Jalandhar, 16.12.25-; Lovely Professional University (LPU) concluded the five-day Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2025–26 Grand Finale; Hardware Edition, which it hosted as one of the official nodal centres designated by the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell (MIC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The national finale was held simultaneously across 60 nodal centres across the country, bringing together shortlisted student teams to work on nationally relevant problem statements.

The 2025–26 edition saw participation from thousands of teams across India, with selected finalists advancing through a multi-stage evaluation process. At the LPU nodal centre, finalist teams worked under defined timelines to design, prototype and validate hardware based solutions for four assigned problem statements including, Waste Segregation Monitoring System for Urban Local Bodies, Intelligent Pesticide Sprinkling System Determined by the Infection Level of a Plant; Student Innovation: Swadeshi for Atmanirbhar Bharat- Agriculture, FoodTech & Rural Development, and Student Innovation: Swadeshi for Atmanirbhar Bharat- Fitness & Sports.

Three winning teams including, Biomech Titans, Iconic Forcee and Hera Bac received a cash prize of ₹1.50 lakh, while two joint winners including; Swach and Bit Igniters, were awarded ₹75,000, recognising both technical excellence and execution under real world constraints at the hardware finale.

Amid the ongoing national finale, LPU also celebrated a significant achievement in the SIH 2025–26 Software Edition, where its Architecture team, Kanyarasi, secured a national win at the Chennai nodal centre. Competing in an engineering dominated hackathon, the team impressed evaluators with ‘HelioSkin Hub’, a climate responsive commercial building developed through a live, end to end BIM workflow. Their design integrated, data driven approach earned the team a cash prize of ₹75,000 and marked a rare national victory for an architecture-led solution at SIH.

Congratulating the students and mentors, Col. Dr. Rashmi Mittal, Pro-Chancellor of LPU, stated, LPU emphasizes upon interdisciplinary learning, digital proficiency and hands on innovation enables students to perform with confidence and clarity on national platforms. Dr. Mittal added that LPU’s focus remains on developing problem solvers who can create meaningful societal impact through innovation.