Zürich

Zurich's hackathon scene is incredibly vibrant, driven by students and tightly woven into the local industry. Throughout the year, you'll find everything from campus hacks to topic-focused "hackdays" and major city-wide events that attract an international crowd. The heart of the ecosystem is ETH Zürich, with frequent events hosted by student associations in spaces like the Computer Science building and the Student Project House. You can get a taste with events like the VIScon Hackathon and PolyHACK, alongside open-data hackdays organized by Opendata.ch that draw civic-tech enthusiasts from across Switzerland.

For a decade, the flagship event was HackZurich, widely recognized as one of Europe's biggest. Its last edition in 2023 brought together around 400 participants at Halle 550, with multiple sponsored challenge tracks. As of 2025, however, both HackZurich and its sister event, the Digital Festival, are on a hiatus as the organizers plan their next steps.

Another cornerstone is the VIScon hackathon, a three-day, student-organized event that's part of a larger symposium run by ETH's computer science association. It's a weekend full of hacking, mentorship, and juried demos all aimed at building tools that improve student life and beyond. Find out more here: https://viscon.vis.ethz.ch/

Then there's PolyHACK, a recurring ETH hackathon that has recently focused on climate innovation. It's co-organized by the ETH nonprofit Telejob and the NEO Network, with challenges supplied by industry partners like SBB, ASUS, and ELCA. It's a free, concentrated 24-48 hour sprint for ETH students and graduates.

Zurich also excels at topic-specific hackdays with a strong "real-world data" focus. The Energy Data Hackdays, for instance, convene utilities, grid operators, and researchers to prototype with open energy datasets. You'll also find green-tech and AI-for-good tracks popping up regularly, like the Climate Action Tech Zürich Hackathon which focused on Green IT.

The projects that come out of these events are seriously impressive. From HackZurich 2023's project gallery alone, you had winners like "EasyInsurance," "LogiCare," and "Traffix," all built to solve concrete problems posed by sponsors. A previous standout, "Thunderstroke," even won HackZurich 2021 for enabling online jam sessions using real-time image processing.

The sponsor lists are a testament to Zurich's diverse economy. You'll see heavy industry (Holcim), finance (Julius Baer, Zurich Insurance), retail (Migros), and tech giants (Logitech, Microsoft) all collaborating to provide challenges. This mix ensures there's something for every kind of hacker.

Culturally, Zurich hackathons are known for being pragmatic. They focus on themed prompts, real datasets, and creating a clear pathway to industry contacts. So even while a giant like HackZurich is on pause, the scene remains lively thanks to campus fixtures, climate sprints, and data-driven weekends. The through-line is a powerful collaboration between students, researchers, and sponsors who bring real-world problems to the table—and often continue the conversation long after the demos are over.