We Organized an AI Hackathon in Europe
What was different from the San Francisco hackathons & can Czech Republic make it as an AI leader?
Hackathons are one of the moments I am actively thinking, “Humans are just awesome”. You see people literally pushing the limits of software (and sometimes hardware) in just a few hours, in their free time on the weekend.
We hosted our first hackathon in Prague, where our startup E2B had just opened an office. We didn’t have high expectations. We are a company operating primarily from San Francisco, where the AI community is thriving, everyone is discussing the latest advancements in AI agents, moving around in self-driving cars, and you can choose from dozens of meetups every week.
Luma, the go-to online place for AI and tech events, doesn’t even list Prague. (I think they decide what cities to list based on how many events are hosted there.) See how many events different cities had listed in one month on Luma:
The “Illegal Hackathon”
We launched the hackathon and didn’t even have that many registrations. In San Francisco, if you are a bit experienced, you know that it’s normal to have a 60 - 70% churn rate for each event, so you need at least 300 approved people for your event to have 100 people in attendance.
At one point, when we still had only around 50 people registered, we were discussing within our team: Is there even a potential for an AI agent hackathon in Prague? Is the AI community strong enough there? Do people want to hack on things?
Often, when promoting something related to AI agents online, people from the Czech Republic or Slovakia gave me negative comments about AI. Also, all the regulations in Europe that are mocked in California…. We even jokingly called our hackathon “Illegal hackathon” to make fun of some LLMs and AI tools not being available in the EU.
I just wasn’t expecting much.
On the day of the hackathon, I arrived around 7 AM and prepared everything with the help of the E2B team and the Rohlik Group team, who provided the venue. At 7:47 I saw some people waiting outside and thought it was catering. But it was first attendees already coming to the hackathon. At 8:30, the event was already crowded, with over 50 people.
This was already surprising since i San Francisco, I often experience people coming to hackathons in the middle of the day. There is always at least one guy who comes just for food and free merch, one guy who asks “Sorry, what event is this?”, and one guy who launches a different startup idea at each event.
At the Czech hackathon, though, almost everyone was hacking on really cool things and taking it very seriously. People delivered solutions so good that our judges couldn't even agree on finalists and winners.
We all agreed on one thing: Participants were incredibly cracked and creative but underselling their work. I think it's a funny representation of the Czech AI, tech, and startup community. The talent IS here, but we need to be confident and support each other. We saw people pushing software limits, building MCP servers, advanced data analysis or literal hardware robots...
See the hackathon demos in my post on X.
I think this hackathon proves what many of us already suspected - there's tremendous potential for AI innovation in the Czech Republic. The enthusiasm, skills, and dedication we witnessed from participants show that the talent is definitely here.
Can the Czech Republic make it as an AI leader?
The hackathon experience is funny, given the ongoing struggles to improve ESOP regulations to make it easier for Czech startups to not build from here, or the departure of top researchers like Tomas Mikolov from Czech academia due to bureaucratic barriers. While government officials and industry leaders are hosting conferences about positioning the Czech Republic as an AI leader, these real challenges show we still have substantial obstacles to overcome before that vision becomes a reality.
Despite these challenges, our hackathon demonstrated something powerful - there's a community of passionate builders here who are ready to compete on the global stage. People came early, worked intensely, and created impressive projects that could stand alongside those from more established tech hubs.
With the right support systems, reduced bureaucracy, and continued community building, the Czech Republic has all the ingredients to emerge as an unexpected AI powerhouse in Europe. This hackathon wasn't just an event - it was evidence that people here truly want to change the world and are willing to put in the work to make it happen.
More AI Events in the Czech Republic
While the Czech Republic may not have the same tech scene recognition as cities like San Francisco, London, or Berlin (YET!), there are still plenty of events and communities focusing on AI and tech. Here are a few I like:
There’s a growing tech community in the Czech Republic, and the events and individuals are helping to move things forward. If you want to recommend other AI events that I should mention, please let me know, or contribute to the GitHub repo above.