06 – 07 November 2026 · Sibiu · 24 hours
Hackathon
Open Your Mind
A 24-hour innovation challenge designed for students, juniors and young tech specialists to design smart, secure and sustainable digital solutions. Not a coding competition in a vacuum - a route with preparation before it and a result you can show somebody after it.
The challenge
From a blank page to something you can show
Mixed teams, diverse skills, one weekend. Work on a new idea or continue a project you have already started.
Rapid prototyping
Go from a blank page to a functional code MVP in 24 hours - with all the scope decisions that implies.
Industry mentors
Collaborate directly with top architects and engineers from the companies present all week.
Incentivised prizes
Win financing, technical perks and expert support to keep going after the weekend ends.
Focus themes
Artificial intelligence. Cybersecurity. Sustainability.
Smart, secure and sustainable digital solutions - the same three axes the rest of the week runs on.
Before the weekend
Three preparation meetings, so nobody starts from zero
Nobody should arrive on Friday evening wondering where to begin.
Start from a real problem
What it means to begin from a problem somebody actually has, instead of a solution looking for one.
A prototype you can show
What a prototype looks like when it is good enough to put in front of somebody else.
Present in a few minutes
How an idea gets presented in minutes - what to say first, and what to leave out.
One route, not separate events
The weekend is the last step, not the first.
The preparation meetings bring people into the conversation and give them context. 4 November shows what this work looks like when it is done seriously, by people who live from it. 6–7 November gives them the chance to try it themselves, in 24 hours, with a result they can show.
Whoever sits through the Startup Hub sessions understands earlier than the rest that the problem is not creation, it is distribution - and that shows up immediately in the quality of the pitches. Whoever comes out of the hackathon with something serious gets a place in the exhibition area at the next edition.
Who it is for
Students, juniors and young specialists
Mixed teams with diverse skills. You do not need a finished idea - you need the willingness to build one in a weekend.
Pupils & students
16–24, still in school or at a first job. Curiosity and time - two things the founders in the room no longer have.
Junior developers
A portfolio piece built under real constraints, reviewed by people who hire.
Young specialists
Designers, data people and security folks - mixed teams beat homogeneous ones here.
Existing projects
Bring something you already started and push it to the point where somebody could use it.
Mentor or sponsor the hackathon
Meet the talent pipeline before anyone else does
Partners provide mentors, technical challenges and prizes - and spend 24 hours next to the engineers they would like to hire in two years.