Who owns what we build?

Code written at the hackathon stays with your team. We get only a non-exclusive right to use it for judging and, with your consent, to show your demo. If you take one of our projects in the incubator, ownership goes in an agreement before the start.

Can we use AI tools and code written earlier?

AI tools are encouraged. Libraries, templates and your own tools are allowed if you list them in the README. Product code starts at 11:51 on Saturday.

Are there cash prizes or investment?

Not at this stage. The prize is an invitation to the six-week incubator. If that changes, the terms will be published on this page before applications close.

Yes, choose one member in the form. Before selection we introduce solo applicants to each other, and places go to teams of 2–4.

Can we take part remotely?

The hackathon takes place in Vilnius only. The incubator's Wednesday sessions run in Vilnius or online, agreed with each team.

Was the date really chosen by astrology?

Yes. We chose the date by astrological tradition, and computed every time and position astronomically, checked with two independent calculations. The tradition gives the weekend its rhythm. It guarantees nothing, and judging ignores it.

Why not the spring equinox?

On 20–21 March the Moon is almost full (97%), Mercury is still in its “shadow” and Mars is still retrograde. Applications close at the equinox itself, 22:24 on 20 March.

What do teams that don't win get?

What they built, the user data they collected and feedback from the judges.

When will we hear back?

Every team hears from hello@northwesternsolutions.org by 26 March 2027. The replies are written by a person.

How is our data handled?

UAB Northwestern Solutions processes what you enter in the form to assess the application. To rate-limit requests we keep hashes of the IP and email addresses for two days, not the addresses themselves. Applications from teams not selected are deleted three months after the hackathon. The contact name, email and project name stay in our customer list as a record of the correspondence. Details are in the privacy notice.

Is there a code of conduct?

Yes, we will publish it before applications close. It will apply to all participants, the judges and our team, and it will give the contact for reporting breaches.

Launch window · 9–11 April 2027

AI product hackathon in Vilnius

Build starts 2027-04-1011:51 Vilnius time

Ten teams each build a working AI product in 28 hours and test it with real users. The three highest-scoring teams are invited to a private Northwestern Solutions incubator, where they build, test and sell with us for six weeks.

Applications close 20 March 2027, 22:24 Vilnius time. Entry is free. 154 days to the start.

Why this date

NSEW30°60°SunMoonMercuryVenusSaturnUranus

NSEW30°60°MoonMarsJupiterUranus

Which sky to showStart, Saturday 11:51Friday evening 21:00

Ten teams, three invitations

We select ten teams of 2–4 people. Over the weekend everyone builds on the same terms: the same start, the same finish, the same rules. After the demos, the three teams with the highest scores are invited to the incubator. If an invited team cannot commit six weeks, the next team by score is invited. Every team builds to leave on Sunday with a working product.

Teams: 2–4 people, all 18 or older
Places: 10 teams
Build time: 28 hours, Saturday 11:51 to Sunday 15:51
Invitations: three, to a six-week incubator
Entry: free
Venue: Vilnius. The address will be published on this page once confirmed, and no later than the close of applications.
Language: Lithuanian and English

The weekend in Vilnius time

All times are Vilnius time (UTC+3). The build clock T starts at 11:51 on Saturday.

Day
Civil twilight
Nautical twilight
Dark

Friday 9 April

18:00: Doors open, registration
18:30: Opening: rules, judging, questions
19:00: Problem briefs and team matching. We discuss and sketch ideas; no code.
20:10: Sunset
21:00: If the sky is clear, we step outside: a young crescent Moon in the west, Mars and Jupiter in the south.
22:00: Close

Saturday 10 April

10:00: Doors open
11:51T+00:00: Build starts
14:00–18:00: Office hours with the Northwestern Solutions team: deployment, measurement, security, first users
20:12: Sunset

Whether the venue stays open overnight will be announced with the address.

Sunday 11 April

10:00–13:00: User hours: you show the product to the people it is for, with their consent
15:51T+28:00: Code freeze: public URL, repository, user log extract and a 2–4 minute video
16:00–17:20: Ten demos: 4 minutes live and 3 minutes of questions each
17:30: Judges deliberate
19:10T+31:19: Results: three incubator invitations
20:14: Sunset

Judging criteria

30 pointsA working product at a public URL, demoed live, not on slides.
25 pointsReal outside signal during the weekend, verifiable in logs.
20 pointsDepth and execution: the team went past its first idea, the engineering is sound, security basics are in place.
15 pointsA clear problem, and who would pay to have it solved.
10 pointsUsability and craft: a person knows what to do without explanation.

