Since 2019, DigiEduHack has brought together educators, students, researchers, and innovators from across the world to do one thing: build solutions for the future of digital education. Let us look at what the six editions accomplished, what it meant to the people who made it happen, and what is coming up next for the community.

A movement, not just a hackathon

DigiEduHack started in 2019 as a flagship initiative of the European Commission’s Digital Education Action Plan. The premise was straightforward: bring people together, give them a real-world challenge in digital education, and see what they build in 24 hours.

What no one fully anticipated was the scale of what that premise would produce.

• More than 300 hackathons organised across 56 countries
• Organised by 483 host organisations
• Over 12,676 participants, with more than 2,242 solutions created

Behind every number is a classroom, a campus, a community centre, or an online space where people put their energy into rethinking the future of digital education. From schools in Portugal to universities in Armenia, from NGOs in Italy to startups in Estonia, DigiEduHack grew into a genuinely global movement — one that proved educational innovation does not belong only to large institutions or well-resourced teams. It belongs to anyone willing to show up and try.

What it meant to the people who built it

For the National Ambassadors who championed DigiEduHack in their countries, the experience went well beyond programme management. It was a platform for influence, for community, and for a different kind of professional purpose.

“It gave me the opportunity to connect global ideas on digital education with the everyday realities of teachers and students in my context. I wasn’t just observing change — I was helping spark it.”

— Maja Videnovik, National Ambassador

For Steering Group members, DigiEduHack was something rarer than a programme: a community of people who genuinely cared about the same thing.

For me, DigiEduHack has always been much more than an event: it is a vibrant international community of people who genuinely believe that education can be transformed through collaboration, creativity, and digital innovation. Year after year, DigiEduHack has shown how much passion, creativity, and collective intelligence can emerge when people are given the space to imagine and build new ideas for education together.

— Veronica Mobilio, Steering Group Member

"DigiEduHack has been a truly formative experience for me, both professionally and personally. Initiatives like this are essential because they stimulate creativity and empower young people to develop and apply their digital skills in a practical way — creating a space where ideas can grow into impactful solutions, benefiting both communities and the broader education ecosystem."

— Davide Coppaloni, Steering Group Member

From a Hackathon to Reality: The Solutions That Kept Going

For many DigiEduHack teams, the hackathon was not the end — it was the beginning. Across six editions, what started as 24-hour prototypes evolved into platforms, partnerships, and products that continued long after the event itself. Here are some of the ideas that kept going.

The clearest example is Unimate. Created by Alberto Macagno and Gabriele Tealdo, students at the Università di Trento, the platform set out to solve a problem they had lived themselves: how do you choose the right university when reliable, student-led information is so hard to find? Their answer — a peer-review platform where students share authentic assessments of universities and degree programmes — won the Experienced Global Award at DigiEduHack 2024.

Since then, the team has expanded with partners from Łódź University of Technology, won at the ECIU University AI Hackathon in Finland, and presented at the ECIU University Forum 2025. Early user research found that 9 in 10 master students described Unimate as helpful, and a pilot launch at three Italian universities is now underway. Follow their progress at uni-mate.eu.

Other teams across the six editions showed the same drive. Some tackled inclusion: Signedge built sign language recognition tools for deaf and hard-of-hearing students; ADAPTATEC created AI-powered adaptive lessons tailored to learners with ADHD or autism; and Artificial Reality designed VR learning environments that included a virtual replica of their school built specifically for students with disabilities.

Others focused on the future of learning itself — EduMind and AIcademy developed AI tools for personalised learning and study planning; SaveDopamine matched employees with upskilling opportunities; and EduScale used cultural analysis to help schools strengthen emotional wellbeing and communication.

Several teams addressed environmental and social challenges: GreenBites linked food choices to environmental awareness; ANNA turned real-time climate data into educational experiences; GoGreen helped schools go paperless; and BeeSmart used digital learning to support ageing beekeeping communities.

And from the very first edition, teams were already thinking big — Student4Student encouraged young women into STEM careers, and PathWise built a full AI ecosystem to guide students through their academic journeys.

What DigiEduHack showed us

Over six editions, DigiEduHack showed that hackathons are far more than innovation or tech events; they are powerful educational experiences. By bringing together students, educators, innovators, startups, NGOs, and public institutions around shared challenges, the initiative showed how collaborative, challenge-based learning can foster creativity, critical thinking, teamwork, entrepreneurship, and digital skills — in a practical and engaging way, and without requiring any coding experience to participate.

