Ahmedabad Hosts ‘Dewang Mehta IT Awards 2026’ and ‘Maverick Effect AI Challenge 2026’

• The Dewang Mehta IT Awards 2026 was organized at the Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Auditorium in Ahmedabad by the Dewang Mehta Foundation Trust (DMFT), in collaboration with Gujarat Technological University (GTU), and supported by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of Gujarat, and Gujarat Informatics Limited (GIL).

Ahmedabad: The prestigious Dewang Mehta IT Awards 2026 and Maverick Effect AI Challenge 2026 were held on Friday, 14th August, at the Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Auditorium, near Rajpath Club, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad. The event is organized every year to honour the legacy of the late Dewang Mehta, a visionary leader who played a pioneering role in shaping India’s IT landscape. This year’s awards, now in their 14th edition, were jointly organized by the Dewang Mehta Foundation Trust (DMFT) and Gujarat Technological University (GTU), with GISC-TBI as ecosystem partner. It was supported by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of Gujarat; Gujarat Informatics Limited (GIL), a Government of Gujarat undertaking; Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb); Gujarat Electronics and Software Industries Association (GESIA); and Nasscom. The event also received support from TiE Ahmedabad, TiE Vadodara, TiE Surat, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and the Ahmedabad Computer Merchant Association (ACMA). Marking Dewang Mehta’s birth anniversary, the event celebrates his legacy and aims to inspire the next generation of IT leaders in India.

The event also featured the Dewang Mehta Memorial Lecture 2026, delivered by the keynote speaker Shri Srikanth Velamakanni, Co-Founder & Group CEO of Fractal and Chairperson of Nasscom. Supported by DST and GIL, the initiative seeks to build a strong talent pool of engineers in Gujarat, provide a platform for meritorious students to showcase their skills to the industry, assess the skill gap, and support promising talent across the state.

Shri Harish Mehta, Managing Trustee of the Dewang Mehta Foundation Trust & Founder of Onward Technologies Ltd., Co-founder of Nasscom, and author of The Maverick Effect, shared that this platform is dedicated to identifying and nurturing exceptional talent in the IT field. It is noteworthy that Smt. Kailashben Thakkar serves as the Managing Trustee of the Dewang Mehta Foundation Trust, alongside Trustees Shri Jaimin Shah, Shri Rajiv Vaishnav, Smt. Gopi Trivedi, and Smt. Sangeeta Gupta.

The event was graced by esteemed dignitaries, including Shri Srikanth Velamakanni (Co-Founder & Group CEO, Fractal; Chairperson, Nasscom) and Smt. P. Bharathi, IAS (Secretary, DST, Government of Gujarat) as Chief Guests; and Dr. Vaibhav D. Bhatt (In-Charge Vice-Chancellor, Gujarat Technological University), Shri K. C. Sampat, IAS (Managing Director, iNDEXTb), and Dr. Jincy Roy, IAS (Managing Director, Gujarat Informatics Limited) as Guests of Honour. [Number] top-performing students were felicitated on stage during the ceremony.

The 14th edition of the Dewang Mehta IT Awards received an overwhelming response, with 245 project entries submitted by 58 colleges across 20 cities in Gujarat, and 633 students registered for the competition. Out of these, 18 projects were shortlisted by the jury for final evaluation. The selected teams were invited to Ahmedabad to present their projects in person. Following the presentations, the jury announced the winners of the Dewang Mehta IT Awards 2026.

