Navigating Talent Farm - Your Comprehensive Guide to How, What, and Why
Powering Telangana with Agentic AI, Energy Innovation Challenge for Working Professionals and Entrepreneurs
AIKAM, in collaboration with IIIT Hyderabad and GDG Hyderabad, TalentFarm.ai for the Department of Energy, Government of Telangana
Professionals and founders only. There is no student track. A five and a half week challenge with a remote build phase and two in-person days: an Immersion Day on Saturday, 10 October 2026, where the fifteen finalists receive structured review from utility engineers and implement it, and the Innovation Day finale on Friday, 16 October 2026, where they present to a grand jury. Five finalists from each of three themes.
"• To source deployable agentic AI solutions for eleven published problem statements across the electricity distribution value chain in Telangana. • To convert experienced working professionals into founders by removing the financial and career risk that normally stops them. • To give the Department a validated, low-risk pipeline of technology partners, and to give the state a new cohort of energy-tech companies registered in Telangana."
"• INR 3,00,000 Recognition Award, paid immediately at the finale • INR 10,00,000 non-dilutive Venture Grant, released to an incorporated company, with zero equity taken and full IP retained • A Letter of Intent for a paid pilot with a Telangana distribution utility • A 12-month incubation seat at CIE, IIIT Hyderabad, sandbox data access and cloud credits"
Target date: Friday, 16 October 2026 (Innovation Day finale), Immersion Day is 10 October 2026. The full challenge concludes on 16 October 2026. Pilot deployment runs November 2026 to April 2027.
"• Working professionals with a minimum of two years of full-time work experience, in any organisation, in any role relevant to the build • Founders and co-founders of early-stage or growth-stage startups, DPIIT recognised or otherwise • Independent consultants, freelancers and domain practitioners from the power, utility, energy or infrastructure sector • Faculty and full-time researchers who are building with commercial intent • Teams of two to five members. Every member must satisfy the professional or founder criterion • Participants from anywhere in India. Winners drawing the Venture Grant must incorporate in Telangana"
"• Full-time students, including final year students. There is no student track in this challenge • Serving employees of the Department of Energy and the distribution utilities, who may instead participate in a separate non-competing Intrapreneur Recognition category that carries citation and departmental recognition but no grant • Members of the jury, steering committee, or their immediate teams"
Eleven problem statements are published across three themes. A team applies to exactly one theme and addresses one problem statement in depth, or proposes an agent suite spanning two related statements within the same theme. Depth is scored higher than breadth. The three-theme structure is what makes the reward model work: one Venture Grant is awarded in each theme, so teams compete only against others solving comparable problems.
Teams may propose an unlisted problem statement, provided it is grounded in a documented operational pain point of the distribution business, is mapped by the applicant to one of the three themes, and is validated by the steering committee at shortlisting.
"• A non-dilutive Venture Grant of INR 10,00,000, with zero equity and full IP retention, with one grant available in each theme • A Founder Transition Allowance that converts a resignation into a funded decision • A paid pilot Letter of Intent with a state distribution utility, and a portable reference case study • Governed access to real operational data that is otherwise unavailable at any price • Twelve months of incubation at CIE, IIIT Hyderabad, plus legal, CA, compliance and IP support • Cloud and AI credits of up to INR 20,00,000 • Direct working access to Department leadership, utility engineers and senior AI practitioners • An investor roundtable open to all fifteen finalists, and a follow-on funding pathway • Certification, state recognition and visibility across the AIKAM, IIIT Hyderabad and GDG Hyderabad networks"
"• All datasets released to participants are anonymised and released under a formal data-sharing agreement with defined retention and deletion obligations • No consumer personally identifiable information leaves the sandbox environment • Teams retain full ownership of the code and models they create. The Department receives a perpetual non-exclusive internal-use licence to the delivered pilot • Any procurement arising from a pilot follows applicable Government of Telangana procurement rules. Nothing in this programme creates an entitlement to a contract • Grant disbursals are audited against milestones certified by the utility nodal officer "
"A very illustrous Jury of experstw ill judge the contest: Panel Chair -Department of Energy or DISCOM senior officer, Domain expert TGSPDCL or TGNPDCL engineering, Technical evaluator -IIIT Hyderabad faculty or CIE AI practitioner, GDG Hyderabad mentor pool or industry Venture evaluator,Investor or incubation partner, nominated by AIKAM"
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