1 OCTOBER TO 31 OCTOBER 2026 · GLOBAL ONLINE BUILD · BUDAPEST
Build open technology that makes the systems we depend on more secure, more efficient or more resilient.
Your problem. Your stack. Your approach. No prescribed implementation.
01 / THE BRIEF
Choose a real problem and build an open technical response.
HACK4EARTH does not ask everyone to build the same thing. We want to see whether your work makes an important system meaningfully better, and whether someone else can inspect, learn from or reuse what you built.
02 / BUILT ON 2025
THE FIRST HACK4EARTH · GREEN AI
The first HACK4EARTH focused on Green AI while the field itself was still taking shape.
Participants built independently, learned in public and submitted open technical work. In 2026, we keep that experimental spirit and open the field wider across secure, efficient and resilient systems.
“I learned a ton by diving deep into the project and working through challenges on my own. I really appreciated how welcoming of beginners the experience was. It made it feel approachable.”
PAST PARTICIPANT RECOGNITION
Participants who completed a submission in the previous edition received a HACK4EARTH digital Holopin sticker as part of their participant recognition.
View the HACK4EARTH Holopin sticker ↗03 / THREE OPEN TRACKS
One winner from each track advances to TraceLab.
01 / SECURE
Cybersecurity · privacy · cryptography · software supply chain · post-quantum
Build open software that makes important digital systems harder to compromise, easier to audit or safer to operate.
Possible directions include security tooling, privacy infrastructure, post-quantum migration, secure communications, supply-chain integrity and IoT security.
02 / EFFICIENT
Green software · compute · cloud · data · AI efficiency · hardware
Build open software that delivers useful work with fewer computing resources.
Possible directions include efficient algorithms, cloud optimisation, smaller AI systems, memory and storage reduction, hardware-aware software and efficient data processing.
03 / RESILIENT
Food · water · energy · climate · communications · infrastructure
Build open technology that helps important systems continue functioning under environmental, infrastructure or resource pressure.
Possible directions include agriculture, water, energy, communications, environmental monitoring, climate adaptation, offline-first technology and fault-tolerant infrastructure.
04 / THE PRIZE
3 TRACKS · 3 WINNERS · TRACE LAB
The winning team from each track earns a place in TRACE LAB · the 3-Month Venture Lab.
TraceLab is a competitive continuation stage designed to help promising HACK4EARTH projects leave the hackathon and encounter the real world.
Technical, product and sector guidance across the three months.
Access to emerging technical talent and intern support where appropriate.
Pressure-test the idea against users, organisations, environments and practical constraints.
Funding readiness, applications, introductions and opportunities where available.
Strengthen documentation, project structure, governance and usability.
Explore deployment, partnership, venture or further incubation pathways.
05 / OCTOBER
All times are Budapest local time.
Tracks open and the build month begins.
Interactive online events, technical demos, community sessions and surprise drops. Selected activities will offer chances to win swag and prizes.
The optional final-weekend challenge goes live.
Core track and Bingo submissions close together on Saturday night.
Finalist projects, community gathering and announcement of the three projects entering TraceLab. Venue TBA.
06 / LIVE PROGRAMME
The live programme adds technical energy without turning the month into a classroom.
See tools, technologies and open projects in action.
Short sessions with engineers, researchers and practitioners.
Meet teams, show work in progress and exchange ideas.
Selected activities may include tools, credits, swag and smaller prizes.
08 / FINAL WEEKEND
LOCKED UNTIL 29 OCTOBER · 23:59
One optional challenge. Different brief. Different rules. Two nights.
09 / SUBMISSION
Prototype, tool, library, system, experiment or technical implementation.
Source code plus enough documentation for someone else to understand the work.
Show the project working clearly and concisely.
What was technically difficult, interesting or original about your approach?
Show what became safer, more efficient or more resilient.
10 / JUDGING
Does it work? Is the engineering credible? Can someone reproduce it?
Does it meaningfully improve the system or problem it addresses?
Why does the work matter for resources, infrastructure, environment or resilience?
11 / MONDAY · 2 NOVEMBER 2026 · BUDAPEST
Finalist demos, technical conversations and the announcement of the three projects entering TraceLab.
Venue TBA. Registered HACK4EARTH participants receive complimentary finale access, subject to RSVP and venue capacity.
HACK4EARTH 2.0 · OCTOBER 2026
Three tracks. Three winners. Three months to find out what the project could become.
Register to participate