CHECK out our students' achievements

42 Nice had the opportunity to participate in the Côte d’Azur Digital Schools Hackathon, joining top digital institutions including Epitech Nice, CESI and others.

The challenge focused on applying AI to support small and medium-sized enterprises, with students tasked to design practical solutions addressing real operational needs.

Across three days, 42 Nice students collaborated in inter-school teams, combining technical skills and strategic thinking to deliver concrete, impactful AI-driven solutions for local businesses.

42 Porto co-hosted the AI Retail Hackathon alongside MC and SONAE, bringing students into direct collaboration with industry leaders.

Over five days, five participants used AI and computer vision to explore new ways of shaping the future of food retail, working with real datasets from the Continente Smart Store.

The winning team, 42 Ducks, developed a smart “hot shelf” system powered by an intelligent agent and a live dashboard designed to improve product visibility and support real-time decision-making.

Following the strong momentum of the 2024 edition, the 42 Asia Hackathon returned in 2025, hosted this year by 42 Bangkok.

Over an intensive 42-hour challenge, students from six campuses across Asia collaborated, innovated, and competed to deliver impactful solutions.

42 Tokyo stood out and secured first place. The event brought together bold ideas and talent, transforming 42 Bangkok into a playground of creativity and innovation energy.

Students from 42 Lausanne took on a significant challenge during an intensive 48-hour hackathon organized in partnership with Audemars Piguet.

Working from a confidential brief based on a real operational need, participants were ask to imagine, prototype, and present a viable solution within a limited timeframe.

The teams demonstrated exceptional creativity, discipline, and technical expertise throughout the competition.

1337 Coding School achieved a national milestone by hosting Morocco’s first live hacking event. Building on their strong performance at the Hack The Box hackathon, the team officially launched NullHat Morocco in collaboration with HackerOne.

Over two days at UM6P, participants took part in the country’s first Live Hacking Session and a nationwide CTF featuring 40 teams, supported by hands-on expertise from leading ethical hackers and HackerOne ambassadors.

For the second year in a row, 42 Nice came out on top at the regional inter-school hackathon.

During a fast-paced 24-hour challenge, the team created an interactive portal giving easy, organized access to key regional data.

They were supported by a former champion, whose guidance helped keep the project focused and impactful from start to finish.

Over five weeks of simulated trading under real-market conditions, 2,100 participants from universities and schools across Morocco competed in the Casablanca Stock Exchange Championship 2025, organized by the Bourse de Casablanca.

Among them, Nour-Eddin Ait Bouguarri from at 1337 Benguerir, earned second place, standing out for his analytical mindset, composure, and vision bridging technology and finance.

The experience reflects the transformative potential of Morocco’s young talent and the 1337 learning philosophy

42 Berlin claimed first place at the Battle of the Tech Schools 2025, standing out among Europe’s leading institutions.

Competing under this year’s theme, KiezConnect: Economic Opportunity for Berlin’s Newcomers”, the team developed KiezConnect, an AI-powered discovery platform designed to help new arrivals connect with local events, communities, and professional opportunities.

Their innovative approach showcased both technical excellence and social impact.

Over the span of two days, 175 participants across 33 teams transformed the 42 Heilbronn campus into a true hub of innovation during the Unlock Campus 2.0 Hackathon.

Students tackled challenges ranging from creative digital solutions to improve campus life to ambitious real-world projects, including designing, building, and even racing hovercrafts.

The event showcased the creativity, collaboration, and technical excellence that define the 42 spirit.

In a leading innovation challenge bringing together young talents across the UAE rail ecosystem, a team led by 42 Abu Dhabi student Abdullah Ali Salem secured first place at the Global Rail Youth Hackathon by Etihad Rail.

Their winning concept, Sanady, is a compact autonomous module that clips onto any wheelchair and guides passengers from station entrance to seat. The solution combines AI navigation with live station mapping, an on-device interface for SOS and rapid assistance, and seamless integration with UAE Pass and ticketing systems, advancing safe, barrier-free mobility.

In a prestigious national competition gathering Morocco’s top engineering schools and universities, two of our teams from 1337 delivered an outstanding performance, earning 1st and 4th place among the country’s top talents.

Throughout several days of intense algorithmic challenges, participants demonstrated advanced technical skills, teamwork, and creativity under pressure.

These results highlight the excellence and competitive spirit that drive 42 students around the world.

