About the challenge

HackUCD 2026 is a one-day, in-person hackathon at University College Dublin, run by UCD Netsoc and the UCD Investors and Entrepreneurs Society, with Stripe as presenting sponsor.

One day, one prototype. Pick a problem that matters to you, build something that actually runs, and pitch it to a room of judges and engineers. You do not need a team, an idea, or any prior hackathon experience. Teams form on the day, and mentors are in the room from start to finish to help with scope, architecture, debugging and demo prep.

Open to any third-level student in Ireland, any year, any discipline. Around 100 to 200 students are expected.

What you get on the day

Mentors from Stripe
Food and refreshments throughout, courtesy of Domino's, RYSE and Redbull
A prize pool across four awards
A real project and a demo you can put on your CV

Awards

1st, 2nd and 3rd Place
Greenroom Prize

Requirements

What to Build

Build a working prototype that addresses one of the challenges announced on the day

What to Submit

Submit on Devpost before the deadline at 16:45 on the 9th of October:

Project title and a short description of what it does and the problem it solves
A link to your code, on a public GitHub repo or equivalent
A demo video, maximum 3 minutes, uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo and set to public or unlisted. A screen recording with a voiceover is fine.
The track you are entering
Your full team, all members added to the Devpost submission

HackUCD x Stripe

Prize breakdown

Timeline

About

About the challenge

Requirements

What to Build

What to Submit