HACK47: OFFGRID

About the challenge
OFFGRID Rules
Dates 15th september - 15th october
The official hackathon timeline, submission deadline, and judging schedule will be announced by the Hack47 team.
All projects must be submitted before the official submission deadline to be eligible for judging.
Eligibility
OFFGRID is open to builders from anywhere.
You can participate individually or as part of a team.
There is no requirement to be a computer science student or professional developer.
Students, developers, designers, founders, researchers, and creators are all welcome.
Teams may use any technology, programming language, framework, API, or platform.
Participants may use AI tools and developer tools to build their projects.
Project and Submission Requirements
Your project must be created for OFFGRID during the designated hackathon period.
You may use existing libraries, APIs, open-source software, datasets, and developer tools.
AI coding assistants and generative AI tools are allowed.
Projects should contain meaningful work done by the participating team. Do not simply submit an existing project with minimal changes.
If you build on an existing open-source project, clearly explain what you added or changed.
Your submission must include a working project or functional prototype whenever reasonably possible.
A project demo is strongly recommended.
Source code should be provided where applicable.
Participants must clearly disclose major third-party technologies, APIs, models, or open-source pro

Requirements
What to Build
What to Build & Submit
Build a working project that solves a real problem, explores an interesting idea, or creates something genuinely useful.
There is
no fixed theme
and
no mandatory technology stack
.
You can use any language, framework, API, AI model, open-source technology, blockchain, hardware, or other tools you want.
We encourage projects that:
Solve a real problem
Have a clear target user
Introduce an interesting or unconventional idea
Use technology meaningfully
Go beyond a basic tutorial or CRUD application
Have a functional prototype
Demonstrate strong product thinking and execution
Have the potential to become a real product, startup, or open-source project
You can participate individually or as part of a team.
What to Submit
Your submission should include:
Project Name
Short Description
— Explain what you built in 1–2 sentences.
Problem
— What problem are you solving and who experiences it?
Solution
— Explain how your project solves the problem.
Demo Link
— Provide a working demo whenever possible.
Source Code
— Link to your GitHub/GitLab repository.
Demo Video
— Show the project working and explain what you built.
Tech Stack
— List the major technologies, APIs, models, and tools used.
Build Process
— Briefly explain what you built during OFFGRID and what you would improve next.
Judging Philosophy
We’re not looking for the project with the most lines of code or the most buzzwords.
We care about:
Originality
— Is the idea interesting and different?
Impact
— Does it solve a meaningful problem?
Execution
— How well does the product actually work?
Product Thinking
— Would someone genuinely want to use this?
Technical Depth
— Was technology used thoughtfully?
Potential
— Could this become something bigger after OFFGRID?
Important
Your submission should be your own work created for OFFGRID.
You are free to use existing libraries, APIs, open-source projects, AI coding tools, and other developer tools. Be transparent about how they were used.
Most importantly:
Don’t build for the hackathon. Build something worth continuing after it.
Go OFFGRID.

Judging Criteria
Originality
Is the idea genuinely interesting or unconventional?
Impact
Does it solve a meaningful problem?
Execution
How well does the project work?
Product Thinking
Would someone actually want to use it?
Technical Depth
Was technology used thoughtfully?
Potential
Could this become something bigger after OFFGRID?
Potential
Could this become something bigger after OFFGRID?