On Saturday, 6 June 2026, around 80 builders came to De Koepel in Haarlem for AI Hackathon Haarlem. We organized the event together with The Social Club Haarlem, bringing developers, designers, students and other makers together to turn a business problem into a working prototype in a day.
Participants travelled from across the Netherlands and beyond, including Brussels and Italy. The official event recap captures the result: working demos, live pitches and new connections between people who had arrived to build.
Two challenges from real businesses
Teams had a choice of two partner briefs. Both asked for a useful product with a clear user and a concrete problem to solve.
Altis Groep: cash flow forecasting. The brief asked teams to help a group of roofing companies turn information from several accounting systems into a shared view of their finances. The challenge included a 13-week cash flow forecast, dashboards for different roles, and scenarios showing how weather delays could affect the timing of work and payments.
Maverx: a training builder. This brief asked for an assistant that could turn a trainer's initial idea into an editable PowerPoint deck in Maverx's house style. It needed to ask about the audience, learning objective and session length, follow a teaching structure, and let the trainer review and improve the result.
These were prototype challenges. A convincing interface was only part of the assignment: teams also had to explain how their approach addressed the brief and where human review belonged.
From kickoff to live demo
The day moved from the opening and challenge reveal into a build phase, with mentors available as teams worked. The submission deadline was 18:00, followed by review and the evening pitches. The top five teams presented to the judges and audience before the awards and closing drinks.
That deadline gave teams a practical constraint: choose what matters, get it working, and make it understandable to someone seeing it for the first time. Each finalist had a short demo and a question-and-answer session to explain the decisions behind the product.
De Koepel gave the event a distinctive setting. Teams worked in assigned rooms inside the former prison and came back together for the shared programme. Building, getting feedback and presenting all happened in the same place.
The day in pictures
From the food break at De Koepel to the build rooms, demos and awards: sixteen moments from AI Hackathon Haarlem.
- A team of four at their laptops in a build room at De Koepel
- Four participants building their prototype around a table
- A team thinking through their prototype around a shared table
- A team working together around laptops and monitors
- Three team members giving a thumbs up from their table in a build room
- A participant holding up a KapiteinLabs T-shirt among other builders
- Two participants concentrating on a laptop during the build phase
- A speaker from Neno presenting to participants at the hackathon
- A speaker addressing the room with a microphone and notes
- A finalist team pitching its agentic training deck prototype
- A finalist team presenting a live demo beside a screen
- Three participants smiling with their prizes after the awards
The people behind the day
Thank you to every participant, mentor, judge and crew member who helped make the event happen, and to the partners who supported the builders. Neno was the lead partner, with Altis Groep and Maverx providing the business challenges. Tools, venue support and food helped teams keep their attention on the work.
For Digilize, the event connected two parts of our work: helping people use AI and building software around actual business needs. The briefs made those needs specific, and the demos gave teams something concrete to discuss with the people behind them.
Keep in touch
The June 2026 edition has finished. Visit the hackathon website for the recap, partners and event videos. If you would like to bring a business challenge, mentor builders or work with us on a future event, get in touch.