--- title: "Junction 2026 Challenges" description: "Junction 2026 challenges in compact and agent friendly format" url: https://junction2026.com/ --- > For the index of all pages on this site, see [llms.txt](https://junction2026.com/llms.txt). # Junction 2026 [VIEW CHALLENGES HERE](https://junction2026.com/challenges) - [Agentic AI · 6](https://junction2026.com/challenges#agentic) - [Hardware · 5](https://junction2026.com/challenges#hardware) - [FinTech · 2](https://junction2026.com/challenges#fintech) - [Healthcare · 2](https://junction2026.com/challenges#healthcare) - [AI Infrastructure · 1](https://junction2026.com/challenges#ai-infra) - [Data · 3](https://junction2026.com/challenges#data) ## 14.11.2026 Saturday - Intel x Ignite Next workshop 12.00 · Hardware Floor (5th Floor) - Lunch 13.00–15.00 · 2nd and 3rd Floor - Hostinger keynote 13.00 · Main Stage - Modal workshop 13.30 · 2nd Floor Cafe - Kiuas workshop 14.30 · 2nd Floor Cafe - Exa workshop 16.30 · 2nd Floor Cafe - Dinner 17.45–21.00 · 2nd and 3rd Floor - Maria 01 workshop 18.00 · 2nd Floor Cafe ## Junction 2026 challenges (38) [All challenges](https://junction2026.com/challenges) 918 teams so far · updated 14.11.2026 ### [Decode the Noise](https://junction2026.com/challenges/hostinger-decode-the-noise) Hostinger · Agentic AI Track · 63 teams Build an AI-powered tool that detects propaganda, bots and bad actors online – and deploy it live on Hostinger's infrastructure. Prizes: All three winning teams: All three winning teams will also receive one year of Hostinger hosting and a domain to keep their project live, Hostinger swag, and a spotlight on Hostinger's social media channels. · 1st Place: 2000 € · 2nd Place: 1000 € · 3rd Place: 500 € ### [Earned Trust in AI Code](https://junction2026.com/challenges/tieto-earned-trust-in-ai-code) Tieto · Agentic AI Track · 25 teams How does AI code review keep pace with AI-written code, while humans stay accountable for every change? Prizes: 1st Place: €2,000 cash prize for the winning team. · 2nd Place: €1,000 cash prize for the runner-up team. · 3rd Place: €500 cash prize for the third-place team. ### [Spread](https://junction2026.com/challenges/bahn-express-spread) Bahn Express · Agentic AI Track · 61 teams Spread: run a car transport company for a week Prizes: 1st Place: 2000€ · 2nd Place: 1000€ · 3rd Place: 500€ ### [Break the Agent](https://junction2026.com/challenges/afterquery-break-the-agent) AfterQuery · Agentic AI Track · 60 teams Build a reinforcement learning environment that challenges today's best AI agents, demonstrate real failure modes, and show that its rewards reflect real progress. Prizes: 1st Place: 3,000€ + A work trial at AfterQuery + Merch · 2nd Place: 1,500€ + Merch · 3rd Place: 500€ ### [Trusted Trade Agents](https://junction2026.com/challenges/valio-aimo-trusted-trade-agents) Valio Aimo · Agentic AI Track · 105 teams How can a food-service wholesaler let autonomous purchasing agents place an order – finding products, comparing offers and getting the right approval in a fraction of the time it takes today – without exposing real systems, confidential data or the marketplace roadmap? Prizes: 1st place: 4 000€ · 2nd place: 2 000€ · 3rd place: 1 000€ ### [The Internet Butler / Your Personal Assistant](https://junction2026.com/challenges/exa-the-internet-butler-your-personal-assistant) Exa · Agentic AI Track · 48 teams Build an agent that takes tedious tasks in people’s lives off their hands. Prizes: 1st Place: $2,500 Cash, $5,000 in Exa credits, Exa hoodie per person & Exa branded TRMNL dashboard · 2nd Place: $1500 cash, $3,000 in Exa credits, Exa hoodie per person & Exa branded macropad · 3rd Place: $500 Cash, $1k Exa credits & Exa hoodie per person · Participation Trophy: Every Junction participant get free $50 Exa Credits ### [The Green European Renaissance](https://junction2026.com/challenges/arduino-the-green-european-renaissance) Arduino · Hardware Track · 43 teams Make Europe Green through Edge AI using Arduino Prizes: 1st Team: Ventuno Q unit per Team member · 2nd Team: UNO Q 4G + Plug and Make Kits per Team member · 3rd Team: Plug and Make Kit per Team member ### [AI Glasses for Everyone, Everyday](https://junction2026.com/challenges/meta-ai-glasses-for-everyone-everyday) Meta · Hardware Track · 73 teams Demonstrate how a first-person field of view enables new or better interactions