​Join Databricks on 24 Apr 2026 for a 2-day campus hackathon at IIT Madras. Learn data and AI skills hands-on, then dive into an intensive hackathon where you work on challenges that matter.

​Databricks engineers will guide you through an intro session covering:

• ​An overview of the Databricks platform

• ​AI/BI Dashboards, Genie, Unity Catalog, and Lakehouse architecture

• ​Hands-on demos and exercises

​Agenda

​Day 1, 24 Apr 2026

• ​5:45 PM: Check-In for Approved Participants - Arrive and meet fellow participants.

• ​6:00 PM: Intro to Databricks Workshop - Introduction to Databricks platform. Participants are advised to go through the Participant Guide, sign up for Databricks Free Edition, and decide their hackathon track and project idea in advance.

• ​6:30 PM: Hacking Begins - Start building your projects! Mentors will be around to support you. Since you already have your track and idea decided, dive straight into building after the workshop.

• ​8:30 PM: Day 1 Wrap-up - End of Day 1 activities. Continue hacking overnight if you wish!

​Day 2, 25 Apr 2026

• ​9:00 AM: Day 2 Kick-off - Resume hacking. Mentors available for guidance.

• ​12:00 PM: Lunch Break - Take a break, refuel, and keep building.

• ​4:00 PM: Code Freeze - All coding must stop. Focus only on finalizing your submission from this point.

• ​5:00 PM: Submission Deadline - All projects must be submitted by exactly 5:00 PM. No extensions.

• ​5:00 PM: Judging & Presentations - Teams present their projects to the judges. Round 1 evaluation.

• ​6:30 PM: Round 2 Judging - Shortlisted teams present for final evaluation.

• ​7:00 PM: Winner Announcement & Closing - Winners announced. Closing ceremony and celebrations.

​Prize Pool

​🏆 ₹2,50,000 per campus

• ​🥇 1st Place ₹1,25,000

• ​🥈 2nd Place ₹75,000

• ​🥉 3rd Place ₹50,000

​Databricks swag for all successful submissions.

​Top teams evaluated nationally. National winner gets Mentorship session with Databricks leadership + tech tour of Databricks India HQ in Bengaluru.

​Who should attend?

​This event is open to all students. Content is especially relevant for pre-final and final year students studying computer science, engineering, information science, statistics, or data science, but all majors are welcome.

​Advance registration is required. Please use your university email if available.

​Why attend?

• ​Build confidence working with Databricks

• ​Learn practical, in-demand data and AI skills

• ​Connect with Databricks engineers and leaders

• ​Receive 1 month of free Databricks Academy Labs access

• ​Access free self-paced courses on Databricks Academy covering Data Engineering, ML, Gen AI, and more

• ​Compete for cash prizes and exclusive swag

​Speakers and Mentors

​Vasan Vembu Srini. Vasan is a Solutions Architect at Databricks with over 20 years of technology leadership in requirements analysis, SQL optimization, and enterprise project management. He brings proven expertise from roles as Chief Solutions Architect at BigTapp Pte Ltd and Project Manager at Infosys, specializing in data architecture and enterprise solutions across diverse industries.

​Prashant Sharma. Prashant is a Delivery Solutions Architect at Databricks focused on Healthcare and Life sciences, helping enterprises build scalable Lakehouse platforms and GenAI solutions. With 15+ years in data platform architecture and expertise across Spark, ML Flow, and modern cloud data warehouses, he specializes in large-scale migrations and turning complex data challenges into business impact.

​Mentors

​• Soumyashree Patra, Sr. Solutions Architect, Databricks

​• Nandani Shakshi, Sr. Solutions Engineer, Databricks

​• Nandini N, Staff Technical Enablement Specialist, Databricks

​• Pooja Sriram, Solutions Engineer, Databricks

​• Raghavan Vaidhyaraman, Associate Technical Solutions Engineer, Databricks

​• Venkatesh Senthilkumar, Senior Technical Solutions Engineer, Databricks

​• Hemapriya N, Scale Solution Engineer, Databricks

​• Mayanck Bihani, Solutions Architect, Databricks

​Just a few quick reminders to help the day run smoothly:

​1) Approval is on an individual basis If you're attending as a team, each member needs to be registered and approved separately. Because space is limited, we will only be able to admit approved participants. Due to security measures, there will not be any on-spot registrations and we cannot make any exceptions. Please do not arrive at the venue without approval.

​2) Arrival timing Registration opens at 5:45 PM, and we'll begin shortly after. To keep things fair for everyone, check-in closes once the session begins and we won't be able to admit late arrivals.

​3) In-person event This is an in-person-only event. If your plans change, we'd really appreciate you cancelling your spot so someone on the waitlist can join. We do keep track of no-shows to help us plan future community events fairly.