Chandigarh University Celebrates Engineers’ Day with Launch of ‘Build Summit 2026’

‘Youth will be the Force Behind Building Viksit Bharat by 2047, Innovation and Research Key to Making India $35 Trillion Economy’: Dr Arun Nayak, Former DAE Nuclear Planning Head 

In Past Decade, India Has Transformed from Country of Assemblers to A Country of Builders, says Swapnil Jain, Co-Founder, Ather Energy 

Chandigarh University’s Team ‘MediSphere’ Wins 1st Prize in byteBuilt 1.0 24-Hour Innovation Hackathon by Building Al-powered Healthcare Platform 

Aerospace Engineering Students of Chandigarh University to Develop UAV for Border Surveillance in Collaboration with Industry 

Off-Road Robo Race Winning Engineering Students of Chandigarh University to Work on Autonomous Vehicles in Collaboration with Industry 

 Engineers’ Day: Chandigarh University’s ‘Build Summit 2026’ Brings Together 41 Teams from 16 Universities Across India for 24-Hour byteBuilt Hackathon, 50+ CU Student Innovations in Emerging Technologies Showcased  

Chandigarh University Felicitates Noted Engineer RK Jain with ‘Bharat Nirman Samman’ Award on Engineers’ Day  

Chandigarh University celebrated Engineers’ Day with the launch of ‘Build Summit 2026’, the maiden edition of the first-of-its-kind technological summit themed ‘Innovating for Bharat’, bringing together student innovators and eminent experts from energy, mobility, semiconductors, cybersecurity, agritech, and infrastructure domains.

This Summit provided a dynamic platform to engineering students to showcase their creativity, technical expertise and teamwork through range of hands-on challenges and demonstrations, including Technology Exhibition, Hackathon, RC Off-Road Robo Race, Aerial Ops–Drone Challenge, to celebrate the spirit of engineering excellence, innovation and   problem solving.  

The dignitaries who graced the launch of Build Summit 2026 included Dr Arun Kumar Nayak, former Head of the Nuclear Controls and Planning Wing, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Jai Inder Singh Sandhu, Managing Director, Chandigarh University, Gursharan Sing – Senior Vice President, Backend Operations – Micron Technology, Swapnil Jain - Co-Founder, Ather Energy, CB Ojha, Chief Engineer, Engineering Department (PWD), UT Chandigarh, Pramod Kumbhar, CTO and President - PRAJ Matrix R&D Centre,  Nagendra Pansare, Senior GM - Product Development, Mahindra Farm Machinery Division, Mohali,  Teja Chintalapati: Principal Manager - Cyber Innovation, Data Security Council of India, Subhash Kalidindi, Director, Nanofabrication, Srsti Quantum and Yogita Potaliya: AVP - Contracts, Cube Highways and Transportation Assets Advisors (P) Ltd. 

On the occasion, noted engineer, RK Jain, former chief engineer, PWD Haryana, was felicitated with Bharat Nirman Samman Award as a part of the Engineers’ Day celebrations.   

As a part of the Build Summit, byteBuilt 1.0 -- a dynamic 24-hour innovation hackathon organized by Chandigarh University in collaboration with ‘byteXL’ to ignite the spark of creativity and innovation among Computer Science Engineering students, was attended by 41 teams of 135 students representing 16 universities across India including Chandigarh University, Mohali, Jaypee University of Information Technology,  SRM University, KIET Ghaziabad, Lovely Professional University, GD Goenka University, Gurugram, Chandigarh University, Uttar Pradesh, Panjab University, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, Narasaraopeta Engineering College (Andhra Pradesh), St Mary's Group of Institutions Guntur for Women (SMGG), Andhra Pradesh, Mahendra Engineering College (Tamil Nadu), ITM (SLS) Baroda University (Gujarat), Shobhit Institute of Engineering and Technology, Meerut, Chitkara University and Universal SkillTech University, Maharashtra.  

