Hackathons are events where students, hobbyists, and programmers of all levels get together for a short period of time and try to create something using software, hardware, and other materials.
This "Hackathon in a Box" will provide you with the steps and materials to host your own 4-6 hour hackathon in an 7 week timespan, though the length of the event and timeframe can be adjusted as needed.
These events can be hosted by anybody for anybody! Whether you're a professor, student group, or a professional, hackathons can be great ways to develop student and employee skills, or even to evaluate them for recruitment.
Start with the Hackathon in a Box Playbook, which will provide an overview of the materials provided and the steps you will need to take to host your own hackathon. Each step is a recommendation based on our experience, but you can modify any of the steps to best suit the needs of your event.
We have provided a collection of problem statements that hackathon participants can tackle during the event. These are described in detail in the Hackathon in a Box Playbook:
- Fitness Tracker
- Microgrid on Mars
- Predicting Diabetes Mellitus
- Predicting Building Energy Consumption
- Drone Simulation
- Signal Decryption Challenge
Send us an email at hackathon@mathworks.com to let us know that you're interested in hosting a hackathon, when and where you're thinking of hosting it, and if you have any questions about this repository! We can make sure you have the right resources and information to run a successful event.
If you are a MathWorks Student Ambassador, reach out to your MathWorks contact for support instead.
Users of this Hackathon in a Box are responsible for setting their own terms and conditions for their hackathons. Any third party content you access directly is subject to the relevant third party terms.
Copyright 2025-2026 The MathWorks, Inc.