The climax of the two-day ISE 2026 Hackathon is today as 18 teams take to the Pitching Stage (CS300) to compete for top honours, presenting their solutions to real-world challenges after more than 26 hours of rapid problem-solving. The teams are made up of 60 university students from across Europe, representing institutions in Spain, Italy, France and beyond, all selected through a competitive pre-selection process and now vying for trophies, industry recognition and unique experiences with sponsoring partners.
The ISE Hackathon follows the same format as last year’s inaugural event with three challenge tracks – Sustainability, Cybersecurity and Innovation. Six teams compete in each track. Every team has been working on the same challenge within their track, but with complete freedom in how they approach the solution.
The 2026 Hackathon officially kicked off yesterday morning when the challenges were revealed by the sponsoring partners. Mike Blackman, managing director of Integrated Systems Events, offered words of encouragement at the opening ceremony before the teams dove into research, ideation and development.
Pablo Vega De Llergo, ISE Hackathon lead, explained: “Each track has one challenge, done by six teams. They all received the brief at 8am on Thursday, and from that moment they had about 26 hours to build their solution. Some teams chose to stay overnight – they’re allowed to in the rules.”
Throughout Thursday, industry experts and judges worked alongside the teams, offering guidance and challenge in equal measure. Silvia Zamboni, lecturer in management and technology at Bocconi University in Italy and a judge and mentor in the Sustainability track, said: “In the morning they were enthusiastic and gathering information. By the afternoon, they already had ideas and my role shifted to challenging them – playing devil’s advocate, testing feasibility and helping them sharpen their storytelling for an eight-minute pitch.”
The mentors encouraged the teams to focus on clarity, impact and realism, ensuring that ideas could stand up not only technically, but also as real-world business solutions when they make their final presentations today.
The Sustainability track, sponsored by Philips Professional Displays, focuses on responsible innovation and long-term impact. This year’s challenge is based around FC Barcelona, one of Philips’ partners.
Vicky Fox, head of communications at Philips Professional Displays, said: “Sustainability is one of our key strategic pillars at Philips. But this is also about engaging new talent from across Europe and inspiring them to see what a career in AV can look like. The international mix of students is fantastic – and it’s only growing each year.”
The Cybersecurity track, sponsored by Hikvision, challenges students to apply strategic thinking to a realistic cyber threat.
Chuck Davis, VP for global information security at Hikvision and a judge and mentor, said: “We’re looking for creative, innovative thinking. This isn’t just a technical problem – it’s a real-world situation where cybersecurity has to be applied thoughtfully. The questions and ideas in development have been very impressive. But on the final day, the winning teams will need to take what they know and what they’ve learned and apply it to the challenge.”
Meanwhile, the Innovation track, supported by SETT (the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation), pushes teams to explore bold new ideas that could shape the future of the AV industry.
Today’s schedule:
Today, each team will present their solution in English, with eight minutes per pitch, in front of a panel of judges. The presentations will run track by track, followed by deliberations and the awards ceremony.
11am-12:20pm
Hackathon Final Presentations – Sustainability
12:20pm-1:40pm
Hackathon Final Presentations – Cybersecurity
1:40pm-3pm
Hackathon Final Presentations – Innovation
3pm-4pm
Hackathon Final Awards Ceremony
All sessions take place at the Pitching Stage (CS300).
There will be one winning team per track, alongside second and third-place recognitions. Winning teams will receive trophies, medals, networking opportunities and unique experiences with sponsoring partners – but as Vega De Llergo points out, simply reaching the final is already a significant achievement. “At the outset we had around 100 teams apply, and only 18 are here. Just by being here, they’ve already won!” he said.