Students Prajapati Neev Bharatbhai, Riddhi Patel, Dvij Solanki, and Bhargav Rana from L. D. College of Engineering emerged as Winners at the 14th Edition Dewang Mehta IT Awards (2026). They were celebrated for their project ARANYA – Autonomous Rover for Analysis of Native Yield & Assessment, which delivers a state-of-the-art robotic approach to yield analysis and agricultural assessment. The team of Samriddhi Avadhut Jadhav, Jyot K Rana, and Rohan A Kale from Parul Institute of Engineering & Technology, Waghodia earned a Winner title at the 14th Edition Dewang Mehta IT Awards (2026). Their project, Design and Development of an AI Integrated Waste Segregation System for Industrial Application, was honored for applying AI solutions toward industrial automation and environmental sustainability. Representing Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya (Engineering College), Vallabh Vidyanagar, Changela Pranav Paragbhai achieved top recognition as a Winner at the 14th Edition Dewang Mehta IT Awards (2026). His standout individual project, the Remote-Controlled Agricultural Robot Analyzer, highlights creative engineering applied to agricultural automation.

Alongside the Dewang Mehta IT Awards 2026, the Dewang Mehta Foundation and GTU, in collaboration with Shri Harish Mehta, also organized Season 3 of the Maverick Effect AI Challenge 2026. Inspired by The Maverick Effect, the best-selling book authored by Mr. Harish Mehta, the AI Challenge aims to encourage students to harness the power of artificial intelligence to solve real-world problems. It promotes innovation, leadership, and collaboration among the next generation of tech talent. This year, 619 students from 118 colleges registered for the Challenge, submitting 153 projects, of which 18 were shortlisted by the jury for the final round across seven problem statement categories – Agriculture: Crop Disease Diagnostician, Cybersecurity Threat Detection, Education: Adaptive Vernacular Learning, Financial Safety for Rural India, Healthcare: Low-cost Rural Triage, Waste Segregation & Circular Economy, and Water Intelligence Platform. All shortlisted teams were invited to Ahmedabad for the final presentations.

Winners of the Maverick Effect AI Challenge 2026

Representing the New LJ Institute of Engineering and Technology, the student team composed of Vatsal Mehta, Yadav Kuldeepsingh Maheshkumar, Vedant Kalal, and Tirth Popat achieved top honors as the overall Winner of The Maverick Effect AI Challenge Season 3 (2026). Their award-winning entry, focused on Cybersecurity Threat Detection, stood out among the competition for its innovative application of artificial intelligence in mitigating modern digital risks.  Securing the First Runner-Up position in The Maverick Effect AI Challenge Season 3 (2026), students Jain Harshit Sunilkumar and Patel Kathan Ashokbhai represented the GTU School of Engineering and Technology. Their project, titled Water Intelligence Platform, was recognized for its effective use of technology to tackle critical real-world challenges in water management and analytics. The team from Saffrony Institute of Technology—consisting of Dhruvkumar Kamlesh Soni, Mohit Kalpeshbhai Makwana, Heet Sandipkumar Patel, Hetva Nikesh Mehta, and Jay Dhirenkumar Shah—earned the Second Runner-Up award in The Maverick Effect AI Challenge Season 3 (2026). Their solution, also titled Water Intelligence Platform, demonstrated exceptional technical ingenuity and collaborative problem-solving.

The winners of the Dewang Mehta Foundation Trust IT Awards were selected based on a comprehensive evaluation across multiple dimensions of their projects. Key criteria included originality, innovative approach, potential for sustainable social impact, feasibility of implementation, measurability, and effectiveness in presentation and communication skills. For the Maverick Effect AI Challenge, students were given real-world problem statements and were required to choose one and develop an AI-based solution. The jury evaluated the entries based on relevance to the problem statement, innovation and technical creativity, technological accuracy, quality of implementation, measurability and impact, and overall presentation.

Participants of the Dewang Mehta IT Awards gain access to industry mentors, exposure to the broader IT ecosystem, and recognition on a prestigious platform. The event honours the legacy of Dewang Mehta, a pivotal figure in India’s IT growth story, and continues to inspire students to build impactful careers. Winners of the Maverick Effect AI Challenge will receive mentorship from industry experts, the opportunity to attend a nationally recognized IT conference, awards and trophies, certificates of participation, and a special letter from the GTU Innovation Council supporting incubation and entrepreneurial assistance.

The event was managed by Markcom Solutions Pvt. Ltd., with Khushi Advertising and Het Graphics as media partners.

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