How we select the ten teams

40 pointsWhat you have already shipped: links to working things.
25 pointsTeam make-up: who writes or directs code and who talks to users.
20 pointsA clear problem, or readiness to take one of our assignments.
15 pointsWhether you can give six weeks if you win.

Counts

sign-ups and active sessions from your product's own logs, excluding team members, judges and Northwestern Solutions staff;
recorded user tests, with the participant's consent;
a written commitment from a company to pilot the product, naming the person responsible;
real first payments.

Does not count

Friends and family, other participants, paid traffic, bots, and accounts that never took an action. Judges may contact listed users who agreed to it.

The judges will be announced before applications close. A judge connected to a team does not score that team.

Rules

01Teams of 2–4 people, all 18 or older.
02Code starts at 11:51 on Saturday. Public libraries, templates and tools written earlier are allowed if you list them in the README.
03A full git history is required. If all the work lands in one commit just before the freeze, the product is not judged.
04AI tools are encouraged. Keep prompts, specs and agent instructions in the repository.
05By 15:51 the product runs at a public URL the judges can open.
06Collect user signal honestly: no paid ads, no bought or generated accounts, no mass email or SMS.
07Handle personal data under GDPR: collect only what you need and say clearly who you are.
08The video has no AI voiceover and no sped-up footage.
09The code of conduct applies at the venue, in chat channels and online.

Six weeks after the hackathon

The incubator runs from 12 April to 21 May. In that time the Moon goes through a full cycle of phases: full moon on 21 April, new moon on 6 May, full moon on 20 May.

112–16 April
Start
We sign an agreement with each team, you choose your track, and we set the goal and the measurement. The product gets its own address.
219–23 April
First users
You talk to the people the product is for and fix what gets in their way.
326–30 April
Decision
By the numbers you collected, we decide together whether to continue, change direction or stop.
43–7 May
Reach
Search content, a security review and the first letters from your own domain.
510–14 May
Price
You ask people to pay or commit, and measure who agrees.
617–21 May
Demo day
On Friday 21 May from 09:18, when the Sun enters Gemini, the teams show in public what works and what the numbers say.

Weekly rhythm: Mondaythe week's goal and one number you will move.; Wednesdaya working session with the Northwestern Solutions team, in Vilnius or online.; Fridaya short update: what shipped, how many users, what you learned.

Your own project or one of ours

Continue your own project

You keep building what you started at the hackathon. The code and rights stay with your team. We help you ship, measure and sell the product. Whether we ask for any share for the incubator will be published on this page before applications close, on the same terms for every team.

Take one of ours

You choose from product directions we have already researched. Who owns the new code and what the team receives go in an agreement signed before the start.

a spreadsheet-to-app product for one trade: bookings, orders, stock, work schedules;
a free business tool people find through search, such as an employer calculator;
a security self-check for small companies;
an EU-funding scheme finder for companies, on a reviewed list;
a product built on Lithuanian public register data;
an open-world browser game set in Vilnius at real scale.

The full list is shown to selected teams.

What the three teams get

Ship

We work together every week: the Northwestern Solutions team reviews the product, code, deployment and numbers with you.
Hosting on our platform: its own container and address, a TLS certificate, and the option to connect your own domain.
Deploys from an exact git revision with a health check; if the check fails, the previous version is restored.
Our way of building with AI agents: agents write the code, people decide what ships. We show you how we work with our skill library for research, letters, security and creative work.

Test

First-party measurement: UTM tags and funnel events for every experiment, so you see where people come from and where they stop.
Search content sets built from official sources, plus technical SEO: sitemaps, structured data, language versions.
A security review before public launch, only with the team's written permission.

Sell

The sales method we use ourselves: research, a personal letter, human approval, opt-outs honoured from the first letter.
We help set up your own domain for email (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and review letters before they go; you send them.
A launch write-up on our site and blog, a press-release draft and short product videos from real screen recordings, if you agree.

What we do not offer at this stage

Cash prizes, stipends or investment. AI model or cloud credits. Office desks. Guaranteed results. If this changes, the terms will be published on this page before applications close.

