Rolling Hackathon
A 10-day, recurring event in Warsaw.
Long enough to hit real obstacles, push through them, and build something that actually works. Recurring so it forms a community.
Europe has world-class technical talent.
What it lacks is the arena.
CEE engineers outperform on hard technical problems. But building products — defining what to build, iterating with users, telling a story that makes people care requires a different muscle. Weekend hackathons don't exercise it. Most corporate jobs don't develop it. And there's no recurring space where serious builders find each other.
We're building that space.
Get updates on applications, dates, and editions.
How it's different
Not a weekend sprint → 48-hour hackathons teach you to cut corners.
10 days teaches you to push through walls and ship something real.
Not a pitch contest → Live demos only. No slides as substitute for execution.
Not one-off → Runs every two months. The community compounds across editions.
Competition + cooperation → Teams compete for serious prizes. We also reward people who help others. Both matter.
How it works
10 days. Two weekends + weekday evenings.
Weekend 1 (Kickoff) → Teams form, ideas sharpen, building begins.
Midweek (Unblock) → In-person check-ins, mentorship, fireside conversations. The goal is to prevent teams from fizzling when they hit walls.
Weekend 2 (Demos) → Final presentations. Judged on execution and product quality. Prizes awarded.
You don't need 10 days off work. The format is designed for people with day jobs who can commit evenings and weekends. If you can go full-time for 10 days, you'll move faster — your call.
Who it's for
You'll fit if you:
- Can build (engineering, design, product) and want to build with others
- Care about craft — iteration, taste, pragmatism over hype
- Want peers who take execution as seriously as you do
- Are excited about AI as a building medium
Not for pitch-deck warriors. We celebrate showmanship, after the prototype works.
What you get
- A space to build a real project → something people can try, not a slide deck
- Teammates you've actually built with → the best co-builder signal
- Mentorship + unblocking → technical and product, from people who've done it
- A community that compounds → relationships that persist across editions
- Serious prizes → enough to justify the intensity to yourself and everyone around you
- AI credits or preloaded debit cards → (edition-dependent) so any friction to building is minimized
The room
We design the event in layers.
Public layer: Recaps, photos, demo highlights, winner announcements. Enough to attract builders.
In-room layer: The real conversations, unfiltered feedback, building together, trust. This is where the value lives.
Fireside sessions: With experienced technologists, talking about their vantage points and lessons learned. Some recorded with speaker-controlled edits. Some off the record entirely. Speakers choose.
The goal: share enough to build momentum, while keeping the room a place where serious people speak freely.
For Patrons
This is backed by patrons—not sponsors. People funding ambitious ecosystem development, not buying logo placement.
If you're interested in European Dynamism and believe Europe should be building, not just supplying talent—and that the application layer in AI is most overlooked in Europe—learn more about becoming a patron or reach out directlysoon.
FAQ
How selective is it?
Curated. We're optimizing for quality of room, not quantity of participants.
Do I need 10 full days off work?
No. Two weekends + evenings. Full-time is optional.
Do I keep my IP?
Yes. You own what you build. No strings.
Can I participate remotely?
No. The event is in-person only and that's how we build the community.
What if I don't have a team?
Come solo. We'll be experimenting with formats of team formation at kickoff.
Is this exclusively focused on AI?
The 2026 editions are AI-focused—it's where our organizing team adds the most value. But we're open to projects in other domains if the builder and product instincts are strong.
Where in Warsaw is the event?
Venue TBD for first edition. Central, well-equipped, designed for 10 days of building.
Is the Rolling Hackathon the name you're attached to?
No, we're actively looking for a better one.