2 min readNew DelhiJun 29, 2026 02:16 PM IST
Annam.AI, India’s first Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Agriculture, hosted at IIT Ropar under the Ministry of Education, has launched Hackcore 2026, a national AI hackathon in collaboration with Syngenta and Google. The initiative invites innovators to develop AI-driven solutions for key agricultural challenges, including crop health, pest management, soil intelligence, climate-resilient farming, and the wider adoption of biological products across India.
The hackathon is open to students, researchers, developers, startups and innovators from across India. Interested candidates can apply at the competition at their official website, annam.ai. The deadline to fill up the form is July 21, 2026.
The hack core is a platform that offers participants a space to make their ideas into innovation and field-level implementation. The team that will win will get to visit Syngenta’s Research Centre in Atessa, Italy to observe first-hand cutting-edge facilities and tools which are used in biological research.
The winning team will also get Google Cloud Credits in awards which will give them access to Google’s cloud platform and a range of infrastructure, data, AI, and software to support their work. Participants will gain access to expert mentorship, hands-on ground-level research opportunities, and valuable knowledge exchange with experts from Annam AI and Syngenta.
Dr Pushpendra P Singh, Project Director, Annam.AI, IIT Ropar, said, “As agriculture is now moving to more sustainable and climate-resilient practices, biological products are emerging as a key alternative to traditional crop protection solutions. By harnessing AI-tech, we innovators have an opportunity to help farmers improve productivity while enhancing environmental sustainability. By partnering with the world’s leading agricultural innovation company, Syngenta, HACK CORE 2026 brings together India’s brightest innovators to build practical, technology-led solutions that can help solve some of the most pressing challenges faced by farmers today.”