Synergy Hackathon 2026 – Resilience by Design

April 1–3, 2026 · DGTL Festival · Amsterdam (NDSM Wharf)

How do we design energy systems that don’t just survive disruption — but grow stronger because of it?

Welcome to Synergy 2026, a three-day collaborative hackathon where innovators, system thinkers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, technologists, artists and energy pioneers come together to design the foundations of a resilient energy future.

This is not a typical hackathon.
Synergy is a collaborative design sprint for system change, where breakthroughs emerge at the intersection of disciplines, perspectives and scales.

🌍 The Theme: Resilience by Design

In 2026, Synergy focuses on one urgent question:

How do we make energy systems resilient by default?

Resilience means systems that can:

• absorb shocks

• adapt to change

• and become stronger through disruption

Teams will work on real, partner-driven challenges connected to three levels:

🔭 Macro – Energy autonomy, secure supply chains, robust infrastructure
🏙️ Meso – Resilient cities and regions, future-proof grids, system integration
🏘️ Micro – Energy communities, local hubs, flexible neighborhoods, empowered users

The most powerful ideas connect multiple scales at once.

🚀 This edition's challenges

# Resilient Energy Hub Marineterrein

Design and prototype a local energy hub that keeps essential city functions running during a major grid disruption — and becomes a scalable model for resilient neighbourhoods across Amsterdam.

# Designing Europe’s Strategic Defaults

How can hubs like Rotterdam deliberately design the default flows of energy, data and critical materials that Europe already depends on — sustainably, resiliently and at scale?

# Future-Proof Festivals

How do we build festival infrastructure based on 100% renewables — and use festivals as real-world test environments to improve energy systems everywhere?

🎪 Why a Festival?

Synergy takes place at DGTL Festival at the NDSM wharf — a temporary city and real-world test environment.

Festivals are high-intensity, pop-up infrastructures: the perfect living lab to explore how future energy systems can work under real conditions.

⚡ What You’ll Do

Over three days, multidisciplinary teams will:

• explore a real resilience challenge

• map the system they are intervening in

• challenge existing assumptions and “defaults”

• prototype new models, mechanisms, tools or collaborations

• present a system-level intervention, not just a single product

Breakthroughs can be technical, digital, financial, organizational, regulatory or social.

🤝 How We Work

Synergy runs on collaboration over competition.

Participants move between teams, combine perspectives from tech, policy, finance, design and community, and co-create solutions that are bigger than any single organization.

The hackathon is part of a growing ecosystem and year-round movement — a launchpad for real-world follow-up.

🌱 Who Should Join?

We welcome:

• Energy innovators & startups

• Grid, mobility and infrastructure experts

• Digital & data specialists

• Policymakers & public innovators

• Investors & finance designers

• Community builders & energy cooperatives

• Artists, designers & storytellers

If you care about energy, resilience and systemic change, and want to build across boundaries — this is for you.

🚀 Join Us

The energy transition is no longer only about sustainability.
It is about resilience, autonomy and thriving in uncertainty.

Join Synergy Hackathon 2026
April 1–3 · DGTL Festival · Amsterdam

Let’s design energy systems that are stronger, smarter and more human — by design.