Meaningful innovation in education does not only emerge from large institutions or top-down approaches. Some of the most impactful ideas came from grassroots communities, young people, local organisations, and interdisciplinary teams working together to address real challenges — from AI literacy and accessibility to digital inclusion and future skills.

DigiEduHack also demonstrated that the hackathon format can be flexible and accessible. Across schools, universities, NGOs, startups and innovation hubs in more than 50 countries, organisers adapted it to their own realities and communities. Whether online, onsite, or hybrid, these spaces allowed participants to learn by doing, connect across disciplines and cultures, and actively contribute to shaping the future of education.

Most importantly, DigiEduHack proved that when people are given the opportunity, trust, and tools to collaborate, they can generate creative and meaningful solutions to some of education's most pressing challenges.

What comes next?

DigiEduHack is ending here, but the community it gathered — the educators, researchers, practitioners, and innovators who showed up across six years — does not stop here.

As Filipa Lemos Cristina, National Ambassador for Portugal, reflected: "For me, this is DigiEduHack's essence — not just coding or ideas, but people rekindling their sense of agency." That sense of agency now belongs to every educator, organiser, and community that chooses to keep hacking — locally, independently, and on their own terms.

One such opportunity is the European Digital Education Hub. The Hub, online community for digital education enthusiasts in Europe and beyond, brings together 7,000+ members working on policy, research, and implementation practices across Europe and beyond. With more than 150 publications, 70+ webinars and workshops, and active squads and working groups, it is a space built for exactly the kind of people DigiEduHack attracted: those who believe digital education is worth getting right, and who want to do something about it.

Importantly, the resources developed across six editions of DigiEduHack — toolkits, facilitation guides, challenge frameworks, and organisational materials — will remain openly available via the Hub to anyone who wants to organise educational hackathons in their own context. Whether you are a school, university, NGO, or community organisation, these materials are yours to use, adapt, and build upon.

Here is a glimpse of what is happening in the Hub right now:

Squads and workshops — The Hub's squads are short-term online working groups of around 20 members, each led by an expert and active for up to six months. Past topics have included AI in education, micro-credentials, digital skills, sustainability, diversity equity and inclusion, and supporting digital education in times of crisis. Together, members co-create practical outputs — policy recommendations, guidelines, learning materials, and courses. Anyone working in education, training, or digital learning is welcome to apply; the commitment is as little as one hour a week. New squads are announced regularly — check the Hub to find one that fits your work.

Webinars — Around two per month, on topics the community has identified as important. Recent themes have included generative AI in classrooms, open-source solutions in education, AI in vocational education and training, digital wellbeing, and providing digital education in extremely difficult circumstances, including during the war in Ukraine.

If DigiEduHack shaped your work, your classroom, or your thinking, the Hub is your next step. Find out more information and register here.

A thank you

DigiEduHack was built by the people.

Hosts who opened their spaces — schools, universities, startups, innovation hubs, community centres — to something new and uncertain. Mentors and jury members who gave their time and expertise. National Ambassadors and Steering Group members who championed the initiative across countries and sectors, built local ecosystems, and made sure the energy in Brussels translated into something real on the ground. And thousands of participants, from every corner of the world, who chose to spend 24 hours imagining a better future for education — and then, in many cases, kept innovating and rethinking learning and teaching.

Over six editions, DigiEduHack created more than 2,200 solutions, 303 hackathons, and connections that will last well beyond this final edition. More than that, it proved something important: that when people are trusted with real challenges and given the space to collaborate, the ideas that emerge are worth taking seriously.

That conviction was on full display at the final Awarding Ceremony, held on 18 June 2026 as part of the Collaborate for Impact: Advancing European Digital Education and Skills event. This flagship event of the Hub brought together policymakers, educators, experts and stakeholders from across Europe to exchange, collaborate, and help shape the future of digital education and skills in Europe. There, the 2025 winning teams pitched their solutions, received their certificates from Director -General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen and took the opportunity to exchange and network with education professionals from all over Europe.

Thank you — to every participant, host, ambassador, steering group member, mentor, partner, and supporter who chose to hack digital education for the better. You have not been just the heart of DigiEduHack, but also the reason for what comes next is worth being excited about!