Join us to imagine, design, and prototype the next generation of green and digital solutions!
The LOTUS Open Innovation Hackathon is a 3-day, all-digital event that brings together students, researchers, startups, and university staff to co-create solutions that respond to real sustainability and digital transformation challenges inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Across Europe, universities play a growing role in driving green and digital transitions, but many innovation ecosystems remain fragmented. This hackathon strengthens collaboration between academia, students, and external partners to turn ideas into impactful solutions.
Through a dynamic mix of expert workshops, mentoring, teams’ co-creation and live pitching sessions, participants will refine their project ideas and transform them into validated, actionable blueprints.
Whether you’re a student team, a research group, academic staff, or an early-stage startup — or any mix of these — this is your opportunity to showcase your innovation and make measurable impact.
Eligibility:
An organisation, company, or public body presenting a real-world sustainability or digitalisation challenge. Challenge owners ensure the hackathon remains connected to real market and societal needs by engaging directly with participating teams and evaluating proposed solutions. In this year’s Hackathon edition, the challenges have been identified by the LOTUS consortium partners.
A pre-formed team of students, researchers, startup members, or university staff participating in the hackathon with an idea already in mind. Teams will work intensively to refine their concept, test its viability, and pitch their solution to an international jury, supported by expert mentors and workshops.
The LOTUS Hackathon aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, providing a framework for innovation with purpose. Teams are encouraged to select the challenge that best matches their expertise and passion.
Each challenge contributes to one or more SDGs, including:
By joining the LOTUS Open Innovation Hackathon, your team will get:
Collaborate with peers and experts across Europe.
Receive personalised guidance from mentors in sustainability, business, and digital innovation.
Attend high-value workshops on value creation, business modelling, and pitching.
Present your idea to an international jury and gain exposure across the LOTUS network.
Access post-hackathon mentoring and potential acceleration opportunities through the LOTUS Mentoring scheme.
Strengthen your team's entrepreneurial, problem-solving, and communication skills.
Higher education institutions generate large amounts of waste — from food packaging and office materials to laboratory disposables. While sustainability pledges are growing, practical waste-reduction systems often lag behind. The challenge is to design smart, scalable, and data-driven solutions that help universities and organizations transition toward zero-waste operations, reducing, reusing, and tracking resources more efficiently.
Inspiring business models of real companies:
Related SDG(s): 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production; 13 – Climate Action
Mobility is a major contributor to emissions, congestion, and energy waste — both on campuses and in urban areas. The challenge is to develop solutions that make sustainable commuting and local travel the default choice. Ideas should make low-carbon mobility practical, trackable, and attractive to individuals and organizations alike.
Inspiring business models of real companies:
Related SDG(s): 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities; 13 – Climate Action
Research and industrial labs consume vast resources — energy, chemicals, and single-use materials — making them among the least sustainable workspaces. The challenge is to reimagine laboratory operations through digitalization, circularity, and smart management, reducing environmental impact without compromising performance or safety.
Inspiring business models of real companies:
Related SDG(s): 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production
As digitalisation accelerates, burnout, stress, and information overload are rising challenges in academia and beyond. The opportunity lies in using AI and data-driven technologies to foster wellbeing, balance, and human-centric productivity. Solutions should respect privacy while helping users manage workloads, focus, and mental health.
Inspiring business models of real companies:
Related SDG(s): 3 – Good Health and Well-Being; 4 – Quality Education
Gender inequality remains a barrier to innovation and economic growth. Women entrepreneurs and professionals still face limited access to capital, visibility, and leadership roles. The challenge is to create entrepreneurial or digital solutions that actively close gender gaps — from inclusive funding tools and career platforms to AI-driven analytics that uncover systemic bias.
Inspiring business models of real companies:
Related SDG(s): 5 – Gender Equality; 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth
Local SMEs and public bodies often face challenges in digitalisation and sustainability but lack internal innovation capacity. Meanwhile, students and researchers seek real-world experience. The challenge is to build solutions that connect university talent with regional needs, creating mutual value and tangible impact.
Inspiring business models of real companies:
Related SDG(s): 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth; 17 – Partnerships for the Goals
Biodiversity loss and land degradation are escalating crises. The challenge is to design technology-enabled or nature-based solutions that protect, restore, and monitor biodiversity — turning environmental responsibility into innovation and opportunity.
Inspiring business models of real companies:
Related SDG(s): 13 – Climate Action; 15 – Life on Land
Cities face pressure to decarbonise, digitalise, and stay livable. The challenge is to design data-driven, citizen-centred, and scalable urban solutions that improve life quality while reducing environmental impact.
Inspiring business models of real companies:
Related SDG(s): 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities; 13 – Climate Action
Call announcement
Call deadline
Applications results communicated to applicants
Hackathon implementation
Review of pitches and selection of 8 best ideas
Announcement of finalists, to present in the "Final pitching" session
Finalists' support in fine-tuning their pitches
Final pitching and winners announcement
Teams of 2 or more members composed of students, researchers, startups, or staff (academic or non-academic), from anywhere around Europe. Cross-disciplinary teams are strongly encouraged.
No, unfortunately not. The LOTUS Hackathon is designed for teams with existing ideas. Individual matchmaking is not part of this event.
Each team may apply with one idea only, addressing one specific challenge from the official LOTUS Hackathon Challenge List.
Your idea should propose an innovative and feasible solution aligned with one of the published challenges. It can be a new concept, a prototype, or an early-stage project that can be developed further during the hackathon.
When applying, teams will choose one challenge that best fits their idea’s focus. The challenge list is available on the Hackathon website.
The hackathon takes place fully online over three consecutive mornings, featuring workshops, mentoring, and collaborative team work. A final pitching session will follow, where finalists teams will be invited present their solutions to an international jury.
Participation is free of charge for all selected teams.
Your team will gain access to expert mentors, interactive workshops, and digital collaboration tools. Mentors will guide you through value proposition design, business modelling, and pitching preparation.
An international jury will evaluate all final pitches based on:
Winning and high-potential teams will continue receiving personalised mentoring through the LOTUS Mentoring Service and may be invited to join acceleration or showcase activities supported by the LOTUS consortium.
Apply now and prepare to be challenged!