Impact Tank

IMPACT TANK '26

Startup & Innovation Challenge

IMPACT TANK '26 is a structured Startup & Innovation Challenge that takes student teams through the complete journey of building an idea — from problem discovery and solution ideation to prototype development, market validation, and go-to-market planning.

The challenge is designed around a Problem First approach: understand a meaningful problem, build with purpose, validate with evidence, iterate based on feedback, and showcase the final solution with impact.

No pre-existing startup idea is required. Teams may enter with a problem area or discover a problem during the initial stage.

Eligibility & Team Formation

• Open to students from colleges and universities across India.
• Students from all disciplines are eligible.
• Team size: 2–4 members.
• No pre-existing startup idea is required.
• Changes to team membership after the registration deadline require prior approval.

Competition Journey

Week 0 — Problem Discovery

2–8 October 2026 | Online

Identify a meaningful, specific and evidence-supported problem.

Deliverable: Problem Brief Deck

Teams should establish:

• Problem statement
• Target user/stakeholder
• Context and scale
• Evidence that the problem exists
• Existing approaches and alternatives
• Limitations of existing approaches
• Why the problem is worth solving

Note: No solution is required during Week 0. The focus is on understanding and defining the problem.

Week 1 — Solution Ideation

9–15 October 2026 | Online

Explore multiple ways of solving the selected problem and identify the most promising solution.

Teams will:

• Generate at least three alternative solution concepts
• Compare the alternatives
• Select one solution and explain the rationale
• Define the user journey and core value proposition
• Identify essential prototype features

Deliverable: Solution Concept Deck

Week 2 — Prototype / MVP Sprint

16–22 October 2026 | Online

Turn the selected solution into something that can be seen, used, tested or convincingly demonstrated.

Teams may build:

• Web or mobile applications
• AI solutions
• Dashboards
• IoT/electronics systems
• Physical products
• CAD/engineering prototypes
• Hardware + software solutions
• Process/service innovations

Deliverables:

• Prototype/MVP
• Short demonstration video
• User workflow or architecture
• Core features implemented
• Known limitations and future development

Elimination Checkpoint

Teams will be evaluated on their cumulative performance across Weeks 0–2. Shortlisted teams will advance to the Market Validation & Go-To-Market stage.

Week 3 — Market Validation + Go-To-Market

23–29 October 2026 | Online

Validate whether the solution addresses a genuine user need and develop a realistic path towards reaching early customers.

Teams will work on:

• Target user and priority segment
• Validation evidence
• Competitor analysis
• Positioning
• Pricing and revenue model
• Customer acquisition strategy
• Growth roadmap

₹10,000 GTM Challenge

Each team will receive a hypothetical ₹10,000 launch budget and must explain how they would use it to reach, engage and acquire their first target users or customers.

Teams will define:

• Target audience
• Acquisition channels
• Budget allocation
• Messaging/offer
• Expected reach and conversions
• Key learning objectives

No actual spending is required.

Impact Expo

30 October 2026 | Offline at NIT Warangal

Shortlisted teams will showcase their solutions at the Impact Expo during Technozion.

Visitors and judges will be able to interact with the prototype and understand the problem and solution.

Final Pitch Day

31 October 2026 | Offline at NIT Warangal

Shortlisted teams will present their complete solution before an expert panel, covering the problem, solution, validation, market opportunity, and roadmap.

Only shortlisted teams advancing to the Technozion finale will be required to participate offline at NIT Warangal.

Evaluation Parameters

Teams will be evaluated across parameters including:

• Problem Relevance
• User Understanding
• Innovation
• Feasibility
• Prototype Quality
• Validation Evidence
• Market Potential
• GTM Clarity
• Learning & Iteration
• Presentation

Stage-specific evaluation criteria and weightages will be communicated before the respective evaluation rounds.

General Submission Guidelines

• Submissions must represent the team's own work.
• Plagiarism, fabricated evidence, or misrepresentation may result in disqualification.
• AI-assisted tools are permitted for research, ideation, design, coding, and prototype development.
• Teams remain responsible for the originality and accuracy of their submissions.
• Fabricated interviews, validation evidence, datasets, or results are not permitted.
• Prototypes submitted for evaluation must be developed during the IMPACT TANK competition period.
• Previously developed or substantially completed prototypes are not eligible for evaluation.
• Existing open-source tools, libraries, APIs, development platforms, and hardware components may be used.
• Prototype links must remain accessible to evaluators.

Recognition

Prize Pool: ₹30,000

Winning teams will receive trophies and certificates.

Build. Validate. Impact.

Start with a problem. Build a solution. Test it in the real world. Take your idea from problem to prototype to impact