Deadline: December 15, 2026
Applications are open for the QNX Global Hackathon 2026. For decades, QNX has been running the systems people bet their lives on, from medical devices and factory floors to trains, robots, and more than 275 million vehicles. It guarantees not just that your code runs, but exactly when. Now QNX 8.0 is free for non-commercial use, and the QNX team wants to see what you do with it when nobody hands you a spec.
Build a robot that reacts in microseconds instead of milliseconds. Write the driver nobody has written yet. Port something you love to QNX, or build the tooling you always wished existed. If it runs on QNX 8.0, or helps someone else build for it, it counts. Pick your category and compete for a share of $50,000. Show what you can do!
Categories
- Robotics & Medical. Real-time applications where timing, safety, or reliability is critical.
- Automotive & Mobility. Software-defined vehicle and other mobility applications.
- Low-level Software. Board support components or device drivers built with the QNX Driver Development Kit.
- Developer Tooling & Host Tools. Tools that make building for QNX easier, on the host or the target.
- Open-Source Contribution & Ports. Porting an existing open-source project to QNX or contributing upstream to the QNX open-source ecosystem.
- Submit a new repository, created during the Submission Period, containing your porting or contribution work: the patches or porting layer, the QNX build files, build and run instructions, and your documentation. Reference the upstream project by URL rather than copying its history into your submission. Do not submit a fork of the upstream project.
Prizes
- Get your hands on a real-time OS, free. QNX Everywhere gives you QNX SDP 8.0, QNX Developer Desktop, and the QNX Hypervisor for non-commercial use, plus free training courses to get you moving. No target hardware required; QEMU works, and so does a Raspberry Pi 5.
- In 275 million vehicles. Now on your laptop. Not a teaching edition or a stripped-down trial. It’s the same QNX that ships in commercial systems, and until QNX Everywhere, building on it meant a commercial license.
- Compete for $50,000 in prizes. Plus swag, a coffee chat with a QNX exec, and a feature on the QNX blog and social channels.
Eligibility
The Hackathon IS open to:
- Individuals who are at least 18 years or older at the time of entry;
- Teams of Eligible Individuals; and
- Organizations (including corporations, not-for-profit corporations and other nonprofit organizations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and other legal entities) that exist and have been organized or incorporated at the time of entry.
Application
Here are what to submit:
- A URL to your public code repository on GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket. It must contain all source code, assets, and build and run instructions needed to reproduce the project and must show that the project genuinely builds for or runs on QNX 8.0, not merely that QNX 8.0 is named in the README.
- The repository must be public and open source, with an open-source license file detectable at the top of the repository page (About section).
- A text description explaining the features and functionality of your project.
- A demonstration video, under three (3) minutes. It should show the project functioning on the device it was built for, must be uploaded to YouTube and made public, and must not include third-party trademarks or copyrighted music unless you have permission to use them. Judges are not required to watch beyond three minutes.
- Build and run instructions specifying the QNX version, the target (hardware or QEMU), and the toolchain used.
- One category, selected on the submission form.
- For Open-Source Contribution & Ports submissions:
- The URL of the upstream project you ported or contributed to
- The URL of your pull request, if you opened one
- If you are entering the Best Codelab / Tutorial bonus prize, the URL of your codelab in the designated field on the submission form.
For more information, visit QNX Global Hackathon.
