BoC Fintech Hackathon 7.0

Applications are open, the prize money is now itemised, and the Open Day has moved to 3 November. The BoC Fintech Hackathon 7.0 runs 27–29 November 2026 in person at the IDEA Innovation Centre, Likourgou 36, Nicosia 1011. This entry is being updated because three things changed since it was first listed. 1. The Open Day is 3 November, not 30 September. It runs remotely on Tuesday 3 November 2026 at 17:30. This is the session where the Bank walks through the challenge briefs and the technical specifications, and it is the cheapest hour anyone can spend before committing a team to the weekend. 2. There is also a physical info session on 26 October. The University of Nicosia Department of Computer Science hosts one on Monday 26 October 2026, 18:00–18:30, Room B213, Main Building, 46 Makedonitissis Avenue, Nicosia. Speaking are Lia Ioannou (Head of IT Performance & Relationship Management, Bank of Cyprus), Christos Nicolaou (Enterprise Architect) and Maria Procopiou (Tech Lead) — covering the hackathon's objectives, how to take part, and the technologies involved. Open to students, developers, professionals and anyone interested. 3. The €16,000 is now broken down, and two of the five prizes are sponsor-specific.

• 1st prize — €7,000
• 2nd prize — €4,000
• 3rd prize — €2,000
• Best use of Jinius APIs — €2,000
• Best Smart City solution (Municipality of Nicosia) — €1,000

That last detail matters more than the headline figure. €3,000 of the pot — nearly a fifth — is reserved for two specific briefs, and both are winnable without beating the strongest team in the room. A team that builds against the Jinius APIs deliberately, or that aims squarely at a Nicosia municipal problem, is competing in a much smaller field than the one chasing first place. Registration is open at bochackathon.net/apply. The challenge tracks, thirteen in all, with AI threaded through most of them: AI for Good, Fintech for Smart Cities, Open Banking & Embedded Finance, Fintech for SMEs & Entrepreneurship, Cybersecurity & Trust in Fintech, Sustainable Finance & Green Banking, RegTech & Compliance Automation, Inclusive Fintech & Financial Wellbeing, Energy Fintech & Smart Grid Finance, Fintech for Insurance, Fintech for Health, Fintech for Social Innovation, and AI & Fintech for Real Estate. Who can enter. Developers, startups, professionals and students. Existing teams and newly formed ones both compete, and the organisers are explicit that you do not have to be technical — mentors, sponsors and supporters are invited on the same footing. Deliverable is a solution taken up to Minimum Viable Product stage. The run-up, if you want to arrive informed. Wiki Finance Expo Cyprus (6 November, Parklane Limassol, free entry) and the 27th NextGen Payments & RegTech Forum (19 November, Four Seasons Limassol) put most of this island's payments industry in two rooms in the three weeks beforehand — including a fair number of the people who end up judging. The DORA, NIS2 and PSD3 conversations at the latter are the clearest available signal of what a Cyprus-licensed institution currently considers an expensive problem. The 27–29 November running times above are indicative — the published material confirms the dates and the venue but not the hour-by-hour schedule. Confirm at the 3 November Open Day.

Event website