AI Hackathons & Competitions
Build, Compete & Make Your Mark

Builder Fest is Emergent's flagship AI builder contest, run as a series of country editions. Each is a self-contained AI builder challenge with its own prize pool in local currency, its own dates, its own eligibility rules and its own winners.

No, and that is the point of a builder contest using AI. You describe what you want in plain language, and our agents handle the code, the backend and the deployment. Most entrants are business owners, operators and consultants rather than developers.

Every contest publishes its full prize ladder before entries open, with cash at multiple ranks, paid in local currency. How many people win varies by edition and is often many more than three, with some contests paying out to 100 winners.

Business owners, founders, operators, working professionals, agencies, consultants, creators running businesses, and teams. Each contest sets its own eligibility, including a minimum age of 18 and a country of residence. Check the eligibility section on the contest page before entering.

Software that solves one real problem in a business. What you submit has to be a working application rather than a concept or a deck, deployed and ready for a judge to open and use. Common entries cover sales pipelines, operations and approvals, customer support workflows, invoicing and admin, and internal dashboards.

Against a fixed rubric published on each contest page. The heaviest criterion is business impact and potential to scale, with community upvotes, problem definition, use of the platform and user experience making up the rest. Shortlisted entries are reviewed by an expert panel, and each contest publishes its own panel composition ahead of judging.

Every contest is online, with no venue and no travel, and even final judging is held virtually. Builder Fest is a global AI contest series, but individual editions are country-specific.

Yes. You retain ownership of your application and your idea. Platform terms apply, as do the terms of any third-party materials you use. We take no equity.