AE Hackathon

May 31 & June 1 \\ 20 teams \\ 36 hours of innovation

It's up to us to dream up and build exciting new things.

Innovation is everywhere. It has a profound impact on how people and companies interact with the world. But even though technology has sped up our daily lives incredibly, we shouldn't fear that it will completely overpower us. What is more, atAE we believe that in the future the ticking heart of business and IT will remain human.

That's why the 5th edition of our AE Hackathon is themed Dream It, Build It - to underscore precisely the human sensibilities involved with innovation. For sure, the possibilities of AR,VR, loT, Big Data, Analytics, Blockchain, Bots etc. are endless and spectacular. But can we align these technologies with a great human experience and make them relevant to us?

During this Hackathon, we want to explore what hasn't been done before while thinking of what truly drives people in the digital world. What is valuable? What is socially relevant? How far can and should we automate things or rely on technology to guide our actions?

We're looking forward to tackling this challenge with you.

How does the AE Hackathon work?

The AE Hackathon is a great opportunity for multidisciplinary teams of analysts, developers and product owners to explore new technologies, insights and business models, allowing them to provide answers to the increasingly complex challenges people, organizations and companies are facing today.

At the end of these intense two days, the teams with the best executed ideas get to walk home with our coveted AE Hackathon award.

To help you get into the groove, watch the video from our 2017 edition:

Why we organize the AE Hackathon

We organize the AE Hackathon to boost innovation, at AE and at our customers. Previous editions of the AE Hackathon have proven to what kind of value these sessions can lead for our customers.

Participating in the AE Hackathon can lead to wonderful results, exemplified recently by bringr, the innovative parcel delivery service we developed in co-creation with bpost and which won the Data News ICT Project of the Year Award 2016.

Want to participate?

Each year, we invite our customers to actively participate in our AE Hackathon by making their API available, supplying data, attending the closing presentation or by taking part themselves.

If you have an exciting idea yourself, we invite you to work with us to put together a team to bring your idea to life and to submit a video pitch explaining your plans. A jury of AE experts will then select the 20 best ideas based on a combination of the following four criteria:

Innovativeness: how innovative is your idea?
Technology: which interesting technologies are you using?
Viability: what's the business value of your idea?
Social relevance: how does it contribute to modern society?

Key dates:

27/02 & 01/03: Ideation Sessions
You want to participate but don't have a concrete idea just yet? Join us at one of our three Ideation sessions for an enlightening brainstorm facilitated by AE's innovation experts.
Tue Feb 27 (18h-21h): BCBW, Groot-Bijgaarden
Thu March 1 (18h-21h): AE, Heverlee & Corda Campus, Hasselt
31/03: Video Pitch
The deadline for submitting your video pitch.
Convince the Hackathon jury why your idea is so strong it really should make the cut.
20/04: Selection of the final 20 teams
The Hackathon jury will announce which 20 teams will get to participate in the AE Hackathon.
31/05 & 01/06: AE Hackathon 2018
Time to turn your idea into a working prototype in 36 hours at our AE offices in Heverlee. On Friday eve, each team gets to present and demo their project to the Hackathon jury and the audience during our special Closing Event.

Join in on the fun

Have you dreamed up a great idea that you want to build with us during the AE Hackathon? Or want to come to one of our Ideation Sessions to get a better grip on your plans?