The first EMERGE Mini-Hackathon took place on 13 June 2026 at the École Supérieure de Technologie d’Oujda (ESTO), Université Mohammed Premier Oujda (UMP), Morocco, bringing together students, researchers and innovators passionate about AI, renewable energies and the energy transition.

The Hackathon IA-Énergie was hosted by UMP in cooperation with AfriLabs as the Moroccan preselection event of the EMERGE Hackathon, a collaborative innovation initiative launched by the EMERGE Green Africa project to stimulate innovation, engage local talent and generate practical clean energy solutions across the three EMERGE pilot regions: Morocco, Mozambique and Mali.

In line with the priorities of the Moroccan pilot, the event focused on energy optimisation, smart systems and industrial and agricultural efficiency, inviting participants to imagine, innovate and develop intelligent solutions around three themes: smart decentralised energy, AI and data for energy efficiency, and clean energy solutions for agro-industry and SMEs.

From 37 applications to 10 finalist teams

The call for participation attracted 37 applications by the deadline of 5 June 2026. A pre-selection committee chaired by Prof. Mostafa Azizi (Computer Science, ESTO-UMP), with members from ESTO-UMP, ENSAO-UMP and Cluster Valbiom Maroc, evaluated each application against criteria including relevance and suitability to the problem, innovation and differentiation, technical feasibility and quality of the prototype, local impact and inclusion, scalability and reproducibility, business model and sustainability, and clarity of presentation and team capacity.

Following deliberations, 10 projects were selected for the final phase, covering solutions ranging from intelligent solar pumping and smart energy management platforms to AI-based fault diagnosis for renewable energy systems and photovoltaic-hydrogen microgrids.

The final at ESTO Oujda

On 13 June 2026, the 10 pre-selected teams presented their work to the final jury in a hybrid format, combining online and in-person participation. Each team presented a functional prototype or an advanced demonstration, together with project documentation, in a 15-minute oral presentation followed by 10 minutes of questions.

Following the jury’s deliberations, two winning teams projects were announced:

Grid Guardian — an intelligent, offline-first, self-healing and secure system for decentralised energy in Africa based on Edge AI.

Blue H₂ Morocco — the development of a smart photovoltaic-hydrogen microgrid using pre-treated seawater for the Moroccan coastline.

Each winner received a tablet, and both teams will represent Morocco at the Final EMERGE Hackathon, October 2026 in Maputo, Mozambique.

Next stop: Maputo

The Morocco Mini-Hackathon is the first of three local preselection events; the Mozambique and Mali Mini-Hackathons, hosted by UEM and ECREEE together with AfriLabs, will follow, with the two best teams from each pilot region advancing to the final stage.

The Final EMERGE Hackathon is planned for October 2026 in Maputo, Mozambique, organised by AfriLabs, ESEIA and UEM in a hybrid format during the EMERGE General Assembly. The six finalist teams will present their solutions before a central jury, and winning teams will benefit from mentorship, incubation support through local hubs and the AfriLabs network, visibility within EMERGE dissemination activities, and participation opportunities linked to ESEIA events.

The EMERGE Hackathon activities are part of the broader EMERGE R&I and participatory lab programme supporting innovation, stakeholder engagement and knowledge exchange across African and European clean energy ecosystems.