We welcome anyone with a strong interest in interdisciplinary and data-driven policymaking. Technical skills (e.g., programming) are not strictly required. While we generally target university students and young professionals, anyone can register as participant. Students from various study backgrounds are welcome to participate.
Not at all! We welcome participants from all backgrounds. Whether you're a policy person, a data scientist, a designer, or a curious student, your perspective is valuable. We will provide introductory workshops and mentoring during the event to support diverse skill levels. Just bring your interest, curiosity, and ambition! :)
A policy hackathon may sound unfamiliar to some at first, but the event essentially takes on the format of a traditional hackathon, but with a broader and socially-oriented focus on creating policy rather than only technical applications or code solutions. Therefore, while we welcome designs or demos of technical solutions that could enhance policymaking, they are not mandatory. The emphasis of the event is on crafting innovative, data-informed, and impactful policy proposals, in many cases also enhanced by rigorous data analysis.
Read more in our guide: what is a policy hackathon, and how does it work?
Real challenges from real partners, and it depends on the event:
The challenges are presented at Friday's kick-off. Over the weekend, teams build whatever the problem needs: a policy proposal, a behaviour change campaign, a data tool or a business model. Challenge Directors guide the teams throughout.
At the Amsterdam Circularity Hackathon, yes. The four challenges are presented at the kick-off, and then teams choose the one they want to work on. To keep the challenges balanced there may be a limit on the number of teams per challenge, so we may ask teams to rank their top choices. At the Amsterdam Zuidoost Hackathon there is a single challenge, so every team works on it.
Teams hand in a concise write-up of their solution, such as a policy proposal, an action plan, a campaign, a prototype or a business model. On Sunday they present it to the audience and jury in a short, 3-minute pitch.
After every team has pitched, the jury selects finalists for each challenge. The finalists then answer questions from the jury and audience, and the jury deliberates once more before choosing a winner for each challenge. At the Amsterdam Zuidoost Hackathon, the Municipality of Amsterdam aims to develop the winning intervention further with the winning team.
Registration is open for the Amsterdam Circularity Hackathon (20–22 November): register here. Registration for the Amsterdam Zuidoost Hackathon (6–8 November) has closed.
Participation in the hackathon is free of charge. However, participants are responsible for covering their own travel and accommodation expenses.
At this time, the event is in-person only.
We are unable to facilitate accommodation in any form. Participants are expected to plan their own stay.
The event will be fully held in English and the deliverables are expected to be presented in English.
Yes! You can register as an individual. We will organize a team formation session at the start of the hackathon to help individuals find teammates.
Sure! While you're free to form your own team, we encourage multidisciplinarity and diversity in the composition of teams. The hackathon is a great opportunity to work and connect with students and professionals from various backgrounds. We also believe in the value of multiple disciplines and perspectives to ensure impactful policymaking. Lastly, we recommend to have a balanced composition between technical and social participants.
We aim for 3–5 participants per team, with a maximum of 5. This keeps a balanced mix of perspectives and manageable group dynamics.
Yes. Each challenge partner will provide datasets, access to data platforms, or references to public datasets relevant to their case. You're also welcome to bring in and cite external open data sources. Participants may have to sign an NDA and/or IP-waiver.
Bring your laptop and any software tools you're comfortable with (e.g., Excel, R, Python, Canva, PowerPoint). We recommend having tools ready for writing, data analysis, and presentation design.