AI Hackathon
An AI Hackathon by AI Advice & Training helps organisations make AI concrete. Participants work in teams on real problems from their own work and use AI tools to arrive at solutions, prototypes or working demonstrations.
- Format
- Half day or Full day or Multi-day
- Audience
- Teams and organisations
- Participants
- 10–200 people
- Location
- In-house or online
Most organisations now know that AI offers opportunities. The question is: where do you start, which applications are really relevant, and how do you get your people actively involved?
During an AI Hackathon, participants do not just listen to what AI can do. They start working with it straight away. In teams, they turn concrete problems from their own organisation into practical AI solutions, workflows, prototypes or worked-out concepts. The hackathon combines inspiration, training and execution in one programme.
The result: concrete ideas, working demonstrations and a clearer view of where AI can add value right away in your organisation.
What is an AI Hackathon?
An AI Hackathon is an interactive working session in which participants work in small teams on real use cases from their own practice. Guided by experienced AI trainers, teams explore how AI can speed up a process, structure information better, support research or develop a new concept. The focus is not on theory, but on doing.
Depending on the organisation, the outcome can be:
- a working prototype
- an AI workflow
- a prompt set or prompt library
- a concept for an AI agent
- a demonstration of a new way of working
- a presentation or pitch with next steps
We are realistic: a hackathon usually does not deliver a fully production-ready solution. What it does deliver, in a short time, is a concrete and testable starting point for further development, implementation or adoption.
Who is an AI Hackathon for?
An AI Hackathon suits organisations that want their people to experience first-hand what AI can do for their work. The approach works well for:
- teams that want to learn to apply AI in practice
- organisations that want to gather or test concrete use cases
- departments that want to speed up AI adoption
- innovation, communications, marketing, finance, operations, legal, policy or research teams
- educational institutions that want to give students or staff hands-on experience with AI
- organisations that want to explore which AI solutions are worth developing further
Participants do not need a technical background. The hackathon is tailored to the knowledge level of the group.
What does the day look like?
- 1
Kick-off and a shared foundation
The day starts with a short, accessible introduction so everyone has the same foundation. Participants then practise effective prompting techniques: giving clear instructions, structuring output and checking results critically.
- what generative AI is and how large language models work
- what AI agents are and which tools are relevant
- where AI is strong and where it is not
- how to use AI responsibly
- 2
Introducing the challenge
We introduce the central challenge or the selected use cases. This can be one shared problem or several use cases per team. Ideally the topics come from your own organisation, so participants work on situations they recognise. Together we make the assignment concrete: what is the problem, who are we solving it for, what information is available and what will we deliver?
- 3
Forming teams and a first plan
Participants work in small teams. Each team drafts a short approach. Our trainers help sharpen it quickly: do not start too broad, but pick a concrete sub-problem that can be done in the time available.
- which problem are we tackling?
- what role does AI play in it?
- what output do we want to deliver, and with which tool?
- who does what in the team?
- 4
Hands-on work with AI
Most of the hackathon is spent working. Our trainers walk around, think along and help with prompting, tool choice, structure, feasibility and responsible use. Teams work with their own documents, dummy data or pre-selected cases.
- summarising information and analysing sources
- generating ideas and comparing options
- mapping workflows and improving prompts
- preparing prototypes, demonstrations and pitches
- 5
Check-in and refinement
There are short check-ins during the day. Teams share where they are and where they are stuck. This helps keep the pace up, make solutions more concrete, learn from each other and adjust in time. The focus stays the same: what can we show at the end?
- 6
Demos, pitches and jury
At the end, the teams present their work: a live demonstration, a workflow, a prototype, a prompt chain, a concept for an AI agent or a pitch with next steps. We assess practical applicability, smart use of AI, feasibility, originality, reasoning and the quality of the pitch. The day can close with a jury, an audience vote or an award.
What does it deliver?
For participants
- first-hand experience of how AI works in their own practice
- concrete AI skills
- better prompting and better judgement of output
- insight into the opportunities and limitations of AI
- work on tangible solutions or prototypes
For the organisation
- a set of concrete use cases
- a view of promising applications
- input for pilots or follow-up projects
- more support for AI adoption
- insight into the knowledge level and questions within the organisation
- a positive, practical start with AI
Working with AI responsibly and securely
Using AI calls for care. That is why we pay attention to responsible use during the hackathon. Among other things, we discuss:
- which information may and may not go into AI tools
- how to handle confidential data and when to use dummy data
- how to check output and recognise bias, errors and hallucinations
- how AI fits within internal guidelines or policy
Where needed, we align the hackathon with your own secure environment, such as Microsoft Copilot, Copilot Studio, Azure or other approved tooling. Want to get this right across the organisation? Take a look at our EU AI Act compliance consulting.
Examples of hackathon themes
AI for document analysis
Teams explore how AI helps to read, summarise and structure long documents.
AI for research and market insight
Participants map market developments, competitors, trends or policy information faster.
AI for communications and marketing
Teams work on content, campaigns, target audiences, media planning or internal communications.
AI for operations and process improvement
Participants analyse bottlenecks, process steps, scenarios and opportunities for improvement.
AI agents and workflows
Teams explore how AI agents or workflow tools can support or partly automate recurring tasks.
AI for policy and strategy
Participants investigate policy questions, work out scenarios or build stronger arguments for their advice.
Our role
AI Advice & Training takes care of the content, preparation and facilitation of the hackathon. We help sharpen the challenge, define use cases, design the programme for the day, guide the teams, support them with tools, prompts and prototypes, and set out next steps. Our approach is practical, energetic and realistic: no theoretical stories, but hands-on guidance that fits the participants' work.
Possible formats
Half day
Suited to a first introduction, a compact challenge or an energising session.
Full day
Suited to teams that really want to work on use cases and deliver a demonstration or pitch.
Multi-day programme
Suited when you want to develop use cases beforehand, build prototypes and then move on to a pilot or implementation.
From hackathon to next steps
The hackathon is often the starting point. Afterwards, we develop the best ideas further in a pilot, a proof of concept, an AI agent, a workflow or an adoption programme. That way it does not stop at enthusiasm on the day itself, and you get a concrete path from idea to application.
We support that next step with our AI consulting for organisations (implementation, policy and adoption) and with practical AI training for your team.
Want a promising idea actually built, such as an AI agent, an integration or a custom solution? Then we work with our sister company NewWorks, which handles the technical development and implementation. That keeps the path from hackathon idea to working application short and smooth.
Does your development team want to go further, in a multi-day programme instead of a single day? Our AI Accelerator is the accelerator version for engineers: coding agents, agentic AI and spec-driven development, rounded off with a joint build sprint.
Training in action
From in-house workshops to keynotes for hundreds of participants
Frequently asked questions about the AI Hackathon
Do participants need technical knowledge?
No. The hackathon is tailored to the knowledge level of the group, from beginners to more experienced AI users.
How long does an AI Hackathon take?
A half day, a full day or a multi-day programme, depending on your goal and the outcome you want.
Does it deliver a production-ready solution?
Usually not. What it does deliver, in a short time, is a concrete and testable starting point for further development, implementation or adoption.
Which AI tools do the teams use?
Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Mistral, among others, depending on the assignment and your environment.
Can the hackathon run in our own secure environment?
Yes. Where needed, we align with your approved tooling, such as Microsoft Copilot, Copilot Studio or Azure.
Who is an AI Hackathon for?
For teams and organisations that want to learn to apply AI in practice, gather or test use cases, or speed up AI adoption.
Organising an AI Hackathon?
We are happy to think along about the challenge, the programme and the format. Book a no-obligation introductory call.