Frequently Asked Questions

MEDHACK 2027 is an All-India Health Care Hackathon designed to bring together students, innovators, healthcare professionals, engineers, technologists, researchers, startups and aspiring entrepreneurs to develop innovative solutions to real-world healthcare challenges.

MEDHACK 2027 is open to eligible participants from across India, including:

• Medical and allied health students
• Nursing students
• Pharmacy students
• Engineering and technology students
• Biotechnology and life-science students
• Healthcare professionals
• Researchers and innovators
• Startups and aspiring entrepreneurs
• Multidisciplinary student/innovation teams

The final eligibility criteria will be specified in the official registration guidelines.

MEDHACK 2027 will primarily be conducted as a team-based hackathon. Participants may form multidisciplinary teams so that medical, engineering, technology, design, business and other expertise can be combined.

The permitted team size is limited to a maximum of 5 members.

MEDHACK 2027 will have 7 (Seven) major healthcare innovation streams:

1. Aerospace Medicine, Bio Technology, Surgical Robotics & Automation
2. Digital Health Platforms, Digital Therapeutics & AI Healthcare Solutions
3. Assistive Technologies and Rehabilitation, Health Care Cyber Security and Blockchain
4. Geriatric and Palliative Care, Psychological Well-being
5. Para Medical & Pharmacy
6. Nursing Care
7. Other

The Organising Committee reserves the right to modify or refine the streams to reflect emerging healthcare priorities.

• Submissions must be in the prescribed PowerPoint (PPT) format provided by the organisers
• Presentations must be original — no copied content is allowed
• Legal ownership of the idea rests with the presenting team/individual

Ensure your PPT follows the official template and includes all required sections (problem statement, solution, feasibility, impact, etc.).

• First-level scrutiny (from 1st December 2026): Initial screening of submitted ideas for originality, relevance, feasibility, and alignment with the streams.
• Second-level online pitching (from 1st January 2027): Shortlisted teams present their ideas virtually to a panel of judges.

Only teams that clear both levels advance to the 24-hour hackathon.

Shortlisted teams will:

• Develop a prototype, model, workflow, or detailed solution within 24 hours
• Present their work to judges and mentors
• Demonstrate innovation, feasibility, scalability, and impact

Mentorship and technical guidance may be provided onsite or virtually.

There will be no registration fee at the initial idea-submission/selection stage, unless otherwise announced.

However, each member of a team finally shortlisted for the physical/final hackathon will be required to pay a registration/participation fee of ₹1,000 per person.

The ₹1,000 fee is payable by each individual member of every team selected for the final round. For example:

• 3-member finalist team → ₹3,000
• 4-member finalist team → ₹4,000
• 5-member finalist team → ₹5,000

The final permissible team size will be communicated in the official rules.

• Institute certificate signed by HoD/Principal/Director confirming participant affiliation
• Prescribed PPT for idea submission and pitching
• Any additional forms specified on the registration portal (e.g., team details, stream selection)

Shortlisted teams will be notified via email and/or SMS after each evaluation stage. Ensure your contact details are accurate during registration and monitor spam folders.

The finalist registration fee is intended to cover participation-related facilities and arrangements provided by the Organising Committee, which may include:

• Hackathon participation
• Registration kit
• Access to the hackathon venue
• Technical and mentoring sessions
• Evaluation and presentation facilities
• Participant identification/credentials
• Basic participant amenities
• Participation certificate, subject to the prescribed criteria

Specific inclusions will be announced in the final participant information document.

Exactly 50 teams will be shortlisted to participate in the final 24-hour onsite hackathon on 20th – 21st February 2027 at Govt Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram.

The ₹1,000 finalist registration fee is generally non-refundable once the finalist confirms participation, except where the Organising Committee specifically approves a refund under exceptional circumstances.

There will be cash awards for the Top 2 teams in each of the seven streams. Thus, there will be:

7 Streams × 2 Winning Teams = 14 Award-winning Teams

The prize structure will therefore recognise the following in each of the seven streams:

• 1st Prize – Top Team
• Runner Up

The exact cash prize amounts and total prize money will be announced by the Organising Committee.

The Organising Committee may additionally identify an Overall MEDHACK 2027 Champion / Grand Winner from among the stream winners, based on the final evaluation.

If introduced, the criteria and additional award will be announced separately.

Eligible finalists who successfully participate in the final hackathon may receive a Certificate of Appreciation, subject to compliance with the event rules.

Special certificates may also be awarded to winning teams.

Projects may be evaluated on criteria including:

• Innovation and originality
• Relevance to the identified healthcare problem
• Clinical/healthcare usefulness
• Technical feasibility
• Prototype or proof-of-concept
• User experience
• Scalability
• Affordability and accessibility
• Sustainability
• Potential social impact
• Commercialisation potential
• Quality of presentation and demonstration

The Organising Committee may publish a detailed judging matrix before the final event.

Yes, provided the team has the legal right to submit and develop the idea and the submission complies with the originality, intellectual property and disclosure requirements of MEDHACK 2027.

Participants must not knowingly submit another person's protected work as their own. Such submissions will be rejected and the team will be disqualified from the event.

