NASA Space Apps Challenge, the world’s largest hackathon, will return to Romania on November 14-15, with simultaneous events in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca. Registration for the 48-hour international event is open until November 13.

Under the theme The Next Frontier!, participants will form teams of up to six members and use NASA’s open data to develop solutions to challenges related to Earth and space exploration. The challenges will be announced on September 17.

The competition is open to programmers, scientists, engineers, designers, students, storytelling specialists, and other people interested in technology and innovation, regardless of their age, experience, or professional background.

“Romania has people with ideas and skills who can compete at the highest international level, and this competition is an extraordinary opportunity to bring them together and connect them to one of the most innovative global communities,” said Diana Iosu, founder of DiFine PR and organizer of the Bucharest edition. 

The Bucharest event will be held at the Romanian-American University, while the Cluj-Napoca competition will take place at ClujHUB. Registration for Bucharest is available here, and for Cluj here.

Two winning teams will be selected from each city to advance to the global competition and compete against thousands of teams worldwide. Global winners will be invited to visit a NASA center or facility, attend an event celebrating their projects, and meet representatives of the US space agency. 

Participants will also receive free access to the Google AI Professional Certificate course offered through Coursera.

People under 18 may participate only with the consent of a parent or legal guardian, who must accompany them throughout the event.

The 2025 edition attracted 200 registrations in Romania. Winning projects included an algorithm assessing the environmental effects of business decisions, a visual platform for learning about physics and astrophysics, and an AI solution that converted air-quality data into real-time information.

Launched globally in 2012, the NASA Space Apps Challenge has brought together more than 487,000 participants from 190 countries and territories. The Romanian editions are organized by ROTSA and DiFine PR.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: press release)