About the challenge

HackTheEast is a 24-hour hackathon running from 9:00 AM Saturday, Feb 28 to 6:00 PM Sunday, March 1. Participants are invited to demonstrate their skills and creativity by building solutions!

The competition features a general stream, complemented by Track Awards with partners. This is to encourage Hong Kong techies to get creative and create a solution with a meaningful impact and drive technological advancement. 

NOTE: Registering on DevPost does not constitute you as a participant. Register through our website to be eligible to compete: https://hacktheeast.com/register

We do not sponsor flights nor accomodation.

All cash prizes are in Hong Kong Dollars.

HackTheEast 2026 HAS CONCLUDED
650 Registrants, 350 Participants, 70 Teams

• Novelty & Creativity
  Unique approach or perspective? - Attacks problem with new angle? - Breaks new ground technically? - Solution more creative than existing alternatives?
• Demonstrated use of AI/ML techniques
  Are AI/ML components genuinely leveraged or superficial? - Appropriate algorithm/model selection? - Quality of implementation? - Legitimate use of training data?
• Impact & relevance
  Solves genuine problem for real users? - Scalable beyond prototype stage? - Addresses pressing need in Hong Kong or globally? - Potential for long-term value creation?
• Presentation & communication
  Clear problem statement in video? - Effective demonstration of core functionality? - Professional presentation quality? - Does audience understand value proposition?
• Technical implementation and scalability
  Code organization and readability? - System architecture supports growth? - Performance optimization? - Robust error handling? - Uses appropriate tech stack?