The Competition Journey
ESSENCE 2027 guides participants through an 8-stage innovation lifecycle designed to cultivate practical engineering, customer validation, and presentation skills.
Discovery & Awareness
Colleges, faculty coordinators, and undergraduate students discover the competition, eligibility terms, and problem tracks through campus sessions and digital briefings.
Explore competition tracks, review eligibility rules, and form your team.
Registration & Profile Creation
Undergraduates create their verified profile, invite team members if participating collectively, and select their primary innovation track.
Register your account, complete college details, and invite teammates.
Idea Submission
Teams document the problem context, target beneficiaries, novelty of approach, and feasibility. Drafts can be saved before final submission.
Complete the online idea submission form before the stage closing date.
Screening & Shortlisting
Submissions are reviewed against structured criteria including problem significance, innovation, feasibility, and potential impact. Top ideas advance to bootcamp.
Monitor your participant dashboard for evaluation outcome announcements.
Mentorship & Prototype Bootcamps
500 bootcamp participants engage in specialised workshops on rapid prototyping, hardware-software testing, customer validation, and intellectual property protection.
Attend structured masterclasses and work with assigned innovation mentors.
Prototype Submission & Review
Teams present tangible evidence of functional implementation, bill of materials, user validation insights, and 10MB PDF pitch decks for grand finale qualification.
Upload working prototype evidence, test metrics, and presentation deck.
Grand Finale & Prototype Exhibition
Live in-person prototype exhibition on Chetana's campus before distinguished jury members, angel investors, incubation heads, and industry leaders.
Demonstrate live hardware/software prototypes at your allocated stall.
Awards & Incubation Progression
Winners receive cash awards, official CiEL trophies, and eligible finalists are connected with Chetana's incubation pathways and relevant ecosystem partners.
Receive formal awards and explore follow-on incubation opportunities.