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.