UIDAI looks to make data hackathon permanent to boost digital id innovation

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) recently announced results of its 2026 Data Hackathon, and stated that it is considering institutionalizing the activity in order to strengthen the culture of digital ID innovation in the country.

This year, UIDAI said the winners of the hackathon were from the Institute of Engineering and Management, Kolkata, and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, also in Kolkata. They presented what it described in a press release as “an in-depth analysis of aggregated Aadhaar enrolment and update datasets.”

“Their work generated valuable insights into enrolment trends and biometric update patterns across regions, states, and demographic groups, along with recommendations for improving service delivery,” UIDAI said. The award ceremony took place on May 8.

According to the ID authority, more than 15,000 teams applied for this year’s event, which saw the submission of over 5,000 projects, mostly led by students, and the process was entirely online. Of this number, 30 projects were shortlisted, and 15 made it to the final detailed analysis stage before the top five were selected.

UIDAI said the hackathon is one of the biggest in the digital public infrastructure (DPI) ecosystem, not only because of the huge number of entries, but also for the relevance of the projects and the pertinence of their recommendations.

UIDAI CEO Shri Vivek Chandra Verma lauded growing public interest in the hackathon, the quality of the submissions, and their potential to support India’s digital transformation agenda, which is currently under execution.

The official mentioned that in order to expand the scope of participation, future editions of the hackathon will include participants from academia, researchers, start-ups, and other non-academic contributors to help build “a more diverse and interdisciplinary innovation ecosystem.”

Officials say this year’s edition of the UIDAI Data Hackathon served as a celebration of growing student-led interest in digital ID innovation, which can positively impact society through real-world use cases.

The hackathon, launched early this year to “promote innovative and responsible use of digital identity data,” was an opportunity for entrants to “develop scalable, data-driven solutions aimed at enhancing inclusion, efficiency, and governance outcomes,” according to the ID authority.

UIDAI also launched an ID’athon in January as part of its push towards digital verifiable credentials.

Meanwhile, UIDAI continues to boost its network of partnerships, recently signing an MoU with the National Forensics Sciences University (NFSU).
The two entities have entered into a five-year deal that will see them collaborate in a number of areas, including academic and professional development, information security and system integrity, forensic infrastructure and lab excellence, and technical support for cybersecurity activities, according to a UIDAI announcement.

They will also collaborate on research in AI, blockchain, deepfake detection, and cryptographic technologies.

Article Topics

Aadhaar  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  research and development  |  UIDAI