New Delhi, Feb 17 (TNT): Telangana secured a podium finish at the national finale of the OpenAI Academy x NxtWave Buildathon held during the India AI Impact Summit 2026 at Sushma Swaraj Bhavan.
Team ProteinX, built by students from BV Raju Institute of Technology, earned the 2nd Runner-Up title along with a cash prize of ₹2 lakh for developing an AI-powered CAD copilot that enables natural-language engineering design.
The team comprised Manne Lakshmi Vara Prasad (Team Lead), G. Ruthwik, and P. Vishwak, who received accolades from an esteemed jury at the grand finale.
The achievement positions Telangana as an emerging hub for applied AI innovation, particularly from Tier-2 institutions.
Organized as a flagship pre-summit initiative under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s (MeitY) IndiaAI Mission, the Buildathon brought together over 70,000 young innovators from seven states — Delhi, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. Following rigorous regional rounds, 90 teams advanced to the national finale.
The final round was evaluated by a distinguished jury including Raghav Gupta, Head of Education (India & Asia Pacific), OpenAI; Sandeep N, GTM APAC, OpenAI; Dr. Buddha Chandrasekhar, Chief Coordinating Officer, AICTE, Ministry of Education; Saharsh Sharma, VP, Chiratae Ventures; along with industry leaders from JP Morgan Chase and Make My Trip.
The evaluation process emphasized effective use of Large Language Models (LLMs), scalability, and system architecture to ensure deployment-ready solutions.
Guest of Honor Rama Lanka Devi, Lead Architect at NITI Frontier Tech Hub, said, “India’s youth are not just learning AI, they are the first generation of AI nation-builders. And when they build with purpose, transformation becomes inevitable.”
Speaking at the event, Rahul Attuluri, CEO and Co-Founder of NxtWave, remarked, “With the OpenAI Academy x NxtWave Buildathon, we built the country’s largest GenAI challenge for students under the India AI Impact Summit 2026. Together with OpenAI, NxtWave is contributing to India’s mission of developing the largest pool of young AI talent. We will continue to expand this initiative to reach more cities and learners.”
Bonnie Chatterjee, Global Head of AI Deployment Engineering at OpenAI, added, “India is rapidly becoming a global epicenter for AI talent.
Students are building solutions rooted in reality, tackling challenges from rural healthcare to agricultural yields. Through the OpenAI Academy, we’re bridging the gap between classroom theory and real-world impact.”
Winning teams shared a total prize pool of ₹10 lakh along with ecosystem support to scale their innovations, reinforcing the Buildathon’s focus on indigenous, impact-driven AI adoption at scale.
TNT KS
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