E.ON Future Makers Challenge

E.ON, in collaboration with Infosys and IIT Madras, is launching a pan India innovation challenge to identify and accelerate breakthrough solutions to Europe's most pressing energy infrastructure challenges. This initiative brings together E.ON's deep operational expertise in European energy networks, Infosys's technology and enterprise delivery capability, and IIT Madras's research and entrepreneurship ecosystem to create a structured pathway from idea to real-world deployment.

The programme is designed for students and startups in India with innovative ideas that address real operational problems facing energy networks today. Selected ideas will be validated, prototyped, and developed to be deployed at scale across European and global markets.

About E.ON

E.ON is one of Europe's largest energy companies with the business areas of energy networks, energy infrastructure solutions and energy sales. E.ON is actively leading energy's future – putting their customers first and delivering innovation solutions that help advance the energy transition.

What We Are Looking For

Simple, robust, and affordable ideas and solutions built for the real world. Ideas that leverage India's frugal engineering strengths — high value with limited resources, constraint-driven design, rapidly deployable. Solutions must have a credible path to EU market relevance and adaptability to European regulatory and infrastructure contexts. Global applicability strongly encouraged.

The Journey

15 months across three phases. Phase 1 — Idea Selection (July–October 2026): screening, jury review, and an in person event in Bangalore selecting up to 4 winners. Phase 2 — Validation: prototype development with Infosys & IIT Madras lab access and mentorship. Phase 3 — Deployment: real-world rollout supported by E.ON's network and Infosys client introductions.

The Four Challenge Themes

Grid Resilience and Physical Protection, IT Security, Robotics & AI for Grid Vigilance and Workforce Safety, and Smart Meter of the Future. Each theme has specific clusters with detailed technical briefs. You may apply to more than one cluster within the same theme.

What Winners Receive

Up to €80,000 in grants across 4 ventures. IIT Madras lab access, mentorship, Infosys enterprise pilot opportunities, and IIT Madras Energy Consortium Ventures membership.

Eligibility:

- Students currently enrolled at an accredited Indian college or university, pursuing a UG, PG, or PhD programme in India.

Rules & Guidelines:

• Each team can have a maximum of 3 members, and all team members must be based in India.
• Participants can select and proceed with only one problem statement and may address multiple clusters within that problem statement through a single registration.
• If selected for the in-person finale in Bangalore, teams will be notified by mid-September 2026, with travel and accommodation expenses to be borne by the participating teams.
• All decisions pertaining to eligibility, shortlisting, and progression in the competition will be made by Infosys and Unstop, and their decision shall be final and binding.*

Phases of the Challenge:

Phase 1 - Scouting of Brilliant Minds (3 months)

• Challenge Launch
• Screening & Evaluation
• In person event for selection

Phase 2 - Piloting of Ideas that Drive Innovation (6 months)

• Prototyping & Pilot
• Business Case

Phase 3 - Integrating and Scaling Solutions (6 months)

• Implementation
• Scale-up and Integration

The selection process includes screening, evaluation/interview, and an in-person finale in Bangalore, where up to 4 ventures, one per theme, will be selected. Shortlisted teams will be notified in mid-September 2026. Travel and accommodation for the Bangalore finale will be at the team's own expense.

Themes for the Challenge:

• Grid Resilience & Physical Protection of Energy Infrastructure
• IT Security
• Robotics & AI for Grid Vigilance and Workforce Safety
• Smart Meter of the Future

Theme 1: Grid Resilience & Physical Protection of Energy Infrastructure

As renewable energy and distributed assets reshape Europe's grids, ensuring resilience against physical threats - from extreme weather to deliberate sabotage - is one of the defining infrastructure challenges of our time.

Solutions are sought across three interconnected phases of the resilience curve: hardening infrastructure before incidents occur, detecting threats and anomalies in real time, and enabling rapid recovery when disruptions happen.

This challenge invites submissions across three clusters (choose one or more):

• Cluster 1 - Prevention and Physical Protection
• Cluster 2 - Detection and Surveillance
• Cluster 3 - Mitigation and Emergency Response

Theme 2: IT Security

Europe's energy grid relies on an increasingly interconnected layer of IT systems - from core grid operations to millions of customer-owned devices like EV chargers, heat pumps, and smart inverters. As this attack surface expands, so does the risk: vulnerabilities in protection systems go undetected, and compromised customer assets can be coordinated to destabilise grid conditions at scale.

Solutions are sought that automate and harden core grid IT defences, and that protect customer-owned energy assets against coordinated exploitation and systemic cyber-physical risk.