The first prize in byteBuilt 1.0 was secured by Chandigarh University’s team MediSphere. MediSphere is an integrated Al-powered healthcare platform designed specifically for educational campuses. It connects students, doctors, pharmacies, parents, and emergency services on one secure platform. The solution enables instant symptom assessment, emergency SOS support, smart medical records, doctor connectivity, and medicine delivery for faster and more connected healthcare. The second prize was bagged by Dabang Coders of Panjab University while the third prize was also secured by Chandigarh University’s team CodeBliss.     

In Aerial Ops –Drone Challenge, the first prize was won by Harry Tanwar, second by Arush Singh and third by Navjosh Singh and Anurag. These three winners will now work on developing UAVs for border Surveillance in collaboration with Johnnette Technologies Private Limited.    

In RC Off-Road Robo Race, the first, second and third prizes were won Techab, Viksit Velocity and Baba Group respectively. They winners will work on developing autonomous vehicles in collaboration with the industry.  

A highlight of Build Summit was the technology exhibition named “Innovision” in which over 50 innovative projects of Chandigarh University students, related to AI and Intelligent Systems, Drones, Aerospace, Robotics, Sustainable Mobility, Healthcare, MedTech, Agri-Tech, Cybersecurity, Blockchain, Infrastructure, Advanced Materials and/ Nanotechnology were displayed. AeroClairr displayed Made-in-Bharat autonomous drone platform, HydroDrive displayed and HydroHybrid displayed Solar-Charged Hydrogen Hybrid Vehicle, HydroGelRx displayed Hydrogel-Based Controlled Drug Delivery System, StrataCC displayed 5G Edge AI for Intelligent Network Traffic Management, RegenABS displayed Regenerative Braking & Anti-Lock Braking for Electric Vehicles.  

In his keynote address, Dr Arun Kumar Nayak, former Head of the Nuclear Controls and Planning Wing, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) said, “For the first time in the country’s history, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given us a very big dream of transforming India into Viksit Bharat by 2047. We dream of taking India to a $35 trillion economy but If we do not innovate, India cannot make this transformational jump. Engineers and scientists are the ones who can develop new technologies, create solutions and transform the country. We need such ecosystem that can drive India’s transformation. A nuclear-powered Viksit Bharat can start from a university like Chandigarh University. I propose that Chandigarh University take the lead in establishing a Centre for Nuclear Studies to groom young engineers to build and operate nuclear power plants, develop critical technologies and contribute to India’s energy mission and export potential.” 

Gursharan Singh Senior Vice President, Backend Operations, Micron Technology said, “We are living through one of the most exciting periods in engineering history, with artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, automation and digital technologies transforming the world. Yet, technology is ultimately about people. As engineers, we must ensure that the technologies we create solve meaningful problems, improve lives and contribute positively to society,”. 

Jai Inder Singh Sandhu, Managing Director, Chandigarh University said, “The Build Summit symbolises the importance of building solutions with the tools and resources at hand to address real-life challenges. For a Viksit Bharat, we have the vision and competent leadership; what we need is infrastructure and the energy, ideas and innovation of our youth. I hope this galaxy of experts inspires students to look beyond engineering as a discipline and focus on building things, solving real-world problems and creating innovations that can contribute to taking the university and the Build Summit initiative to the next level.” 

 Swapnil Jain Co-Founder, Ather Energy said, “In the last decade, we have seen a major transformation in India—from being a country of assemblers to a country of builders. The golden opportunity for young engineers is to build, take risks and create value. Strong industry-academia collaboration can help bridge the gap between real-world problems and innovative solutions. I am glad to see Chandigarh University taking this step towards creating a nation of builders.” 

CB Ojha, Chief Engineer, Engineering Department (PWD), UT Chandigarh said, “As Artificial Intelligence, robotics, automation, renewable energy and digital technologies transform the way we live and work, engineers must ask not only can we build it, but also should we build it, how should we build it and for whom. The future of engineering must therefore be guided by sustainability, inclusivity, resilience and public service,”.  

The views expressed in this article are of Chandigarh University (CU) and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha.