Rules & Submission Guidelines

100% Student & Institutional Ownership: Chetana’s CiEL, Chetana’s Trust, and the competition evaluators claim zero equity, ownership, or patent rights over ideas and prototypes submitted to ESSENCE 2027. All foreground intellectual property remains solely with the participating students and their parent academic institutions.

Public Disclosure Advisory: Submitting non-confidential summaries for public exhibition or media coverage is subject to participant consent. Teams intending to file provisional patents are strongly advised to submit patent applications prior to public prototype demonstrations.

Every submission must represent original work conceived and engineered by the registered undergraduate team. Direct duplication or rebranding of commercially available off-the-shelf consumer devices without significant novel engineering, software integration, or mechanical adaptation will result in immediate disqualification.

Open Source Usage: Teams may utilize open-source software libraries, standard microcontrollers (e.g., Arduino, ESP32, Raspberry Pi), and open CAD models provided the underlying source licenses permit and proper citations are documented in the technical annexure.

Prototypes involving high-voltage electrical circuits (>48V DC or 230V mains), volatile chemical reagents, pressurized vessels, radioactive materials, or open flames must comply with Indian Safety Standards. Live demonstrations involving hazards require advance safety clearance from the CiEL exhibition safety officer.

All evaluations are conducted blindly and independently across predetermined rubrics by qualified academic and industry reviewers. Internal scoring sheets, reviewer identities, and confidential reviewer annotations are non-public. Decisions of the Grand Jury in selecting finalists and awarding grants are final and binding.