Maple Bridge AI Governance Case Competition 2026

Overview:

The Maple Bridge AI Governance Case Competition is a nationwide policy and design competition that puts one real public policy challenge in front of India's university students and invites them to design the solution.

The competition is a part of The Maple Bridge project, a Canada-India youth leadership and non-partisan civic learning initiative on policy literacy and AI awareness, implemented by Swasti in partnership with Public Policy India & its research and consulting initiative, STRIDE, with support from the High Commission of Canada through the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI).

How It Works?

-

Round 1 · Policy Brief: Every participant/team submits a 1,200 to 1,500-word policy brief on the case, in the track of their choice. Deadline: [25th November, 2026] -

Round 2 · Virtual Showcase: The top 10 participants/teams from each track are shortlisted. Those in the academic tracks will be required to deliver a virtual presentation for five minutes, and those in the technical track will be required to demo their prototypes virtually. Results will be announced in the 2nd week of December. -

Round 3 · The Maple Bridge Summit, Delhi (19 February 2027): The top 3 performers from each track will be invited to the Summit to present live, and the overall winner is chosen.

General Guidelines:

-

All submissions must be original work, and all sources used must be properly credited. -

Submissions must contain no explicit content, whether real or AI-generated. -

Submissions must not name, identify, or reveal the identity of any real person, victim, or incident. Any violation of this rule will result in disqualification. -

Each participant/team may enter only one track with one submission. -

All team members must have agreed to participate and must be currently enrolled students.

Who Can Enter:

• UG and PG students enrolled at any Indian institution, from any discipline, individually or in teams of up to 3. Free to enter.
• There is no fee to apply or participate.
• Application Deadline for Round 1: 25th November, 2026