HackUPC is Spain’s first student hackathon, run once a year by Hackers@UPC, a non-profit student group at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Teams of up to four build any tech project over a weekend, judged by an industry panel.
The 2026 edition ran 24–26 April at UPC’s North Campus in Barcelona; the 2025 edition hosted 700 hackers. The next edition’s dates are not yet announced.
Benefits & funding
- Free for accepted hackers: meals, snacks, Wi-Fi, workspace, swag, showers and shared mattresses.
- Travel refund of half your ticket costs, capped at €50 (from elsewhere in Spain), €120 (from Europe) or €120–200 (from outside Europe); limited budget, so not everyone gets one.
- The refund requires demoing a valid project to the judges and is paid by PayPal about two months after the event.
Eligibility
- Students from any country, at least 14 at the time of the event: university, vocational training, high school, etc.
- Non-students only if they graduated no earlier than one year before the event (24 April 2025 for 2026); others can apply as mentors.
- Under-18s need a letter of approval signed by a parent or legal guardian.
- No coding experience needed.
Can you apply?
Here's who can apply
Decoded from the official rules. A free account checks them against your passport, degree and age in seconds.
“Students from all around the world who are at least 14 years old at the time of the event can apply. … As long as you graduated a year before the event (April 24th, 2025), or later, you can still be accepted as a hacker.” Eligibility
Education required
High School
Age requirement
≥ 14 yrs
Circlebreaker is a free database of global fellowships, scholarships and programs — every one decoded like this.
We only check the criteria we have data for. Always confirm full eligibility on the official page before applying.
Application process
- 1Apply as a hacker on my.hackupc.com, alone or by creating or joining a team (up to 4).
- 2The organisers review every application one by one and accept in batches.
- 3Once accepted, confirm your spot; request travel reimbursement then and upload receipts before the event.
Program timeline
event starts; applications close by then (no exact date published)
24 April 2026
24–26 April 2026
HackUPC 2026, Barcelona
next edition, dates TBA
2027