This challenge invites entries across two clusters (choose one or more):

• Cluster 4 - IT Security: Improvement of Protection Systems
• Cluster 5 - IT Security: Protection Schemes for Customer-Based Assets

Theme 3: Robotics & AI for Grid Vigilance and Workforce Safety

Europe's energy networks are entering a phase of unprecedented operational stress. Grid expansion, renewable integration, and rising reliability expectations collide with structural constraints - making vigilance, safety, and resilience prerequisites for secure network operations. At the same time, robotics and Physical AI are enabling intelligent machines to perceive, reason, and act within complex physical environments, offering a direct pathway to address these challenges while augmenting a shrinking technical workforce.

Solutions are sought that deploy autonomous systems for persistent grid monitoring and resilience, and targeted automation that reduces human exposure to high-risk field tasks.

This challenge invites entries across two clusters (choose one or more):

• Cluster 6 - Fortifying Grid Safety, Vigilance, and Resilience
• Cluster 7 - Targeted Automation for Workforce Safety and Augmentation

Theme 4: Smart Meter of the Future

Germany's energy transition mandates large-scale rollout of smart meters - yet the core challenge is threefold: meeting strict technical and regulatory requirements, achieving mass-market affordability and scalability, and driving customer acceptance. Many consumers perceive smart meters as intrusive, overly technical, or lacking clear personal value - making compliance and low cost insufficient without a simple, trustworthy, and genuinely delightful customer experience.

Solutions are sought for a hardware and software concept that is low-cost, fully regulation-compliant, and delivers privacy-respecting experiences that drive sustained customer engagement.

This challenge invites entries across one cluster (choose one or more):

- Cluster 8 - Smart Meter of the Future

Submission Guidelines:

• Solutions must directly address one of the four challenge problem statements and meet the requirements outlined in the respective cluster brief. Existing products or solutions may be submitted if they demonstrate relevance to European and global markets.
• Solutions must be submitted only through Unstop, in English, and in the specific format wherever specified.
• A working prototype is not mandatory for most clusters. Clusters 6 and 7 require a minimum TRL 2, while Cluster 8 requires TRL 1-2.
• Submissions must be original and must not infringe any third-party intellectual property or licensing rights. Participants retain ownership of their IP. For ventures selected for Phase 3, E.ON will have a 12-month right of first refusal for commercialisation of the solution developed during the programme.
• Applications will be evaluated on Innovation, Implementation, and Impact, along with EU transferability, frugal design, simplicity, robustness, and affordability.
• Submissions will be reviewed confidentially by the authorised evaluation panel comprising E.ON, Infosys, and IIT Madras. No NDA is required, and individual feedback will not be provided to unsuccessful applicants.

Submission Checklist:

Please ensure your submission is clear, specific, and relevant to the selected cluster(s). If submitting for multiple clusters, answer for all selected clusters in a single response, with a separate paragraph for each cluster.

Your submission should address the following in the text fields:

• Problem & Solution: Explain the problem, your solution, and its differentiation from existing alternatives.
• Cost & Feasibility: Explain how cost, infrastructure, resources, and skills constraints shaped your solution and how it maximises value.
• EU & Global Applicability: Explain suitability for Europe, required adaptations, and other applicable global markets.
• Validation & Scale: Outline the first 12-month validation plan, deployment path, and scalability across markets.
• Technical Architecture: Describe key components, integrations, tools, dependencies, simplicity, and robustness.
• Regulatory & Readiness: Address regulatory, safety, privacy, AI, security, partnerships, and deployment timelines.
• Market Opportunity: Define target customers, market size, and go-to-market approach for Europe and globally.
• TCO & Value: Provide production, deployment, and operating costs, along with customer savings or resilience benefits.

Supporting Materials

Upload files for all selected clusters as a single ZIP file, following the file-naming convention as per the cluster. If only one cluster is selected, upload the file directly instead of a ZIP.

• System/Technical Architecture: Upload one PDF with separate diagrams for each selected cluster.
• Prototype/Solution Visuals: Upload one PDF with clearly labelled visuals for each selected cluster.
• Additional Documents: Upload one PDF containing relevant supporting materials such as a pitch deck, profile, or technical documentation.

Before submitting: Ensure all responses are cluster-specific, within the character limit, and all PDFs are clearly labelled.

Rewards & Opportunities

• E.ON will provide Grant funding for up to 4 selected ideas to the extent of up to 80K EUR in total.
• The top 2 ideas from Phase 2 will be supported for development into real-world solutions or products in Phase 3.
• Mentorship - Infosys & IIT Madras to provide Innovation & Entrepreneur mentorship to the selected ideas.
• Validation Infrastructure access - Selected ideas will be supported by providing Infosys & IIT Madras Lab for prototyping, research infrastructure & deep tech expertise.
• Market Access - Selected ideas will be supported by Infosys to get early client pilot projects.
• Part of IIT Madras - Selected ideas will get the opportunity to be part of the IIT Madras Energy Consortium Ventures.

Please refer to the FAQs for more details.