About the challenge

HackRome is a one-day hackathon bringing together 100 ambitious builders, engineers, researchers, designers, and founders in the heart of Rome.

The challenge is open-ended: build anything you believe should exist. You can work on a startup idea, a research prototype, a developer tool, an AI product, a creative experiment, or something completely unexpected. What matters is not the category, but the ambition, clarity, and execution behind what you build.

Throughout the day, teams will have access to mentors, operators, and technical partners who can help them refine their ideas, solve problems, and push their projects further. At the end of the day, each team will present what they built to the judging panel.

HackRome exists to help shape the next generation of European companies, starting from experimentation, research, and ambitious ideas built in public, together.

Get started

Start by choosing a problem, idea, or opportunity you genuinely care about.

You can join with an existing idea, form a team during the event, or start from scratch on the day of the hackathon. 

During the day, you will be able to:

• build alongside other ambitious founders, engineers, researchers, and creatives;
• receive feedback from mentors, operators, and founders;
• use partner technologies and APIs;
• compete for grants, credits, and partner prizes;
• turn an idea into a working prototype in just one day.

At the end of the hackathon, submit your project on Devpost with a short description, demo, and any relevant links or materials.

Come with curiosity, ambition, and the willingness to build fast.

• Idea and potential
  The ambition, originality, usefulness, and long-term potential of the project.
• Execution
  What the team was able to build during the hackathon and how well it works.
• Problem-solving process
  How the team approached challenges, made decisions, iterated and worked with mentors throughout the day.
• Final presentation
  Quality, and persuasiveness of the final demo or pitch