in everyday scenarios. Prizes: Best overall: Each member of the winning team will receive a pair of Ray-Ban Meta glasses. ### [Stop Simulating, Start Moving: See It. Detect It. Act on It. The Intel Physical AI Challenge](https://junction2026.com/challenges/ignite-next-x-intel-stop-simulating-start-moving) Ignite Next x Intel · Hardware Track · 30 teams AI is great on screen, but have you ever made it move? Welcome to the Intel Physical AI Challenge at Junction. This weekend, we’re taking your models out of the cloud and giving them hands, eyes, and real-time brains Prizes: 1st Place: €5,000 · 2nd Place: €3,000 · 3rd Place: €2,000 ### [The Robot Teleoperation Challenge](https://junction2026.com/challenges/rokoko-the-robot-teleoperation-challenge) Rokoko · Hardware Track · 17 teams Use professional motion capture suits and gloves to control robotic hands, arms and humanoid robots. Build something useful, unexpected, or downright unbelievable. Prizes: 1st place: 1x pair of Smartgloves II + 1x SDK license + featured post on Rokoko’s blog and extended support from Rokoko team (valued at €4,990) · 2nd Place: 1x Smartsuit Pro II (valued at €2,295) · 3rd place: 1x pair of Smartgloves I (1st gen gloves) + Rokoko merch (valued at €1,095) ### [Aaltonomous Humanoid](https://junction2026.com/challenges/aalto-university-aaltonomous-humanoid) Aalto University · Hardware Track · 13 teams Our humanoid robot can do backflips but can't sort a few blocks into boxes. Give it a brain. Prizes: Winning Team: 2,000€ + a visit to the Aalto robotics lab · Top 5: 🤖 Top ~5 teams (chosen by performance in simulation) get to run their solution live on the real Unitree G1. ### [Make Unicorns Real](https://junction2026.com/challenges/cala-make-unicorns-real) Cala · FinTech Track · 37 teams Build a product that solves a real need for founders or investors, powered by reliable public data from Cala. Prizes: 1st: Travel and accommodation covered for three hackathons (around 5,000€ in value for a team of 4) + 1,000€ in Cala credits + Cala merch · Runner Up: 500€ in Cala credits + Cala Merch ### [Personal Economic Trainer](https://junction2026.com/challenges/s-pankki-personal-economic-trainer) S-Pankki · FinTech Track · 53 teams Explore how AI can turn personal banking data into a trusted financial coach for everyday life. Prizes: 1st Prize: 2000€ Airbnb Gift Card · 2nd Prize: 1000€ Airbnb Gift Card · 3rd Prize: 500€ Airbnb Gift Card ### [Equal Care Across Finland](https://junction2026.com/challenges/astrazeneca-equal-care-across-finland) AstraZeneca · Healthcare Track · 53 teams At AstraZeneca stand we will provide key insights to the challenge on Friday at 20:00 Prizes: Best Overall: 1000€ · 2nd Overall: 750€ · 3rd Overall: 250€ ### [Beyond the Clinic](https://junction2026.com/challenges/aalto-university-beyond-the-clinic) Aalto University · Healthcare Track · 49 teams Build the product that helps people stay well at home after depression treatment, using anything from natural stimuli to a phone, music, games, light or AI. Prizes: 2000€ for the best team: A prize for the winning team, a visit to the brain stimulation lab, and for the most promising idea, a change to keep developing it together with the researchers ### [Make Blueprints Talk](https://junction2026.com/challenges/stoa-make-blueprints-talk) Stoa · AI Infrastructure Track · 70 teams Build a program that answers natural language questions about construction drawings and building information models accurately and verifiably. Prizes: Best Overall: 1000€ + A work trial at Stoa · 2nd Overall: 750€ · 3rd Overall: 250€ ### [The Web Is Your Real-Time Database](https://junction2026.com/challenges/context-dev-the-web-is-your-real-time-database) Context.dev · Data Track · 36 teams Build a product that reacts to the live web. Prizes: 1st Place: €2,000 + swag · 2nd Place: €500 + swag · 3rd Place: Swag ### [Rethinking Recruitment](https://junction2026.com/challenges/city-of-espoo-rethinking-recruitment) City of Espoo · Data Track · 41 teams How can recruitment and matchmaking events organized by City of Espoo help companies and talent relevantly find and connect with each other, despite AI-generated job search materials and AI-assisted recruitment processes are becoming common? Prizes: Best overall: 1500€ · 2nd Overall: 1000€ · 3rd Overall: 500€ ### [Wikipedia Through