EXPERIENCE 2018–2026

Programmes,
hackathons
& events

From urban challenges to international programmes, teams and implemented solutions.

Programmes for green recovery, just transition, urban innovation and small-town development. Each case shows the challenge, approach, partners and outcome.

FLAGSHIP PROGRAMMES

From a challenge
to implementation

The current 2026 hackathon, the municipal cycle with IOM Ukraine and results from the first Rebuild Green iteration.

Illustration of a green and resilient urban environment — Programme illustration: green and resilient urban environments.

2026 · second cycleOnline hackathon · in progress

Rebuild Green Hackathon 2026

The second international urban hackathon within Rebuild Green 2030. Interdisciplinary teams work with municipalities on practical recovery solutions and prepare them for further acceleration and piloting.

7 municipalities
7 teams
3–24 October
Demo Day · 31 October

Real municipal challenges

Bucha, Boyarka, Zhytomyr, Konotop, Lviv, Mykhailo-Lukashivka and Tereshky. Challenges address accessibility, housing, public spaces, veteran reintegration, medical waste and territorial development.

From teams to pilots

Work with challenge owners, joint mentoring sessions and expert review. Demo Day on 31 October presents proposals to municipalities, partners and potential donors. Three projects are to be selected for acceleration in 2026–2027.

Next step: accelerate selected solutions, develop consortia and prepare projects for external funding and implementation.

Organised by SYNCHRO SPACE and FIABCI-Ukraine. Sustainable construction partner: Modulina Straw Panels.

Hackathon programme Municipal challenges Schedule

A solution presentation at a Livelihood Hackathon in Kyiv, April 2026 — Team solution presentation · Kyiv, April 2026.

Kyiv · April 2026IOM Ukraine · Livelihood+

Livelihood Hackathons

Three three-day, in-person hackathons for 12 municipalities in Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions. Municipal representatives, interdisciplinary teams and mentors co-created digital prototypes addressing specific local challenges.

3 hackathons of 3 days each
12 municipalities
6 winning teams

Challenges and process

Municipalities defined their needs, and teams developed, tested and presented solutions with mentor support. SYNCHRO SPACE designed and delivered the preparation and implementation of the hackathon cycle.

Commissioner and partners

IOM Ukraine’s Livelihood+ project, funded by BMZ through KfW. SYNCHRO SPACE developed the programme and delivered the hackathons.

15–17 AprilEducation and cultural exchange
22–24 AprilPublic services
27–29 AprilUrban development and smart solutions

Result: six winning teams, with €45,000 in IOM funding for further solution development.

Programme website Final hackathon press releases (UA)

The completed PtakhaHata pavilion by BUDMO in Severynivka — PtakhaHata / Common Ground · BUDMO · completed in 2025.

2024–2026 · first-cycle resultsRebuild Green 2030 programme

Rebuild Green: from hackathon to implementation

The first cycle of an international green recovery programme: municipal needs, the 2024 hackathon, team development, consortia and pilot construction. Bio-based materials, circular principles and energy efficiency move from concepts into built projects.

16 countries
600 people reached across the cycle
2 implemented pilots
2 projects in acceleration

Scale and approach

The 2024 hackathon addressed challenges from four municipalities, with teams creating six projects. Across the 2024–2025 cycle, 60+ municipal needs were reviewed, with 20+ municipalities and 35 experts involved. Teams continued their work through 12 months of acceleration.

Partnership model

Initiated and organised by SYNCHRO SPACE and FIABCI-Ukraine, with sustainable construction partner Modulina Straw Panels. Organisers, businesses and experts combine cash and in-kind contributions; pilot construction is funded separately through municipalities, donors and partners.

First-cycle result: four projects continue to develop. Two have completed built pilots, and two remain in acceleration.

Four projects in action

The built PtakhaHata pavilion among the trees at Ptakha Camp

Completed · 2025

PtakhaHata / Common Ground

BUDMO · Severynivka. The first built element of the winning Common Ground project: a pavilion for gathering, learning, observing nature and supporting the recovery of children and mothers at Ptakha Camp.

Implemented · scaling

U-House

U-Team · Severynivka. The first house was completed in 2025, with further modules built in 2026. The model is being replicated.

Consortium and financing

Teofipol Workforce Eco-Housing

TOLOKA · Teofipol. A phased project for affordable, energy-efficient housing for employees of the Green Energy Industrial Park.

Rendering of the community hub and training centre in Apostolove — Rendering

Active project development

Community Hub & Straw Bale Training Centre

ABCU · Apostolove. A community hub and a hands-on training centre for straw-bale construction technologies.

PtakhaHata: how the pilot was implemented

Common Ground by BUDMO / architect Nicolas Ziesel won Rebuild Green 2024. The pavilion completed in 2025 demonstrated the practical use of bio-based materials and circular construction principles.

Funding partners included the Podillia Regional Development Agency and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in France. Modulina Straw Panels contributed straw panels; BUDMO, Nicolas Ziesel, Ptakha Camp and volunteers contributed to design and construction.

Rebuild Green 2030 programme 2024 hackathon solutions Progress of the four projects PtakhaHata · BUDMO

EUROPEAN CASES

Solutions for
European cities

International partnerships for neighbourhood transformation and tourism development in small towns.

Official launch of the tourism innovation incubator in Basicò, 2025 — Basicò incubator launch · Sicily, 2025.

