🚀 AI Dev Days Hackathon

Transform inspiration into innovation — A 5-week global challenge to build AI agents, agentic DevOps workflows, and intelligent applications using Microsoft's AI platform.

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🎯 Overview

The AI Dev Days Hackathon is your opportunity to turn the insights from AI Dev Days into real-world innovation. This is a 5-week global challenge for developers to build cutting-edge AI solutions using Microsoft's purpose-built AI platform, GitHub, VS Code, and Azure services.

Why Participate?

• 💰 $80,000+ in prizes across multiple categories
• 🎟️ Microsoft Build 2026 tickets for winners
• 🤝 1-on-1 mentoring session with Microsoft team
• 📣 Social promotion and recognition for winning projects
• 🌍 Global community of AI innovators

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🏗️ What to Build

Build AI-powered solutions using Microsoft's Purpose-Built AI Platform — an end-to-end toolchain for production-ready AI systems.

Build Options

Your project can be:

• 🤖 AI Agent using Microsoft Agent Framework
• ⚙️ Agentic DevOps Workflow with GitHub Copilot Agent Mode
• 🔀 Multi-Agent Application powered by Model Router
• 🔒 Secure Enterprise AI App using Microsoft Foundry
• 🔗 Agent-to-Agent (A2A) or MCP-connected system using Azure MCP
• 🛠️ Next-Gen SRE Workflow using Azure SRE Agent

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✅ Core Requirements

All submissions must meet these three requirements:

Requirement	Description
🎨 AI Technology	Build using one or more hero technologies: Microsoft Foundry, Microsoft Agent Framework, Azure MCP, or GitHub Copilot Agent Mode
☁️ Azure Deployment	Deploy to Azure — your application must leverage Azure services and be deployable to the Azure cloud platform
💻 GitHub Development	Host in a public GitHub repository, develop with VS Code or Visual Studio, and enhance with GitHub Copilot

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🏆 Prizes

Note: Teams may win multiple categories. Grand Prize winners are also eligible for category prizes.

🥇 Grand Prizes

🏅 Grand Prize: Build AI Applications & Agents Microsoft Build 2026 in-person ticket (up to 4 team members) Feature in social promotion 1-on-1 mentoring session with Microsoft team $20,000 - ($5,000 per team member, up to 4 members) Best overall solution with real-world impact and innovative use of Microsoft AI platform

🏅 Grand Prize: Agentic DevOps Microsoft Build 2026 in-person ticket (up to 4 team members) Feature in social promotion 1-on-1 mentoring session with Microsoft team $20,000 - ($5,000 per team member, up to 4 members) Best solution leveraging agentic DevOps to automate CI/CD, incident response, and reliability engineering

🎖️ Category Prizes

Each category winner receives:

• Microsoft Build 2026 in-person ticket (up to 4 team members)
• $10,000 - ($2,500 per team member, up to 4 members)

Category	Description
🏗️ Best Use of Microsoft Foundry	Demonstrates exceptional capabilities of Microsoft Foundry
🏢 Best Enterprise Solution	Greatest potential for enterprise adoption with security, responsible AI, governance, and scalability
🤝 Best Multi-Agent System	Most sophisticated multi-agent orchestration using Microsoft Agent Framework, A2A protocols, or MCP servers
☁️ Best Azure Integration	Most effective integration with Azure services (AI Services, Functions, AKS, or Azure Database)

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📦 Submission Requirements

Your submission must include:

• ✅ Working Project — Built with required developer tools meeting core requirements
• 📄 Project Description — Features, functionality, problem solved, and technologies used
• 🎥 Demo Video — 2 minutes max, uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo (public link)
• 💻 Public GitHub Repository — Source code for judging and testing
• 🏛️ Architecture Diagram — Illustrating use of Microsoft Foundry, Agent Framework, Azure MCP, GitHub Copilot, and/or Azure services
• 👥 Team Information — Microsoft Learn usernames for all participants

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⚖️ Judging Criteria

Projects are evaluated across five equally-weighted dimensions (20% each):

1. 💻 Technological Implementation (20%)

• Quality software development practices
• Effective use of hero technologies
• Well-structured, documented, and maintainable code

2. 🧠 Agentic Design & Innovation (20%)

• Creative application of Agentic AI patterns
• Sophisticated agent orchestration or multi-agent collaboration
• Novel AI implementation or meaningful improvements

3. 🌍 Real-World Impact & Applicability (20%)

• Significance of the problem being solved
• Production deployment readiness
• Potential impact on developers, businesses, or end users

4. 🎨 User Experience & Presentation (20%)

• Well-designed and intuitive user experience
• Clear communication of project value in demo
• Balanced frontend and backend implementation

5. 🎨 Adherence to Hackathon Category (20%)

• Comply with the description of the applicable hackathon category.

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📚 Resources

Get started with these learning resources:

• 📖 Microsoft Foundry Documentation
• 🤖 Build Agents with Microsoft Agent Framework
• 🔗 Azure MCP Integration Guide
• 🤝 GitHub Copilot Agent Mode Documentation
• 🎥 AI Dev Days Session Recordings

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📅 Hackathon Schedule

Phase	Dates	Description
📝 Registration	Jan 20 - Feb 22, 2026	Sign up and form your team
💻 Hacking	Feb 10 - Mar 15, 2026	Build your AI solution
🔍 Project Review	Mar 16 - Mar 22, 2026	Judging period
🎉 Announcements	Mar 25, 2026	Winners revealed!

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❓ Questions?

Reach out to the organizing team for support. Good luck building! 🚀

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