At ETHWarsaw Hackathon, Guanyi Du and his team stood out with their project Pool Keeper, a Base mini app designed to bring greater transparency to decentralized finance.

By tracking liquidity pool health and APY evolution, Pool Keeper offers actionable insights that help traders, protocols, and analysts navigate market volatility with confidence.

This achievement showcases how our talents are turning technical expertise into tangible impact, driving innovation in DeFi and beyond.

In just five hours at IAA MOBILITY, a team from 42 Heilbronn developed a “Black Box” solution for the Virtual-2-Real challenge. 

Their app detects crashes, records full vehicle data, activates cameras, and automatically generates a Digital Witness Report in the cloud, helping to provide insurers, law enforcement, and emergency services with instant and reliable evidence. 

This innovative approach highlights the team’s ability to deliver practical, high-impact solutions under real-world time pressure.

42 Berlin student, Thanakorn Thajan won big at the Berlin Energy Hackathon, organized by the European Energy Collective.

Competing in Voltaic’s KiezGrid challenge, he delivered a full-stack platform powered by AI that determines in real time whether to use solar, battery, or grid energy. The solution gives residents live insights into generation, consumption, and savings, automates fair and transparent billing, and provides building managers with a clear system health dashboard.

What set his project apart was its holistic approach,going beyond code to consider user experience and operations.

This is a great example of how hackathons inspire practical innovation with real-world impact.

As part of the Tech Field Studies series, students at 42 Heilbronn collaborated with Gero’s Flohmarkt to explore how traditional flea markets could be transformed into modern, user-focused online platforms.

This partnership provided students with valuable hands-on experience in digital innovation, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving, while supporting Gero’s Flohmarkt in reimagining its services for a digital-first audience.

Last week, Hive hosted an intensive three-day Qt Hackathon in collaboration with the Qt team.

Over the course of the event, students immersed themselves in Qt Design Studio, Qt Creator IDE, and the Qt Framework libraries to address a unique challenge: Create an Emotional Experience with Qt for Android.

Participants were tasked with designing multi-sensory applications that engage users through sight, sound, and motion. Working in self-formed teams, they developed prototypes that responded in real time to human interaction and live data.

Throughout the hackathon, the Qt team provided continuous support both on campus and via Discord, ensuring participants could push their projects forward effectively.

In just three days, students demonstrated remarkable focus, creativity, and determination.

The LoopHole Hackathon, organized by Build Club Malaysia and the UniLah Student Community, was designed to celebrate creativity without boundaries. With no problem statements, no set agenda, and no major prize pool, the event encouraged participants to embrace experimentation and innovation.

Students from 42 Kuala Lumpur joined the challenge, forming two teams that delivered projects characterized by originality, humor, and clever design. For many, this was their first hackathon experience, offering valuable exposure to collaborative innovation in a free-form environment.

The participation of 42KL students reflected the community’s ability to think outside the box and apply their skills in unconventional ways.

The 2025 Summer CodinGame Challenge brought together thousands of participants from leading schools and companies worldwide.

In this highly competitive environment, students from the 42 network delivered outstanding performances, securing five places in the global Top 10.

This achievement highlights the exceptional talent, creativity, and technical skill cultivated through 42’s peer-driven, project-based learning model. It also underscores the ability of 42 students to compete, and excel, on the global stage.

Discover the full winners list here 

At 42 Heilbronn, a 24-hour hackathon brought together students to design innovative solutions for building a safer, smarter internet for children. The initiative was inspired by the work of Sascha Schell, who examined hardware-based protections against explicit content, and Kay Winter, who explored AI-driven content filters tailored to parental values in his master’s thesis.

Over the course of the hackathon, students developed functional prototypes that successfully merged ethics, personalization, and technical rigor. Every team delivered a working model, each demonstrating creativity, practical application, and a strong sense of purpose.

This hackathon showcased how the 42 model of project-based learning empowers students to address complex societal challenges while delivering impactful, real-world solutions.

Over an intensive 72-hour challenge, seven teams at 42 Abu Dhabi participated in the RecognAIze Hackathon, developing AI-powered CCTV recognition systems that combined machine learning, ethics, and innovation to deliver real-world applications.

Among plenty of participants, three teams, Attention, CatsUnderCCTV, and Team Piolo were awarded for their outstanding performance and creativity!

From concept to code, the RecognAIze Hackathon demonstrated how the 42 community can harness AI to decode patterns, detect behavior, and design technology with purpose.