2025 · Basicò, SicilyComune di Basicò and ISIVI

Basicò Tourism Innovation

Launch of a solution incubator model for tourism development in small towns, from assessment of local potential to idea presentations and selection of a solution for piloting.

6 teams
Pitch & Demo Session
A model for small towns

Result

Six teams presented their solutions, launching a tourism innovation incubator model for small Sicilian towns.

Comune di Basicò · ISIVI · SYNCHRO SPACE · FIABCI

SYNCHRO SPACE post-release Programme page

Project presentations at Strade e Piazze Gentili in SC3 Milano — Art and design for neighbourhood transformation · Milano Design Week 2025.

8–13 April 2025 · MilanSC3 Milano GentiLab, Gentletude and Voice of Space

Strade e Piazze Gentili / TUMAMI

A hackathon in the official Milano Design Week programme to transform the Turro-Martesana neighbourhood. Design, art and digital technology help rethink public spaces around Via Scutari and strengthen interaction between residents.

6 phygital projects
Reused materials
Augmented reality

Solutions and next steps

Six art proposals combine physical objects, reused materials and AR. Further implementation is based on cooperation with municipalities and private partners.

SYNCHRO SPACE founder Alissa Bankovska took part as a co-organiser, contributing to programme work and mentoring. Partner support: Immobiliare Falco, Modulina and TAF Abrasivi.

Projects and results at SC3 Milano

SELECTED CASES

Different challenges.
Practical outcomes.

Municipal infrastructure, coal-town transformation and public spaces, from research to prototypes and implementation.

25–26 October 2024 · KyivKyiv City Administration · science × business × government

Kyiv Industrial Hackathon #1

Researchers, engineers, startups and municipal departments addressed specific challenges from Kyiv. The full project ran from April to November 2024, from researching challenges to delivering hackathon outcomes.

12 teams
9 innovation projects
8 months of work

Three challenge areas

Transport and urban mobility; smart management of water and municipal infrastructure; municipal geographic information systems (GIS).

Commissioner and collaboration

Commissioned by the Department of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development of Kyiv City Administration. SYNCHRO SPACE delivered the hackathon with Kyiv Academic University and Academ.City, bringing together municipal demand, scientific expertise and partner resources.

Result: 12 teams developed nine projects. The winning Flow Unlock team from the Institute for Metal Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine proposed shape-memory materials to improve the reliability of water and sewer networks. Teams were identified for further solution development through the municipal innovation accelerator.

Hackathon page (UA) Official Kyiv City Administration results (UA)

Participants of the Mine New Ideas! coal-mining towns hackathon — Mine New Ideas! hackathon · 2021.

2021 · Myrnohrad and ChervonohradUNDP Acceleration Lab, Embassy of the Netherlands

Butterfly Effect / Mine New Ideas!

A just transition for two coal-mining towns through research and co-creation. Fieldwork with communities and the environment, deep listening and data analysis informed an online hackathon with teams and mentors.

2 coal-mining towns
20 selected teams
14 solutions
5 winners

Research + hackathon

In-person research combined with an online hackathon connected local context with expertise across disciplines. Twelve of the 20 selected teams reached the final.

Partners and support

UNDP and the Embassy of the Netherlands. The programme was delivered with the official support of four Ukrainian ministries and two regional administrations.

Result: a research foundation and a portfolio of interconnected solutions for the transformation of coal-mining towns.

The next cycle: prepared, then halted by war

In 2021–2022, a scale-up programme was agreed with support from UNDP and a Japanese donor fund: implementation of two winning projects in Myrnohrad and Chervonohrad, followed by a full programme cycle in four additional coal-mining towns.

Each additional town was to receive research, a hackathon, acceleration and one pilot. A month after the programme and budget were agreed, the full-scale invasion began. Implementation was halted and the planned funding redirected to humanitarian needs.

All programme stages on the UNDP website Hackathon page Hackathon results

An archival group photograph of SYNCHRO SPACE hackathon participants in 2019 — SYNCHRO SPACE urban hackathon participants · archive, 2019.

6–7 April 2019 · KyivMunicipalities and private partners

Smart City: Redesign & Innovation

Teams worked in person for 36 hours on briefs from five cities: Bila Tserkva, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Ternopil and Kramatorsk. Municipal teams and professionals co-created solutions for real urban environments.

5 cities
36 hours
3 challenge areas
6 smart projects

Challenge areas

Urban mobility, smart objects and public-space redesign.

Private partnership

Innovecs was the general partner; IoT Ukraine and Cisco sponsored the event.

Implemented outcome: Living Sculptures / Bila Tserkva AR. The SoftUUp team and curatorial group BOORYAK received a municipal commission, with implementation funded by Bila Tserkva City Council.

An artwork in the Living Sculptures park in Bila Tserkva

From a winning idea to an urban space

The park combines physical artworks with augmented reality. The new cultural and visitor attraction became a gathering point for residents and guests and created opportunities for local businesses.

Hackathon page (UA) Video of the implemented project

OUR HISTORY

More programmes,
hackathons & events

From more recent events to our first hackathons: titles, years and links to programme pages and results.

LET’S START WITH YOUR CHALLENGE

What challenge
would you like
to solve?

Tell us about the needs of your city, municipality or organisation. In a meeting, we will define the challenge, desired outcome and programme format, from research and a hackathon to solution development and implementation.

Alissa Bankovska · Founder & CEO, SYNCHRO SPACE

Arrange a meeting Call us

Programmes,hackathons& events