The EMERGE Green Africa project is announcing the EMERGE Hackathon, an initiative aimed at stimulating innovation, engaging local talent, and generating practical solutions aligned with the project’s clean energy transition objectives across the EMERGE pilot regions in Morocco, Mozambique, and Mali.

A hackathon is a collaborative and time-limited event where participants work together to develop ideas, prototypes, and practical solutions to specific challenges. Within EMERGE, the Hackathon is designed to strengthen cross-country collaboration, encourage innovation, and support the development of scalable and locally relevant clean energy solutions.

The Hackathon challenge structure is designed around one common challenge aligned with EMERGE objectives together with localised sub-challenges adapted to the priorities of each pilot country. This approach aims to ensure coherence across the three pilots while maintaining local relevance and enabling comparison between solutions developed in different contexts.

Participants will work in teams to brainstorm ideas, develop prototypes or workflows, prepare short pitches, and present their solutions to a jury.

The EMERGE Hackathon will be organised in two phases combining local innovation activities with a final international event.

The first phase consists of local Mini-Hackathons organised in the three EMERGE pilot regions:

1. Morocco, hosted by UMP and AfriLabs;

The Morocco Mini-Hackathon will focus on energy optimisation, smart systems, and industrial and agricultural efficiency, including topics such as smart decentralised energy systems, AI and data for energy efficiency, and clean energy solutions for agro-industry and SMEs.

Registration is open

• Mozambique, hosted by UEM and AfriLabs

The Mozambique Mini-Hackathon will address energy access, resilience, and infrastructure challenges through topics such as off-grid energy systems, digital tools for energy access expansion, and energy solutions supporting local livelihoods and economies.

• Mali, organised by ECREEE and AfriLabs

The Mali Mini-Hackathon will focus on affordability, community-based solutions, and digital inclusion in energy systems, including decentralised energy models, clean energy for essential services, and solutions adapted to fragile contexts.

These local Mini-Hackathons will function as preselection events where participants will work on solutions adapted to the realities and energy challenges of each pilot country. Teams will present their ideas to local juries through short pitches and demonstrations, with the two best teams from each pilot region advancing to the final stage.

The second phase will culminate in the Final EMERGE Hackathon planned for October 2026 in Maputo, Mozambique, organised by AfriLabs, ESEIA, and UEM in a hybrid format. The final event will bring together six finalist teams from the three pilot regions, who will present in an online format their solutions before a central jury during the EMERGE General Assembly activities.

The evaluation process will consider criteria such as relevance, innovation, feasibility, local impact, scalability, business sustainability, and team capacity.

Participants and winning teams will benefit from non-cash support opportunities, including 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.

Details about the registration and exact dates will be announced soon.