Your productNorthwestern SolutionsShipTestSell

Diagram: your product, Northwestern Solutions, then three lanes: ship, test, sell.

Why this date

We chose the date by the real sky over Vilnius. Times and positions are computed; astrological meanings are given as tradition. Tradition guarantees nothing and plays no part in judging: the result comes from what you ship and the people who use it.

Astronomy¹In astrological tradition

New moon 2027-04-07 02:51, 16°57′ Aries; 0.6° from Saturn in ecliptic longitudeIn astrology the new moon is treated as the start of a cycle, and Saturn is linked with structure and things built to last.

At sunset on 8 April the Moon is 19° above the horizonMany lunar calendars traditionally begin the month at the first visible crescent.

Mars direct since 1 April; Mercury in Aries from 9 April 02:20; Jupiter turns direct on 13 AprilIn astrology, Mars turning direct is read as stalled drive moving again. Mercury in Aries is linked with quick, direct communication, Jupiter in Leo with growth and visibility.

Start 2027-04-10 11:51: the Moon–Uranus conjunction at 3°12′ Gemini (geocentric ecliptic longitude); the Moon is 13.6% litModern astrology links Uranus with technology and breakthroughs, and Gemini with ideas and communication.

From Friday 15:22 to Saturday 06:21 the Moon is “void of course”Tradition holds that work begun then does not gather pace. So on Friday teams only prepare, and code starts on Saturday.

Mercury is neither retrograde nor in its “shadow” until 26 May; the incubator ends on 21 MayTradition links retrograde Mercury with miscommunication and technical glitches, so launches are avoided then.

Full moon 2027-05-20 13:59; demo day 21 May at 09:18, when the Sun enters GeminiIn astrology the full moon is treated as culmination and harvest.

The sky at 11:51:25 Vilnius time, 2027-04-10¹

Body	Sign	Altitude	Azimuth
Sun	Aries 20°16′	40.0°	150.7°
Moon	Gemini 3°12′	35.0°	95.4°
Saturn	Aries 18°00′	37.5°	153.3°
Mercury	Aries 2°22′	33.8°	172.0°
Uranus	Gemini 3°12′	31.3°	98.2°
Venus	Pisces 18°08′	29.2°	187.9°
Mars	Leo 21°23′	below horizon	31.2°
Jupiter	Leo 17°00′	below horizon	35.8°

Uranus cannot be seen by eye in daylight.

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 ..                                             ,;rX2hS
 .                                              .:is23G
..                                              .:isA3H9
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 ..                                             ,;rX2hS
  .                                            .:;sA5H
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   ..                                         .:;sA3H
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      ..                                    .:is2h
       ...                                 .:is2H
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           ...                          .,;s2
             ....                      ,;r2
                 .....            ...:i
                     ............,;

Who it is for

Teams that have already shipped something: a product, a site with users, a tool or an open-source project.
Teams where at least one member writes or directs code, including through AI agents, and at least one talks to users.
Teams that pair a builder with someone who knows a problem from manufacturing, logistics, wholesale or services.
Students and employed people, as long as every team member is 18 or older and can give six weeks if they win. We recommend at least 20 hours a week.
Applying alone? Say so in the form: before selection we introduce solo applicants to each other, and places go to teams of 2–4.

If you are looking for a pitch-deck contest or quick investment, this format is not for you.

What to bring

a laptop and charger;
access to your own AI tools and models;
a git account;
your own domain, or agreement to use an address we provide;
a phone with a camera for user tests.

You do not need an idea: problem briefs are handed out on Friday. Food arrangements will be announced with the address.

Terms in one place

Entry: Free.
Who can take part: Teams of 2–4 people, every member 18 or older. The hackathon takes place in person in Vilnius only.
Code written at the hackathon: Stays with the team. Northwestern Solutions gets only a non-exclusive right to use it for judging, and shows the demo and screenshots in a launch write-up only with your consent.
Incubator, own project: Whether we ask for any share will be published before applications close, on the same terms for every team.
Incubator, one of our projects: Ownership and the team's reward go in a written agreement before the start.
Money: No cash prizes, stipends, investment or model credits at this stage.
Venue: In Vilnius; the address will be published no later than the close of applications.
Judges: Announced before applications close.
Language: Lithuanian and English.
Replies: Selected and not selected teams hear from us by 26 March 2027.
Data: Applications are processed by UAB Northwestern Solutions under the privacy notice.
Code of conduct: Published before applications close, with a contact for reporting breaches.

