Green Circles Manchester | AI Hackathon | Supported by Barclays

Greater Manchester has ten boroughs. On the day, each borough will have its own team — bringing together local government, technology, business and emerging talent.

Each team will include a representative from its borough council, a tech mentor, a business mentor and three mentees.

At the end of the day, every team will pitch what they’ve built to a panel of VCs, council leaders, startup ecosystem figures and industry leaders.

Every borough will bring a genuine local challenge.

You'll receive your team's challenge on the day, introduced and explained by someone who works on it. From there, your team will have the day to understand the problem, develop an idea, build a prototype and prepare your pitch.

Your solution should be tech or AI-enabled — but it doesn't have to be purely technological. The best ideas might combine technology with better processes, services, partnerships or ways of working.

• Adults who want to retrain but don't know where to start
• Council services overwhelmed by repetitive enquiries
• Local businesses struggling to find local talent
• Young people leaving education without a clear route into work
• Community groups doing great work that residents struggle to find

• An AI assistant that helps residents navigate council services in plain English
• A matching platform connecting volunteers, community groups and local needs
• A triage system handling routine enquiries so council staff can focus on complex cases
• A skills-matching service connecting local employers with school and college leavers
• A local discovery tool making it easier to find support, spaces, funding, community groups and other resources already available in the borough

We'll have ten teams — one for each Greater Manchester borough.

Each team will bring together:

• local council representative — the problem owner
• tech mentor — helping you turn ideas into something real
• business mentor — helping you think about users, value and viability
• mentees — bringing energy, ideas and a willingness to build

Bolton · Bury · Manchester · Oldham · Rochdale · Salford · Stockport · Tameside · Trafford · Wigan

This registration is for mentees — with 60 places available across the ten teams.

Mentors, council representatives and judges will register separately.

You don't need to be an expert. You just need to be curious, willing to learn and ready to get stuck in.

You should apply if you're:

• A university student or recent graduate
• An early-career engineer, designer, product person or marketer
• Teaching yourself AI tools and looking for a real problem to use them on
• From one of the ten boroughs and want to build something for your own community
• Early in your career and looking for people to learn from
• Someone with ideas and the motivation to turn them into something tangible

09:00 – 09:45 Breakfast, networking & welcome

09:45 – 10:30 Opening keynote & borough challenge briefing

10:30 – 13:00 Build sprint — understand, design & develop your solution

13:00 – 13:45 Lunch & networking

13:45 – 14:15 Panel — pitching solutions that create real-world impact

14:15 – 15:30 Final build & pitch preparation

15:30 – 15:45 Break

15:45 – 16:45 Team presentations

16:45 – 17:00 Judging & audience voting

17:00 – 17:20 Awards ceremony

17:20 onwards Networking, refreshments & closing remarks

At the end of the day, every team will present its solution to a judging panel featuring VCs, local council leaders, startup ecosystem leaders and industry figures.

Winning teams will receive prizes from our sponsors. But the bigger opportunity is what happens next.

Strong projects could lead to:

• Introductions to potential employers
• Support to continue developing the idea after the event
• Exposure to investors, founders and industry leaders
• Support from the borough the solution was built for

A great pitch doesn't just win a prize. It can give a good idea somewhere to go next.

By the end of the day, you'll have:

• Built something for a real place and a real problem
• Worked directly with someone from local government
• Hands-on experience using AI and technology under time pressure
• Mentorship from people building technology and running businesses
• Feedback from investors and industry leaders
• New connections across Greater Manchester's tech and startup community
• A project you can talk about, show and build on

Bring your curiosity. We'll bring the challenge.

Join us and build something Greater Manchester can actually use.