Time.](https://junction2026.com/challenges/mariadb-wikipedia-through-time) MariaDB · Data Track · 41 teams Build the tools Wikipedia is missing, powered by MariaDB's vector search (RAG) and system-versioned tables. Prizes: 1st Place: €1,000 in cash, €1,000 in UpCloud credits, and a MariaDB certification for every team member (5 vouchers at learn.mariadb.com, value 750 USD). · 2nd Place: €500 in cash. · 3rd Place: €250 in cash. · All Winners: All winning teams to be credited in blog on mariadb.org. ### [Verda Compute Track](https://junction2026.com/challenges/verda-verda-compute-track) Verda · Tech challenges From electron to token, it takes decades of progress to run AI. Add scale, efficiency, and sustainability, and AI becomes a monumental achievement. Prizes: 1st Place: $10,000 in Verda cloud credits + Verda hoodies · 2nd Place: $2,500 in cloud credits · 3rd Place: $2,500 in cloud credits ### [Best Use of MongoDB Atlas](https://junction2026.com/challenges/mlh-best-use-of-mongodb-atlas) Major League Hacking · Tech challenges MongoDB Atlas takes the leading modern database and makes it accessible in the cloud! Get started with a $50 credit for students or sign up for the Atlas free forever tier (no credit card required). Along with a suite of services and functionalities, you’ll have everything you need to manage all of your data, and you can get a headstart with free resources from MongoDB University! Build a hack using MongoDB Atlas for a chance to win a M5Stack IoT Kit for you and each member of your group. Prizes: Best Overall: M5Stack IoT Kit ### [Best Use of Vultr](https://junction2026.com/challenges/mlh-best-use-of-vultr) Major League Hacking · Tech challenges Vultr empowers hackers to bring their high-performance projects to life instantly; providing everything from the speed of one-click deployment and scalable cloud compute, to specialized Vultr Cloud GPUs that can power AI-driven applications. We want you to push the limits of what can be built when infrastructure is no longer the bottleneck! Prizes: Best Overall: M5Stack mini programmable monitor ### [Best Use of Tiger Data](https://junction2026.com/challenges/mlh-best-use-of-tiger-data) Major League Hacking · Tech challenges Building high-performance apps under hackathon deadlines shouldn't mean spending half your weekend configuring complex databases or learning obscure query languages. Tiger Data extends PostgreSQL to give student developers an ultra-fast foundation for real-time data, time-series metrics, and complex analytics. Prizes: Best Overall: Stream Deck Mini ### [Best Use of Solana](https://junction2026.com/challenges/mlh-best-use-of-solana) Major League Hacking · Tech challenges The world of development is evolving fast and Solana is leading the charge with a network built to handle all of your infrastructure needs. Forget high fees and slow confirmations, it’s time to build applications that are fast, efficient, and scalable. Prizes: Best Overall: Unruggable Hardware Wallets ### [Best Use of Entire](https://junction2026.com/challenges/mlh-best-use-of-entire) Major League Hacking · Tech challenges Entire is the Git forge for agent-human collaboration. From syncing your sessions and prompts to your Git history, to hosting code and replacing the Pull Request with Trails, Entire are reimagining code hosting and collaboration for the agent era. Prizes: Best Overall: Mini Portable Projector ### [Best Use of ElevenLabs](https://junction2026.com/challenges/mlh-best-use-of-elevenlabs) Major League Hacking · Tech challenges Deploy natural, human-sounding audio with ElevenLabs. Create realistic, dynamic, and emotionally expressive voices for any project, from interactive AI companions to narrated stories and voice-enabled apps. ElevenLabs will empower you to build rich, immersive experiences without the need for actors or complex audio production, using simply the power of AI. Prizes: Best Overall: Wireless Earbuds ### [Best Use of Codex](https://junction2026.com/challenges/openai-best-use-of-codex) OpenAI · Tech challenges OpenAI challenges you to push the boundaries of what's possible with AI-powered software development. Prizes: 1st Overall: $10 000 API Credits · 2nd Overall: $5000 API Credits · 3rd Overall: $2500 API Credits ### [Best Use of Gemini API](https://junction2026.com/challenges/google-deepmind-best-use-of-gemini-api) Google DeepMind · Tech challenges