Join the Hague Policy Hackathon: Bringing Together Young Talent to Tackle Societal Challenges

From 9 to 11 October 2026, Leiden University’s Spui Campus in The Hague will host the next edition of the The Hague Policy Hackathon: an interdisciplinary event designed to bridge the gap between data science, policymaking, and social impact. The initiative brings together technically and socially oriented students and young professionals to collaborate on some of the Netherlands’ most pressing societal and policy-related challenges. In teams, they will work with policy analysis and data analysis to draft a well-substantiated policy brief and pitch it to a jury. The cases will be provided by challenge partners and organisations in the public and private sectors.

The Hague Policy Hackathon (THPH) is a newly founded hackathon event in The Hague, Netherlands. During this 2.5 days competition event, students and young professionals form multidisciplinary teams to develop data-informed policies and/or policy tools to tackle pressing societal issues relevant within the Dutch national government's policy landscape. The challenges are provided by government and policy stakeholders. At the core, the event champions research and innovation at the interdisciplinary intersection between technology and policy. The event has already been succesfully held in Amsterdam and is inspired by the MIT Policy Hackathon, which is a similar competition held annually at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

During the hackathon, teams will receive guidance via:

• Office hours with challenge partners and experts.
• Workshops in policymaking, problem formulation (design thinking), and effective presentation. Coaching provided by our organisation.

Cases

In teams, they will work with policy analysis and data analysis to draft a well-substantiated policy brief and pitch it to a jury. The cases will be provided by challenge partners and organisations in the public and private sectors. Below you my find more information about the two cases.

Case 1: Buggings Amsterdam. Making biodiversity matter through data-informed policy

Case 2: Powering Amsterdam's Future. Supporting residents in the energy transition

Opportunities for Partners and Organisations

The organisers are currently inviting organisations to become involved as partners in the upcoming edition of The Hague Policy Hackathon. As a Case Sponsor, organisations can define a societal or policy challenge relevant to their field, provide relevant datasets, and contribute expertise during the event. Sponsors also have the opportunity to support the initiative financially or contribute to a prize pool for winning teams.

In addition, organisations can participate as Community Partners by hosting workshops, joining the jury panel, or delivering keynote presentations on topics such as design thinking, effective pitching, or data-driven policymaking.

Participating organisations will not only contribute to a new social initiative and open innovation ecosystem, but also strengthen their visibility as forward-looking and socially engaged organisations while expanding their network among talented young professionals and fellow partners.

Interested in Collaborating?

The organisers welcome conversations with organisations interested in exploring collaboration opportunities for the 2026 edition. For more information or to discuss partnership possibilities, interested parties can contact: thehaguepolicyhackathon@gmail.com

Source: The Hague Policy Hackathon