Questions and answers

What does it cost?: Entry is free.
Who owns what we build?: Code written at the hackathon stays with your team. We get only a non-exclusive right to use it for judging and, with your consent, to show your demo. If you take one of our projects in the incubator, ownership goes in an agreement before the start.
Can we use AI tools and code written earlier?: AI tools are encouraged. Libraries, templates and your own tools are allowed if you list them in the README. Product code starts at 11:51 on Saturday.
Are there cash prizes or investment?: Not at this stage. The prize is an invitation to the six-week incubator. If that changes, the terms will be published on this page before applications close.
Can I apply alone?: Yes, choose one member in the form. Before selection we introduce solo applicants to each other, and places go to teams of 2–4.
Can we take part remotely?: The hackathon takes place in Vilnius only. The incubator's Wednesday sessions run in Vilnius or online, agreed with each team.
Was the date really chosen by astrology?: Yes. We chose the date by astrological tradition, and computed every time and position astronomically, checked with two independent calculations. The tradition gives the weekend its rhythm. It guarantees nothing, and judging ignores it.
Why not the spring equinox?: On 20–21 March the Moon is almost full (97%), Mercury is still in its “shadow” and Mars is still retrograde. Applications close at the equinox itself, 22:24 on 20 March.
What do teams that don't win get?: What they built, the user data they collected and feedback from the judges.
When will we hear back?: Every team hears from hello@northwesternsolutions.org by 26 March 2027. The replies are written by a person.
How is our data handled?: UAB Northwestern Solutions processes what you enter in the form to assess the application. To rate-limit requests we keep hashes of the IP and email addresses for two days, not the addresses themselves. Applications from teams not selected are deleted three months after the hackathon. The contact name, email and project name stay in our customer list as a record of the correspondence. Details are in the privacy notice.
Is there a code of conduct?: Yes, we will publish it before applications close. It will apply to all participants, the judges and our team, and it will give the contact for reporting breaches.

Team registration

2027-04-10

Applications close 20 March 2027, 22:24 Vilnius time. Every team will hear from us by 26 March.

154 days to the start.

Team

Team or project name

Contact person's name

One email, one application. Until we start assessing it, sending again updates it.

Team size

If you are on your own, choose 1: we introduce solo applicants to each other before selection.

Members and their roles

One per line: name and what you do (code, product, design, sales…).

Idea and links

What you want to build or which problem to solve

No idea yet? Tell us which field you know well.

GitHub or other code host (optional)

Link to live work or a demo (optional)

Shipped work is 40% of the selection score.

LinkedIn (optional)

After the hackathon

If you win, which would you choose?Continue our own projectTake one of your projectsNot sure yet

How much time you can give the six incubator weeks

Preferred languageLithuanianEnglisheither

Consents

All team members are 18 or older

I have read the privacy notice and agree that the application is assessed under it (Privacy notice)

We assess your application as set out in the privacy notice. We send no automatic confirmation email: a person will write back.

¹ Positions and times computed on 2026-11-07 for Vilnius with Skyfield and the JPL DE440s ephemeris, cross-checked with PyEphem and US Naval Observatory (USNO) data. Vilnius time is UTC+3 (UTC+2 on 20 March); precision about ±1 minute. Star positions from the Yale Bright Star Catalogue (5th revised edition, NASA ADC, CDS V/50), stars to magnitude 4.5.

Northwestern Solutions, UAB, Vilnius

AI product hackathon in Vilnius

Ten teams, three invitations

The weekend in Vilnius time

Friday 9 April

Saturday 10 April

Sunday 11 April

Judging criteria

How we select the ten teams

Counts

Does not count

Rules

Six weeks after the hackathon

Start

First users

Decision

Reach

Price

Demo day

Your own project or one of ours

Continue your own project

Take one of ours

What the three teams get

Ship

Test

Sell

What we do not offer at this stage

Why this date

The sky at 11:51:25 Vilnius time, 2027-04-101

Who it is for

What to bring

Terms in one place

Questions and answers

Team registration

The sky at 11:51:25 Vilnius time, 2027-04-10¹