COER University culminated Manthan 2K26, its inter-university techno-management fest and attracted over 2000 student participants through seven flagship competitions. Bringing together technology, entrepreneurship, design, healthcare and esports, the edition provided students with a competitive platform to develop practical solutions, present original work and demonstrate their capabilities before judging panels.
Established in 2005, Manthan has grown from a regional gathering into a fest that has drawn over 2,000 participants and representation from 35+ colleges in its prior editions. The 2026 edition built on this foundation through wider institutional outreach, with the objective of establishing a nationally recognised platform for student talent and innovation.
Mr. Shriyance Jain, Vice President, COER University, said “MANTHAN has always been about giving young minds a stage to turn ideas into working solutions. Seeing school students from Rishikesh and Haridwar present sustainable, science-driven projects alongside college teams from across the country shows how early curiosity can grow into real innovation. Through MANTHAN, we want to nurture problem-solvers who are ready to contribute to industry and society.”
The programme placed emphasis on the development and evaluation of student-led projects. Its National Hackathon brought together 1000 students for a 24-hour software and hardware challenge across six problem themes, supported by mentoring and multiple judging rounds. Gigabit assessed programming proficiency and logical problem-solving through two rounds open to all coding languages.
Entrepreneurship and design featured through Strategem and Animate-X. Strategem, targeted 100+ teams, followed a Shark Tank-style pitching format, with business proposals evaluated for market understanding, commercial viability, and financial planning. Animate-X invited 200+ teams to compete in UI/UX and graphic design, focusing on visual communication and user experience.
Prayog offered school students an opportunity to exhibit working prototypes and hardware models, with a target of 200+ teams. Ayunova introduced a dedicated healthcare challenge, inviting 60+ teams to undertake disease analysis and clinical case problem-solving. On the other hand, esports competition, Kurukshetra, featured BGMI, Valorant and Free Fire, with online qualifiers followed by an offline finale. It attracted 200+ teams.
Commenting on the educational value of such opportunities Dr. Anubha Singh, Vice Chancellor, COER University, said, “A university must give young people the confidence to ask difficult questions and the discipline to pursue credible answers. I would like students to recognise that an unsuccessful attempt can still be valuable when they understand what went wrong. They must also consider who benefits from their work, whether it is accessible, and what consequences it may have. Intellectual honesty, respect for different viewpoints and responsibility towards society deserve a firm place in education. Our responsibility as educators is to help students develop sound judgement, remain receptive to criticism, and make thoughtful decisions when there are no easy answers available.”
Through Manthan 2K26, COER University sought to strengthen academic exchange between institutions and encourage collaboration across disciplines. The expanded edition gave student-led work greater visibility and created opportunities for participants to build professional relationships that continue after the competitions conclude.
