What is a Hackathon and why is it increasingly used in European projects?

June 22, 2026
EnCLOD; EU Project

In recent years, the term hackathon has become increasingly popular in the context of innovation, education, and collaborative design. Originally developed in the IT sector as a programming marathon, this format is now successfully used in many different fields.

Hackathons are used in regional development, sustainability, entrepreneurship, public administration, research, and, increasingly, within European Union-funded programs.

But what exactly is a hackathon, and what is the reason for this extraordinary global success?

But what exactly is a hackathon?

A hackathon is an intensive event, typically lasting one or more days. During this time, a series of multidisciplinary working groups actively collaborate to devise concrete solutions to a specific challenge (the “challenge“).

The event’s central theme can vary greatly depending on the organizers’ objectives. It may concern, for example:

Sustainable mobility;

Tourism and regional development;

Efficient waste management;

The digitalization of public services;

Social inclusion and equal opportunities.

In this context, the ultimate goal is not only to generate theoretical ideas, but to rapidly transform them into structured proposals. Participants work to produce prototypes, service models, or actual project concepts, ready for subsequent development and implementation.

Why it’s so popular in European projects

European programs are increasingly emphasizing all those tools that actively involve citizens, businesses, young people, universities, and local governments in concrete and measurable participatory processes. In this sense, the hackathon tool perfectly meets several needs of contemporary planning: active participation, co-creation, rapid experimentation, and the building of solid networks between diverse stakeholders.

For this reason, hackathons are now very often included as project activities, pilot events, or actual engagement tools within key European programs, including Erasmus+, Horizon Europe, Interreg, and LIFE, as well as other financial instruments dedicated to innovation.

The Format’s Main Advantages

The adoption of this model within European project planning offers tangible benefits. Among the format’s main advantages are undoubtedly:

The ability to generate new ideas rapidly, thanks to the concentration of energy and the tight deadlines;

Strong participant engagement and the simultaneous creation of new collaborations and professional synergies destined to last over time.

Not Just Technology: The Evolution of the Concept

Although the name explicitly evokes the digital world (a combination of the words hack and marathon), today a hackathon isn’t necessarily about software development or computer programming. Indeed, there are hackathons entirely dedicated to the circular economy, urban regeneration, combating climate change, cultural promotion, education, and the development of entrepreneurial skills.

In many cases, the true strategic outcome isn’t just the final prototype presented to the jury, but the social and relational process that it triggers. We’re talking about the constructive exchange between different stakeholders, the emergence of real local needs, the field testing of novel ideas, and the birth of truly new innovation communities.

A useful tool for public bodies and local authorities

More and more local governments, educational institutions, and regional organizations are choosing to promote hackathons as a governance and engagement tool. The goal is to gather innovative proposals directly from the bottom up and engage young talent in concrete challenges affecting the local community.

A well-designed hackathon can become a powerful accelerator of ideas and an extremely effective tool for bringing citizens and institutions closer together, making innovation processes more open, democratic, and participatory.

EPC’s Field Experience: The EnCLOD Project

EPC tests the effectiveness of these tools on a daily basis in European contexts. As part of the technical assistance that EPC provides to the Province of Vicenza, the lead partner of the Interreg Central Europe EnCLOD project, EPC also actively collaborated in organizing the Italian hackathon, one of the official project activities.

The two-day event was held in Vicenza on June 12 and 13, 2026. It was entirely dedicated to imagining, together with citizens, entrepreneurs, students, technicians, and researchers, new ideas and unprecedented opportunities to leverage open data, with a particular focus on territorial data.

The central objective of the two-day event in Vicenza was to fully explore how open data can be used to support more effective public decisions, generate concrete benefits for citizens and the region, or foster the development of new products and services of collective interest.