Samsung has launched the fifth edition of Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026, expanding the scale of its youth innovation programme and increasing incubation grants for winners to ₹2 crore. The programme, announced on May 7, invites students aged 14 to 22 to develop technology-led solutions for real-world social challenges. Applications will remain open until July 3, 2026.
The initiative focuses on four themes — AI Living for India, Health and Education, Environmental Sustainability, and Sport and Tech. Through these categories, Samsung aims to encourage young innovators to use technology to address everyday problems and create practical solutions with social impact.
As Samsung marks 30 years in India, the company said the 2026 edition represents a major expansion of its long-term commitment to India’s innovation ecosystem and the broader vision of Digital India. The programme will now reach more students across schools and colleges, particularly beyond metropolitan centres, with an emphasis on expanding innovation access across Bharat.
The six-month programme will provide participants with design thinking workshops, mentorship, prototyping support, investor interactions and training opportunities. Samsung said it will conduct 100 design-thinking workshops in cities across the country during the application phase. In total, participants are expected to receive more than 240,000 hours of training and mentorship.
After applications close, the top 100 teams — 25 from each theme — will be shortlisted for expert-led online mentorship and training. Following a video pitch round, 40 teams will move to the next stage. These semi-finalists will receive intensive mentoring from Samsung leaders and industry experts, along with visits to Samsung’s research and development centres in Bengaluru, Noida and Delhi.
The top 20 teams — five from each theme — will then advance to the grand finale, where they will participate in investor meetings, pitch presentations and final mentoring sessions.
Under the revised award structure, the top 40 teams will receive ₹8 lakh and Samsung laptops for each member. The top 20 teams will receive ₹20 lakh and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip smartphones for each member. Two special awards — the Digital Impact Award and Community Choice Award — together carry a prize pool of ₹2.5 lakh.
The biggest change this year is at the final stage. The top four winning teams will receive incubation grants worth ₹2 crore and incubation support at IIT Delhi to help transform early-stage ideas into scalable ventures.
First launched in the United States in 2010, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow is now active in 68 countries and has engaged more than 3 million young people worldwide. In India, the programme has increasingly positioned itself as a bridge between education, innovation and entrepreneurship