Dates
Registration Closes at 10th September 2026
100 Candidates shortlisted and acceptance mails sent on 14th Semptember 2026
Waitlisted Candidates emailed on 16th September 2026
Kickoff and Cortex Premium Access Given on 17th September 2026
Innovation Period: 17th to 24th September 2026
Submission Deadline 24th September 2026 (23:59 UTC)
Top 10 Teams Notified on 28th September 2026
Online Symposium on 30th September 2026
Closing Ceremony and winners announcement on 1st October 2026
Eligibility
- Open to anyone, anywhere — no university affiliation required, no degree required, no prior research experience required
- Individual or team of 2–4
- You must complete the application form latest by 10th September
- Shortlisted candidates must register on Devpost within 24 hours of acceptance — vacancies go to waitlisted applicants
- If your team is selected, every member gets Cortex Premium access for the innovation period
- One submission per team
Project and Submission Requirements
- Must fall within neuroscience, BCI, genomics, bioinformatics or related fields.
- Must be original work created during the innovation period (Sept 17–24)
- Cortex must be your primary research instrument
- All code must be open-source in a public GitHub repository (if applicable)
- Ethical data handling is mandatory — no scraped personal data, no unauthorized datasets
- No repackaged or pre-existing work
- 🎥 3-minute video — demo your prototype, explain your problem, show your depth. Hard cap at 3:00. One second over = auto-disqualification.
- 📄 One-page technical abstract (PDF) — problem, approach, methodology, results, novelty. One page. Not two. Not "one page plus references." One.
- 🗂️ Public GitHub repository — code, documentation, README. If we can't read it, we can't judge it.
Prizes
|
🥇 1st Place |
₨2,00,000 PKR |
|
🥈 2nd Place |
₨1,00,000 PKR |
|
🥉 3rd Place |
₨50,000 PKR |
Total prize pool: ₨3.5 lakh PKR
Beyond the cash:
- 🎤 Top 10 teams present at an online symposium to judges who evaluate scientific rigor
- 💼 Potential opportunity with the team behind Cortex — earned, not promised
- 🏆 All teams receive the remaining 6000 Credits on Cortex Premium even after the hackathon ends.
Judging Criteria and Winner Selection
Judging criteria (weighted):
|
Criterion |
Weight |
What we evaluate |
|
Problem Significance |
25% |
Is the problem worth solving? Does it matter? |
|
Technical Depth |
25% |
How deep does the work go? Is there real substance? |
|
Innovation |
20% |
Does this approach exist already, or is it new? |
|
Scientific Rigor |
15% |
Are claims backed by data? Is the methodology sound? |
|
Execution |
15% |
Does the prototype run? Does it actually work? |
Winner selection process:
- All submissions reviewed Sept 24–27 against the five weighted criteria
- Top 10 teams selected and notified September 28
- Top 10 present at the online symposium on September 30 — live demo + Q&A with judges
- Final winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd) announced at the closing ceremony on October 1
Judges don't grade polish. They grade depth.