Lucknow: A team of B.Tech Computer Science students from the University of Lucknow has brought national recognition to the institution by securing first place in the Web3 track (Lucknow) at the prestigious RIFT-2026 Hackathon, a 48-hour coding competition organised by PW IOI.
The hackathon was conducted simultaneously in Bengaluru, Noida, Lucknow, and Mumbai, attracting more than 8,000 participants through both offline and virtual modes.
Representing Lucknow University’s Faculty of Engineering, the student team “Star Busters” was led by Harsh Prajapati, a B.Tech CSE (AI) student, while Jatin Pandey played a key role in the technical execution of the project. For winning the Web3 category, the team received a cash prize of 250 US dollars under a collaboration between Algorand and PW IOI.
Congratulating the students, Vice-Chancellor Prof. J. P. Saini praised their achievement and extended his best wishes for their future. Prof. S. P. Singh, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, and Dr. Himanshu Pandey, Placement Cell In-charge, also felicitated the winners and described the victory as a proud moment for the faculty.
The winning project, “Opportunity OS,” is a decentralised operating system designed to optimise the enormous computing power currently consumed in complex calculations by cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Instead of being used solely for mining operations, the platform redirects this computational capacity toward artificial intelligence model training, enabling more productive and energy-efficient use of resources.
Through the platform, companies can upload datasets for AI model training, while developers are provided with a pre-configured Jupyter Notebook environment, reducing technical barriers. The system also incorporates quantum encryption and IPFS-based architecture to ensure secure, transparent, and decentralised data management.
University officials said the success of the “Star Busters” team highlights the growing innovation ecosystem among engineering students and reflects Lucknow University’s commitment to advancing cutting-edge technology research.
