Overview Design an AI-powered urban flood forecast system that Gurgaon's civic body could actually implement — and present it to the officials who can. About the Competition SustainX 2026 is a Delhi NCR inter-institutional hackathon hosted by the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development at Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon, as part of the 5th International Winter Conference on Sustainable Business (WCSB 2026). WCSB is one of Great Lakes Gurgaon's flagship events, bringing together researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders each December to examine the intersection of Business and Sustainability. This year's conference theme is "Beyond
Automation: AI, Human-Centricity, and Sustainability" — and SustainX is its student-facing counterpart: a solution-focused hackathon designed to turn that theme from conference panels into actionable civic solutions. The Problem We're Solving Every year, MCG releases a 'flood preparedness plan.' Every year, the same underpasses flood, and the same roads become rivers. On September 1, 2025, 133mm of rain in four hours caused a 20km traffic jam and a 51-hour power outage across the city. By late June 2026, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) had completed desilting at just 16 of 36 hotspots against a May 31 deadline with monsoon already underway. MCG has identified 159 waterlogging hotspots across Gurgaon. It has no system that predicts which of them will flood before the rain arrives. This year's SustainX 2026 asks one focused question: Can you design an AI-powered predictive flood management system for Gurgaon that MCG can actually build and operate? Why Participate The judging panel will include officials from Gurgaon's civic administration. Solutions that demonstrate genuine implementability — technically credible, operationally feasible, and grounded in how MCG actually functions — will be formally presented by GLIM-G to civic stakeholders as a policy brief. This is one of the few student competitions where your solution has a realistic path from a slide deck to a government briefing room. Who Should Participate This problem sits at the intersection of analytics, urban infrastructure, civil engineering, public policy, environmental science, and business strategy. We actively encourage interdisciplinary teams. You do not need to be from a business management background, you need to understand the problem and design something that works.
Prizes Winner: ₹25,000 + Certificate of Excellence + Solution formally submitted to MCG/GMDA by Great Lakes Gurgaon 1st
Runners Up: ₹15,000 + Certificates of Excellence 2nd
Runners Up: ₹10,000 + Certificates of Excellence All
Round 1 submitters: Participation Certificate Key Dates Registrations +
Round 1: Open now
Round 1 submission deadline: November 5, 2026, 11:59 PM IST
Venue
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Bilaspur Tauru Road, Near Bilaspur Chowk, Gurgaon, Haryana, 122413
Gurgaon, India
Round 1 shortlist announced: November 10, 2026
Round 2 submission deadline: November 24, 2026, 11:59 PM IST
Top 10 finalists announced: November 28, 2026
Final Presentation on campus: December 8, 2026 Background & Context The Gurgaon Flood Forecast System — From Reactive Pumping to Predictive Drainage Every year, MCG releases a flood preparedness plan. Every year, the same underpasses flood, the same roads become rivers, and the same residential sectors report basement damage. On September 1, 2025, 133mm of rain in four hours caused a 20km traffic jam and a 51-hour power outage. By late June 2026, MCG had completed desilting at just 16 of 36 identified hotspots against its own May 31 deadline — despite a mandate to desilt 607km of drainage network. The failure is one of operations rather than budget: maintenance is reactive, data collection is manual, and resource allocation is driven by political pressure rather than hydrological risk modelling. Gurgaon's 159 identified waterlogging hotspots behave differently under different rainfall intensities, upstream blockage conditions, and seasonal silt accumulation rates. MCG currently has no system that predicts which hotspot will flood given a specific rainfall forecast — meaning pump deployment and emergency response are always chasing the flood rather than anticipating it. Problem Statement Design an AI-powered predictive flood management system for Gurgaon that enables MCG to move from reactive flood response to pre-emptive resource deployment — one that is operationally viable within MCG's existing technical and administrative capacity, without requiring a complete infrastructure overhaul. What Participants Must Do Map the drainage network topology: Identify which of Gurgaon's 159 waterlogging hotspots are upstream vs. downstream of each other, how blockages in one zone propagate flooding to others, and which 20% of the drainage network causes 80% of the city's flooding. Identify the critical intervention points that give MCG the highest flood-reduction leverage per rupee spent. Design the
AI predictive system: Specify the data inputs your system requires (IMD rainfall forecasts, real-time dra