The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has announced the 5G Innovation Hackathon 2025. It is a six month programme from the telecom department that is aimed at developing innovative prototypes leveragin 5G tech. Participants of the hackathons will be encouraged to use different 5G technologies such as 5G network slicing, call flow scenarios, and more to address the real-world problems faced by the customers. Under the programme, DoT will offer funding, mentorship, and access to the 5G use case labs to the customers.
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The participants will further receive help in commercialisation of their solution and more help in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) assistance. DoT said that this hackaton is open to postgraduate, undergraduate students, startups and professionals. 5G can solve problems with the correct use of technology across sectors including manufacturing, agriculture, and more.
As what happens usually in hackathons, the telecom department will first accept Proposal Submission. In this, the idea will be floated to the telecom department, outlining the problem statement and a proposed solution for the same. The second stage will be DoT shortlisting around 150-200 applications. The top 25-50 teams from this will go to the pragati phase under which they will get Rs 1,00,000 each (seed fund) and a three month time period (June 15 - September 15, 2025) to develop a prototype of their soluiton. Participants will get to use the 5G Labs during this time. Necessary help with the IPR will also be provided at this stage only.
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Then there will be the last stage which is evaluation and showcase, which will take place in September 2025. Winners of the hackathon will be announced in October 2025 and they will be allowed to showcase their solutions at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2025.
Winners will receive Rs 5 lakh (first prize), Rs 3 lakh (second prize), and Rs 1.5 lakh (third prize).
