Asian Paints has opened Alchemy 2026, its global innovation challenge for students, researchers and working professionals in coatings and materials science. Entrants choose from four open problems, work individually or in a team of two, and compete for a prize pool of ₹9,00,000, PhD sponsorships and internship opportunities. Registration closes on 31 October 2026.
Asian Paints and Alchemy
Asian Paints is India’s leading paints and coatings company and one of the top 10 globally. Its Research & Technology team of more than 250 scientists works across coatings, polymers, surface science, materials science and sustainability. Alchemy is the platform the company uses to bring in ideas from outside that team, from industry experts, academia and early-career scientists.
Past editions have drawn more than 20,000 registrations from over 70 countries, with participation from 5,000+ institutes and 400+ PhD scholars. Speakers have included Nobel Laureate Dr Frances Arnold, Dr James Beacham of CERN and Dr S. Somanath, former Chairman of ISRO.
The four challenges
1. Future of Whiteness Development through Material Science. Titanium dioxide has been the benchmark white pigment for more than a century. Its production is energy intensive and its raw material costs are volatile. Asian Paints is asking for an innovative, scalable way to enhance whiteness in architectural, automotive and industrial coatings, both waterborne and solvent borne. Polymeric opacifiers, nano-engineered pigments, photonic band-gap materials, structural whiteness and nature-inspired light-scattering architectures are all in scope. The brief welcomes ideas from outside the coatings industry.
2. Thermal Management: Innovative Solutions for an Energy-Efficient Future. Cooling and temperature control account for a major share of electricity consumption in homes, offices and industry. This challenge asks for a scalable solution that reduces energy consumption, improves thermal comfort or enhances temperature control. Target applications include buildings and facades, windows and glass, roofs, vehicles, data centres, EV battery systems and urban environments. Entrants define their own success criteria, such as surface temperature reduction, solar heat reflection or energy savings, and submit the test protocol and durability data behind them.
3. Bio-Based Materials and Circular Solutions for a Net-Zero Future. Paints, coatings and polymers have relied on fossil-derived raw materials for decades, and recent supply disruptions and price swings have made that dependence harder to ignore. Entrants are asked to propose a material, technology, product or process that uses renewable carbon, drawing on feedstocks such as vegetable oils, agricultural residues, lignin, cellulose, algae, microorganisms, enzymes and forestry biomass. Proposals can cover renewable monomers and polymers, functional additives, bio-based pigments and fillers, or enabling technologies, and must include a cradle-to-grave life cycle analysis.
4. Structure-Property Relationships of Polymers and Coating Formulations via Advanced Characterization, Modelling, Simulation and AI. Developing a new polymer or coating formulation still depends heavily on iterative experiments. This challenge asks how advanced characterization, modelling, simulation and AI can predict performance before the lab work is done. Entrants can propose a technology, methodology, platform, workflow, model or digital tool, linking structure and formulation to properties such as rheology, adhesion, durability, weatherability and corrosion resistance. Validation must use experimental, simulation or published literature data. Assumed numerical values are not accepted.
What the judges are looking for
All four briefs score original thinking highly. Entrants are encouraged to look beyond the coatings industry, and a proof of concept or prototype earns extra points. Reading widely and bringing in a well-argued idea from another field can also take a submission through to the next round. Any content taken from or generated by AI has to be clearly labelled, and reproducing an AI-generated idea without original thinking lowers the chance of qualifying. For the first three challenges, cost will not be a barrier to selection.
Who can enter
Alchemy 2026 is open to candidates in India and abroad who are B.Tech or M.Tech students in Paint, Surface Coating or Polymer Technology, M.Sc Chemistry students, current PhD students in Chemistry, or working professionals in the coatings industry. B.Tech and B.E. students have an additional poster track with its own recognition and prizes. Past winners of earlier Alchemy editions are not eligible.
Prizes
The total prize pool is ₹9,00,000. Winning teams can earn PhD sponsorship worth up to ₹5 lakh (or the USD equivalent for international students), cash rewards of up to ₹1 lakh for each team member, and internship opportunities with Asian Paints. Top teams from the poster track compete in the Grand Finale for cash prizes of up to ₹30,000 for each team member.
How it works
Entrants register individually or as a team of two through Unstop. The Virtual Conclave and Case Study Launch took place on 13 October 2026, where Asian Paints scientists and leaders briefed participants on the problem statements. In Submission Phase I, each entrant or team submits a summary of the solution as a 3 to 5 slide presentation, with supporting spreadsheets embedded in the deck. Shortlisted teams move to Submission Phase II, where they refine their work into a 10 slide presentation, respond to a questionnaire and receive mentoring from Asian Paints scientists. Finalists then present to the jury at the Alchemy Conclave, a full-day on-ground event tentatively planned for January.
Students can also sign up as Campus Ambassadors while competing, leading Alchemy promotion on their campus with a chance to win merchandise and internship opportunities.
Register
Registration for Asian Paints Alchemy 2026 closes on 31 October 2026.