The second hackathon of the Hack2BRIDGE series took place from 6 to 8 October 2025 at the Unicorn Startup & Innovation Hub in Graz, Austria. Organised under the BRIDGESMEs project and led locally by Silicon Alps Cluster, the event focused on the Electronics ecosystem and brought together 12 multidisciplinary teams made up of students and startup representatives.
Over two days, participants worked intensively to co-develop innovative solutions to three real challenges proposed by industry stakeholders: ams OSRAM, E-Lugitsch, and FH JOANNEUM. Throughout the event, teams developed technical prototypes, concept demonstrations and creative approaches to challenges in areas such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and sensor technology.
The event kicked off with an open session at Unicorn Startup & Innovation Hub and followed by a full day of hands-on project work. Teams received mentoring support and access to technical resources, and presented their results in five-minute pitches in front of a jury made up of company experts and ecosystem representatives.
At the end of the session, three teams were recognised for their work:
🥇 HTL Saalfelden & WSH, winner of the Smart Sensor Challenge by ams OSRAM
🥈 HelloWorld from HTL Leoben, runner-up in the challenge set by FH JOANNEUM
🥉 AAA Gigerl, a startup team tackling the AI Challenge by E-Lugitsch
The winning teams received cash and in-kind prizes, including co-working spaces, access to innovation networks and tickets to international tech events such as SEMICON Europa in Munich.
Hack2BRIDGE Austria highlighted the importance of connecting industry with emerging talent and enabling rapid experimentation around real-world challenges in the Electronics sector. The event also demonstrated how the BRIDGESMEs project is helping to create practical innovation environments where cross-sector collaboration and skills development take centre stage.
Photographs © Christof Hütter Photography
