About the Challenge
Solar Decathlon India is a Net-Zero Building Challenge for postgraduate and undergraduate students from Indian institutions. They learn and design net-zero-energy-water, affordable, and resilient buildings to combat climate change through the buildings sector. Student teams partner with real estate developers and develop affordable and industry-ready solutions for real building projects. It is a hands-on, practical, innovation-based challenge that moves the construction and real estate industry towards implementing net-zero solutions developed by students.
In the 9-month-long challenge, students and their faculty mentors learn building science with the help of online Self-Learning Modules and expert mentorship and test their ideas using building simulation software. These final designs have to be innovative, affordable, practical, and market-ready.
Benefits of Participating
For students
This is learning rebooted!
- Online Self-Learning Modules and webinars by sustainability experts teaching Building Science concepts and best practices
- Access to expert mentors in the Technical Resource Group
- Licenses to simulation software and tutorials
- Hands-on experience on real projects, and networks with real estate developers and the industry
- Chance to innovate new products for buildings
- Finalists get access to a Career Fair with top organisations in the field of sustainability and net-zero
- Finalists get the opportunity to meet investors and innovators in the building industry
For Educational Institutions
Solar Decathlon India provides a platform and support to academic institutions, helping your students learn how to respond to climate change and get placement opportunities.
- Local and national recognition for the institution as a leader in addressing climate change
- Learning material and industry mentorship to help faculty to augment the curriculum
- Access to pan-India Faculty Conference to discuss mentoring methods, learn from peers, and share ideas to develop curricula related to climate change
For Project Partners
A Project Partner can be a developer or another entity that intends to own or invest in a building project. Each participating team collaborates with a Project Partner whose project they will work on.
- Risk-free net-zero-energy-water design solution
- Opportunity to interact with leaders and innovators in the industry
- Chance to attend the SDI Finals and see the solutions presented by all teams
- Opportunity to recruit the best talent in the market
- Media exposure and recognition
For Industry Partners
An Industry Partner can be a building product manufacturer, technology supplier, or knowledge provider. Benefits of being an industry partner are
- Innovation: Opportunity to see innovations and mentor innovators. Industry Partners can collaborate with the teams or the institutions towards arrangements for sharing the intellectual property developed.
- Recruitment: Opportunity to recruit the best talent in the market.
- Exposure: Media exposure related to SDI, and products/technologies/services related to high-performance buildings.
- Learning: Complimentary access to SDI’s e-learning modules on net-zero building science.
Eligibility and Forming a Team
Undergraduate or post-graduate students from any Indian institution, from any background, can participate! Students from multiple colleges can collaborate to form a team. For better results, you are encouraged to include students from multiple disciplines such as architecture, building science, engineering (civil, mechanical, electrical), management, social sciences, marketing, communications, finance, product design, business, and others. A team can have a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 15 students. Each team must have a student Team Lead and a Faculty Lead.
Competition Fee
The competition/registration fee for the 2024-25 Challenge is a non-refundable fee of INR 7,500 (Indian Seven Thousand and Five Hundred only) per team.