The ownership of the idea presented at MEDHACK 2027 shall remain with the team/persons who legitimately developed and presented the idea.

Participation in MEDHACK 2027 does not, by itself, transfer ownership of the idea or intellectual property to the Organising Committee, Samrambhak Mithra, sponsors, partners or event management agencies.

No. The Organising Committee will not claim ownership of participants' original ideas merely because they are submitted to or presented at MEDHACK 2027.

The intellectual property rights shall remain with the rightful creator(s), subject to any separate written agreement voluntarily entered into by the team.

Where an idea is jointly developed by several members, ownership shall remain with the legitimate creators according to their respective contribution and any written agreement among the team members.

Teams are strongly advised to have an internal written agreement defining the following before submitting their project:

• Ownership
• Contribution
• Intellectual property rights
• Future commercialisation
• Revenue sharing
• Responsibilities of individual members

Participants may be required to permit the Organising Committee to use their names, photographs, videos, project titles, non-confidential descriptions and event presentations for legitimate promotional, educational and reporting purposes relating to MEDHACK 2027.

Such publicity use shall not by itself transfer ownership of the underlying intellectual property.

Participants are advised not to publicly disclose confidential information, trade secrets or patent-sensitive details unless they have first taken appropriate intellectual-property protection measures.

Participants are responsible for protecting their own confidential information before public disclosure.

Potentially, yes. Participants should independently assess whether their innovation qualifies for patent or other intellectual-property protection.

Teams are strongly encouraged to obtain appropriate professional/IP advice before publicly disclosing patent-sensitive technical details.

Yes, subject to the eligibility conditions announced by MEDHACK 2027.

Startups may be particularly encouraged to present scalable healthcare innovations, prototypes, medical technologies and digital-health solutions.

Yes. Interdisciplinary and inter-institutional teams are encouraged, subject to the prescribed team-size and eligibility requirements.

For example, a team may include members from medical, engineering, nursing, pharmacy and management institutions.

Mentors may guide teams subject to the official rules, but they shall not be treated as student/team members unless specifically permitted by the Organising Committee.

The Organising Committee may provide access to mentors from areas such as:

• Medicine
• Nursing
• Pharmacy
• Engineering
• Artificial Intelligence
• Medical devices
• Entrepreneurship
• Business development
• Intellectual property
• Regulatory affairs
• Product design

The availability and schedule of mentors will be announced to shortlisted teams.

Teams are expected to develop a meaningful proof-of-concept, prototype, software solution, hardware concept, medical/healthcare innovation or demonstrable solution, depending on the selected stream.

No. A fully commercialised product is not necessarily required.

However, teams should demonstrate the feasibility, usefulness and potential impact of their proposed solution.

Minor modifications and improvements may be permitted during the hackathon.

Substantial changes to the original problem statement or project may require approval from the Organising Committee or the relevant stream mentor/jury.

The jury will evaluate each submission independently based on originality, implementation, technical merit, healthcare relevance, impact and other published criteria.

Where necessary, the Organising Committee may seek clarification regarding the origin and development of the respective ideas.

Normally, a team will receive the highest applicable award for its final ranking.

The Organising Committee may introduce special awards, citations or recognitions in addition to the stream prizes.

The Organising Committee reserves the right to disqualify a team or withdraw an award if there is evidence of:

• Plagiarism
• Misrepresentation
• Fraudulent claims
• Unauthorised use of another person's intellectual property
• Violation of eligibility requirements
• Submission of substantially copied work
• Misconduct
• Violation of applicable law or event rules

The MEDHACK 2027 Organising Committee shall have final authority regarding interpretation and implementation of the competition rules, eligibility, evaluation procedure, scheduling, disqualification and award decisions.

Yes. The decision of the duly constituted MEDHACK 2027 Jury/Grand Jury shall be final and binding, subject to the applicable rules of the competition.

Yes. The Organising Committee reserves the right to modify the schedule, venue, streams, programme structure or other arrangements due to administrative, technical, safety, regulatory or other unavoidable circumstances.

Participants will be informed of significant changes through official communication channels.

Participants should rely only on the official MEDHACK 2027 communication channels designated by the Organising Committee for registration, schedules, rules, shortlisted teams, prizes and other official announcements.

Finalists should carefully review:

• Official Rules & Regulations
• Eligibility requirements
• Team composition
• Remittance of ₹1,000 per head as finalist registration fee
• Intellectual Property provisions
• Judging criteria
• Required prototype/demo
• Travel and accommodation arrangements
• Consent/declaration requirements
• Submission deadlines

MEDHACK 2027 is intended to promote innovation, collaboration and practical solutions to real healthcare challenges.

Participants are encouraged to focus not merely on winning a prize, but on creating solutions that can genuinely improve patient care, healthcare accessibility, affordability, efficiency and outcomes.

Late submissions will not be accepted under any circumstances.

Yes, provided all members meet eligibility criteria and each can produce the required HoD/Principal/Director certificate from their respective institutes. Confirm any cross-institute rules on the official portal.

Contact the MedHack 2027 Organising Committee via:

• Official website contact form
• Email: medhack@samrambhakmithra.in
• Announcements or webinars posted by the organisers

Keep an eye on updates for any changes to dates, formats, or streams.