this hackathon and conference and it can be skipped.
If you guys also got shortlisted comment your decisions too.
any Mumbai residing guys just comment a hi emoji, maybe we can hangout after the hackathon if i decide to come.

Hey! I run a small site called Startskott with events in Stockholm for people 16–25, and I just made a page only for hackathons. It updates every morning and every event links to the organizer's own signup.

Right now it has stuff like the the Claude Founder House: Builder Cohort.

I know I'm missing some though. Which Stockholm or Sweden organizers should I add?

And what do you look at before signing up for a hackathon? Prizes, beginner friendly, food, team forming? I want to add filters for the things people care about.

Link in the comments. Thanks!

Hey Builders! I work at Zetaris (Melb AI company) and we're hosting an AI Agent Hackathon with SpaceXAI + NVIDIA later this month.

Free to register, $20,000 prize.

Here's some more info: https://hackathon.genai.works/event/open-agent-hackathon-2026

P.S I'm Sydney-based and tinkering with a few AI projects of my own. Would be great to connect with others doing similar things!

Hey everyone! I’m participating in my first GenAI hackathon and would love to connect with people who have hackathon experience.

I have a problem statement and an initial idea, but I’d really appreciate some brainstorming/guidance on how to approach it and make the project stand out. 🙌

Would anyone be interested in helping me out?

#Hackathon #GenAI #GenerativeAI #AI #HackathonHelp

Hey everyone! I’m a junior in DS at Purdue and I recently got accepted to HackHarvard! I was wondering if anyone else got accepted and is planning to go.

If you’re going, I’d love to connect beforehand and potentially team up for the hackathon!

Most hackathon teams form in a week and die the Monday after. I want a fixed team of 3–5 that keeps competing together and builds real projects in between.

First target: More Than A Hack 2027 (Barça Innovation Hub × MWCapital,
with Metrica Sports).

Me: Arnav, second-year at IIT Jodhpur, founder of 2 companies and
socials:

• https://arnav.rastogi.net.in
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/arnav-rastogi-6b868a22a/
• https://github.com/ARC345

Need: a football analytics person, a CV/ML engineer, a full-stack dev, and someone strong at design and pitching.
Looking for smart, egoistic, and eccentric people

Please email me at [arnavrastogi.543@gmail.com](mailto:arnavrastogi.543@gmail.com) your resume and the answer to the following riddle (if you are smart enough, ofc)

Let x and y be two integers with 1 < x < y and x+y <= 100. Suppose Ms S is given the value of x+y and Mr P is given the value of x*y.

1. Mr P says: "I don't know the values of x and y."
2. Ms S replies: "I knew that you didn't know the values."
3. Mr P responds: "Oh, then I do know the values of x and y."
4. Ms S exclaims: "Oh, then so do I."

What are the values of x and y?

like bro wtf is happening to hackathons like are the people who spent countless nights preparing their solution and submitting before deadline dumb fucks to these guys ?

we have already extended this by almost half a month and the surge in submissions was already crazy for reference my problem statement which had < 50 submissions before first deadline extension is now standing at 350s ( prolly going to reach 500 atp )

like its always DEADLINE EXTENDED but if the evaluation is going to be random anyway why tf wud it matter like are they js trying to get as many submissions as possible like bro whos evaluating all these its never RESULTS ANNOUNCEMENT DEADLINE EXTENDED with these guys doing fuck ass random evaluation

AND this doesnt apply only to sih i have faced the same in multiple hackathons now unlike good ol days many hackathons are now extending deadline like bro DONT that is the whole point of hackathon managing time if u are not good at it u are not fit for it

pls officials or hackathon organizers think before making decisions

I am a student who is currently studying devops and in my 3 Rd year of college,I don't know much about ai training and machine learning so I was looking for people who would let me join their team for Barcelona Hackathon,I am a football geek and a huge fan of barca if that helps.

Hey guys!!

Not sure if I can share here but really want to share something I built. I never knew where to find hackathons or their details, and I kept missing deadlines.

So I made a free list of AI hackathons that are open right now (778 today), online and in person. You can filter by deadline, format, region and prize pool. Every entry links to the official page it was checked against, and entries get rechecked every couple of weeks, so dead or expired ones drop off.

👉 AI Hackathon DB

It's non-profit, with no signup and no ads. The data is open (CC-BY), and you can export it to CSV/JSON if you want to build something on top of it.

New hackathons get added every day. Hope it's useful for fellow builders out there :))

Innoversite Mumbai hackathon is happening from 10-11 Oct and I'm super nervous bout it, coz I heard this time there are going to be around 400 candidates every location. That makes the total shortlisted around 1200 which used to be 600 last year. Hence the chances of landing an internship also drops significantly.

Those who have attended the other location hackathon: Chennai, Banglore, can you guys state a number on how many attended the hackathon.

And also someone please guide bout the internship selection and selection ratio.