The Story
of Zinnovatio.
A chronological journey of how an ambitious campus initiative evolved into a national hackathon phenomenon across 3 landmark seasons.
Bridging Classrooms to Working Prototypes
In autumn 2024, the Department of CSE, Nalanda at host university Chandigarh University launched the first-ever Zinnovatio. With 832 young developers forming cross-disciplinary teams of 3 to 5, the inaugural edition set out to build practical software for healthcare, women's safety, and civic accessibility. Teams presented live working demos before university leadership and industry mentors, awarding ₹50,000 in prizes.
Tackling Lunar Vision, Deepfakes & Cloud Defense
Season 2 dramatically raised the technical bar. Builders tackled advanced challenges including ISRO Chandrayaan-2 lunar crater enhancement, AI-based face-swap deepfake detection, and cloud DDoS mitigation architectures. Participation surged by +90% to 1,581 developers. Winning teams were honored on stage with giant ₹30,000, ₹20,000, and ₹10,000 cheques against the official Zinnovatio 2.0 backdrop banner.
3,303 Builders, Overnight Coding & UN SDGs
Zinnovatio 3.0 marked the transition into a premier national hackathon. Scaling past 3,300 registrations from institutions across India, the event became a grueling 36-hour overnight hackathon on campus. Teams hacked non-stop through the night solving for 8 UN Sustainable Development Goals, evaluated in-person by domain experts. A grand prize pool of over ₹1,00,000+ was distributed on the finale stage.
Evolution at a Glance
| Season & Edition | Event Timeline | Builders | Prize Pool | Format | Listing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3.0 Zinnovatio 3.0Season 3 • 2025 | 31 Oct – 1 Nov 2025 | 3,303 | ₹1,00,000+ | 36h Overnight | Unstop |
2.0 Zinnovatio 2.0Season 2 • Early 2025 | 20 Jan – 15 Feb 2025 | 1,581 | ₹60,000+ | Multi-Tier Hybrid | Unstop |
1.0 Zinnovatio 1.0Season 1 • 2024 | 13 Sept – 16 Oct 2024 | 832 | ₹50,000 | Inaugural 2-Round | Unstop |
4.0 Zinnovatio 4.0 Live Now | 30—31 Oct 2026 | Registering | Grand Finale | Hybrid Challenge | Apply |
Latest Updates.
Zinnovatio 4.0 – National Level Hackathon (Round 1 Submission)
Round 1 submissions for teams registered via Unstop. Only the Team Leader should submit this form on behalf of the team.
Ready to join the next edition?
Submit your idea for Zinnovatio 4.0 on Unstop. Offline finale on 30—31 October 2026.