Dates

Saturday 21st November 2026, 9am - 5pm

Eligibility

QM students and external students who have been approved
Teams up to 4 people

Project and Submission Requirements

Projects should be primarily built during the hackathon and must meaningfully fit the Invisible AI theme.

Existing libraries, APIs, AI models, boilerplate and open-source tools are allowed. Any significant work completed before the hackathon should be disclosed.

Each team must submit a 3 minute video containing both a presentation and a functioning demo of the project, as well as a link to the public GitHub repository for the project.

Projects must be submitted before the stated deadline in order to be judged.

Prizes

Announced on the day

Judging Criteria and Winner Selection

Projects will be judged on:

• Product Value — 25%
  How useful, desirable or valuable is the product, and how well does it solve a real problem?

• Creativity & Innovation — 20%
  How original is the idea, and is the problem solved in an interesting or non-obvious way?

• Execution — 20%
  How well does the prototype work, and how convincingly has the team implemented and demonstrated the idea?

• Scalability & Viability — 15%
  Could the idea realistically grow into a larger product, adopted by universities or made available to more students? Could it turn into a service or business?

• Impact — 10%
  What positive effect could the project have on users, organisations or society?

• University Equality Theme Fit — 10%
  How well does the project link to life at university? How does the solution make the university experience more equal?

Judges will consider both the quality of the prototype and the potential of the wider idea. Teams are encouraged to think beyond what can be fully built within one day.

The highest scoring teams will be selected as finalists and given the opportunity to present their projects live before the winners are chosen.