Vibe Coding Arena II: AI hackathon in Lille, December 5-6

After a 24-hour debut in June, the Vibe Coding Arena expands to 32 hours on site for its second edition, from Saturday, December 5, at 9 a.m. to Sunday, December 6, at 5 p.m.

The concept stays the same: working in teams, participants design and ship a working product with generative AI tools, supported by mentors, then pitch it to a jury. Development, design, product, marketing or data: every profile counts, and no coding skills are required.

What is new in the second edition

• Challenges are written by EuraTechnologies and revealed at the opening briefing on Saturday morning;
• teams now have 3 to 6 members, up from a maximum of 5 in June;
• late Sunday morning, pitch battles send half of the projects through, with wildcard spots for some of the best-rated eliminated projects;
• a final jury scores the finalists on a 25-point rubric published in advance, with five criteria rated from 1 to 5;
• you can sign up without a team: the organizers will suggest one.

An online game before the event

Open since registration began, the Arène des Spectres (Arena of Specters), a fighting game you play in your browser, lets registered participants with a confirmed spot create a fighter and take on other players' fighters in the ranked season, open until December 4. Without an account, you can play in guest mode, unranked. The leaderboard does not count toward judging: the goal is for participants to get to know each other before they arrive.

€5,000 in prizes

The three projects ranked highest by the final jury share €5,000: €3,000 for first place, €1,500 for second place and €500 for third place.

The first edition by the numbers

The first edition, on June 13 and 14, 2026, drew 253 sign-ups; 108 participants attended on campus and 33 projects were presented to the jury.

Practical information

• Dates: from Saturday, December 5, 2026, at 9 a.m. to Sunday, December 6, 2026, at 5 p.m., nonstop (rest areas on site, no lodging provided)
• Venue: EuraTechnologies, 165 avenue de Bretagne, 59000 Lille, France
• Participation: free, 140 spots so far, then a waiting list, individual registration on vca.euratechnologies.com
• Who it's for: students, young professionals and entrepreneurs; minors are welcome under conditions: signed parental consent, and a parent on site for the whole event for under-16s
• What to bring: laptop, charger and ID

Vibe Coding Arena II is organized by EuraTechnologies, in partnership with Campus Cyber Hauts-de-France Lille Métropole, with the support of the European Metropolis of Lille and co-funding from the European Union.