€16,000 in prizes: BoC Fintech Hackathon 7.0 opens its call for 27-29 November

If you have been waiting for the next big open hackathon in Cyprus after the summer, here it is. The Bank of Cyprus has opened the call for BoC Fintech Hackathon 7.0, running 27-29 November 2026 in person at the IDEA Innovation Center in Nicosia.

What you can win

• 1st place - €7,000
• 2nd place - €4,000
• 3rd place - €2,000
• +€2,000 for the best use of the Jinius APIs (Bank of Cyprus)
• +€1,000 for the best Smart City solution (Nicosia Municipality)

That is €16,000 announced so far, and the organisers say more awards are coming.

13 tracks, one weekend

The theme is fintech, but the brief is wide: AI for Good, Fintech for Smart Cities, Open Banking & Embedded Finance, Fintech for SMEs, Cybersecurity & Trust in Fintech, Sustainable Finance & Green Banking, RegTech & Compliance Automation, Inclusive Fintech & Financial Wellbeing, Energy Fintech, Fintech for Insurance, Fintech for Health, Fintech for Social Innovation, and AI & Fintech for Real Estate. None of them are binding - they are prompts, not rules. The goal is a working MVP by Sunday, not a slide deck.

Who it is for

Developers, startups, professionals and students. You can apply with a ready team, apply solo and get matched, or bring an idea and have a team built around it if it gets selected. Previous editions drew 100+ participants across 31 teams, so it is a realistic place to meet collaborators as well as compete.

Dates to keep

• August 2026 - open call (live now)
• 30 September - Open Day
• October 2026 - technical specifications published
• 27-29 November - the hackathon itself, IDEA Innovation Center, Likourgou 36, Nicosia

Partners include Jinius, Nicosia Municipality, the University of Cyprus, UNIC, Kyndryl, Microsoft and Cyta Business, with technological and organisational support from Crowdpolicy.

Applications are open on the official site - worth putting your name in early if you want time to shape a team before the September Open Day.