November 1 – December 15: Hackathons – Building from Place, Coding for Impact

This phase marks the most intensive phase of hands-on development in the lead-up to the Cardano Africa Tech Summit. An estimated sixteen simultaneous hackathons will unfold across Africa, coordinated by regional hubs and supported by a continental ecosystem of mentors, facilitators, and technical partners. These hackathons are not isolated coding marathons—they are structured action-learning experiences that combine regenerative thinking, skills development, and collaborative building.

The goal of this stage is to translate locally rooted insights—surfaced during the enrollment phase—into functional prototypes and early-stage applications using Cardano’s infrastructure. This is where problem statements become solution pathways, and where community potential is activated through technological creation. By the end of this six-week process, at least 40 projects will be selected to move forward to the final summit showcase in February 2026.

To guide this process, the hackathon phase is divided into three key moments, each with a specific developmental focus:

1. Week 1: Regenerative Exploration – Understanding the Problem through Place

The first week is dedicated to deepening each team’s understanding of their selected challenge. Rather than jumping straight into ideation or coding, participants will revisit and refine their problem statements through a regenerative learning lens. By the end of the week, teams will have a clearly defined problem statement, enriched by the insights of their local context.

2. Weeks 2–5: Cardano Skills Training – Learning by Doing

The next four weeks focus on technical skill-building in parallel with solution development. Participants will be introduced to the Cardano stack, including relevant SDKs, APIs, and development tools (such as the Mesh SDK, Plutus,Aiken smart contract language, and integration with SingularityNET/ASI AI services, where relevant). Training will be delivered through asynchronous modules, live technical sessions, peer learning spaces, and mentor check-ins. Importantly, the learning is applied—participants will be building their projects as they learn, ensuring that knowledge is embedded through real-world application. This phase will also include optional sprints, GitHub challenges, and support for publishing open-source modules.

3. Weeks 5–6: Action Iteration – Prototyping and Refinement

The final two weeks are dedicated to building, testing, and refining the actual projects. This is a sprint phase in which teams move from early concepts and rough builds to working prototypes ready for submission. This phase is also where data and stories begin to accumulate—participants are encouraged to document their learning journeys as part of a collective “publishing stack.” This storytelling component is not just an add-on; it is integral to the regenerative approach. The goal is to surface not only what was built, but how and why it matters—giving visibility to process, relationship, and transformation alongside technical output.

By December 15, the following outcomes are expected:

• At least 125 teams forms, working on projects with Cardano integrations
• A minimum of 250 developers actively contributing to code repositories
• Shortlisted projects ready for refinement and presentation at the February summit (final selection probably will happen start of January)
• A growing network of builders, hubs, and mentors co-evolving a continental innovation ecosystem

This stage demonstrates that Africa’s technological capacity is not only growing—it is regenerating from the inside out, informed by local needs, shaped by community intelligence, and built for long-term relevance.