Build something extraordinary with Google's Gemini API. Prizes: 1st Overall: The winning team will receive 4000€, plus $1,000 in Google Cloud credits per team member. · 2nd Overall: 2000€ · 3rd Overall: 1000€ ### [Best Use of Gemma](https://junction2026.com/challenges/google-deepmind-best-use-of-gemma) Google DeepMind · Tech challenges Awarded to the team that demonstrates the most innovative and impactful use of Google's Gemma open models. We're looking for creative applications, strong technical execution, and solutions that showcase the potential of open AI models to solve real-world problems. Prizes: Top 3: €1,000 per team for the top 3 teams, with no ranking between winners. ### [Best Use of Nemotron](https://junction2026.com/challenges/nvidia-best-use-of-nemotron) NVIDIA · Tech challenges Build a project powered by NVIDIA Nemotron that solves a real problem through reasoning, tool use, or coordinated workflows. Applies to: Any track. Prizes: Two best teams: 1x NVIDIA RTX 5080 ### [Best use of Arduino Uno Q](https://junction2026.com/challenges/arduino-best-use-of-arduino-uno-q) Arduino · Tech challenges Bring your idea to life in the physical world with Edge AI and the Arduino UNO Q. Prizes: Arduino UNO Q & Plug and Make kit for each team member: Each member of the winning team receives an Arduino UNO Q and an Arduino Plug and Make Kit. ### [Best Use of Context.dev: Fully Structured Web](https://junction2026.com/challenges/context-dev-best-use-of-context-dev) Context.dev · Tech challenges Plug the Context.dev API into whatever you're building and give it the live web: pages, brands, companies, people and news as clean structured data in one API call. Prizes: 1st Place: €750 + swag · 2nd Place: €250 + swag · 3rd Place: Swag ### [Best Use of Aiven](https://junction2026.com/challenges/aiven-best-use-of-aiven) Aiven · Tech challenges Great ideas need somewhere to run, data they can use and systems that work together. Whether you’re building an AI agent, an interactive game, a sustainability tool or something nobody has thought of yet, Aiven can help bring your project to life. We’re looking for the most impressive use of Aiven technology: a thoughtful implementation that makes a meaningful difference to your working solution. Prizes: Best Use of Aiven: 1000€ · 2nd Overall: 750€ · 3rd Overall: 500€ ### [Best use of CRACI](https://junction2026.com/challenges/craci-best-use-of-craci) Craci · Tech challenges Make every build your first line of defence. Prizes: 1st Team: LEGO set for each team member · 2nd Team: 24-pack of Red Bull for each team member · 3rd Team: invite to the CRACI x OpenAI lunch event during Slush. · Top 5 Teams: Each of the top 5 teams receives 50,000 CRACI CI/CD build minutes per team member, plus the opportunity to interview for a job at CRACI. ### [Best Use of Cloudinary](https://junction2026.com/challenges/cloudinary-best-use-of-cloudinary) Cloudinary · Tech challenges Build an innovative solution using one of our four tools listed on cld.media/hackathons that uses images and video to create a more engaging and intelligent digital experience. Prizes: 1st: $500 worth Amazon gift cards (for your local Amazon) / team member ### [Best use of Modal](https://junction2026.com/challenges/modal-best-use-of-modal) Modal · Tech challenges Take your Junction project from laptop to production AI on Modal. Prizes: 1st team: $2000 in cash prize & $3000 in Modal credits ### [Best agentic usecase of Oxylabs Web API](https://junction2026.com/challenges/oxylabs-best-agentic-use-case-of-oxylabs-web-api) Oxylabs · Tech challenges Design your project around the Oxylabs Web API: use live search and scraping to verify and inform your AI agent with what is true on the web right now. Prizes: The winning team: The winning team will receive a €1,000 Apple gift voucher, plus $500 in Oxylabs product credits for each team member to use our web data collection products and explore their potential for future projects. ### [Atech Real World Challenge](https://junction2026.com/challenges/atech-atech-real-world-challenge) Atech · Tech challenges · The API for the physical world Prizes: Best Overall: The winning team gets a special Pro Atech kit for the team to keep building. · Runner ups: Runner-up teams get Atech kits and swag. Top teams are invited to show their project on Atech's channels and visit us in Copenhagen.