The Ministry of Municipalities and Housing has opened registration for Baladiyathon 2026, a national hackathon aimed at attracting innovators, developers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and those interested in modern technologies to develop innovative solutions addressing key challenges in the municipal and housing sectors, in line with the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030. The hackathon will take place on July 27-28, 2026 at the Innovation Center of the Digital Government Authority, with cash prizes totaling up to 65,000 riyals, as part of fostering a culture of innovation, empowering national talents, and harnessing artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and data to build smarter and more sustainable cities. Stimulating innovation, the event aims to bring about a qualitative leap in municipal services through the development of applicable digital solutions that contribute to raising the efficiency of municipal work, improving user experience, supporting decision-makers with data, stimulating innovation, developing solutions for operational challenges, building partnerships with innovators and entrepreneurs, and turning promising ideas into executable projects. The hackathon addresses three main challenges: developing a smart solution to verify the compliance of commercial activities with professional, construction, and municipal requirements before issuing licenses; creating a proactive inspection system based on artificial intelligence to predict violations and support inspectors; and developing technical solutions to analyze the impact of infrastructure projects, excavation, and maintenance works on traffic flow, proposing alternative routes, and predicting congestion levels. Participating projects are evaluated according to six criteria: the extent of addressing the challenge, level of innovation, applicability, expected impact and sustainability of the solution, quality of the prototype, and quality of presentation and team performance. Baladiyathon 2026 targets developers, programmers, AI and data specialists, engineers, designers, entrepreneurs, university students, and all those interested in innovation and emerging technologies, thereby enhancing the participation of national talents in developing future solutions for the municipal and housing sector.

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