herHACK Switzerland

#herHACK — Switzerland's largest female-led hackathon. A hackathon is part hack, part marathon: a time-limited sprint where teams take on a real challenge and build something that didn't exist before. At #herHACK, that format gets one important upgrade — it's designed from the ground up for women who want to enter the tech world, including those who've never written a line of code in their lives. The idea came from a simple observation: hackathons were largely male spaces, not because women weren't interested, but because nobody had asked what would make them want to show up. So we asked — 35 women, one workshop, three answers: the setting needed to be human, the culture needed to be collaborative rather than competitive, and the purpose needed to matter beyond the room. #herHACK was built on those three answers. Since 2021, more than 500 women across Switzerland have participated — career-changers, first-timers, and specialists alike. Each edition brings together participants, mentors, and partner companies around challenges anchored in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Teams have one day to go from strangers to a working prototype and a pitch. Some of those solutions have gone on to real development. Some of those teams have gone on to real jobs together. The next edition takes place on 25 September 2026 in Zurich, with regional upskilling events and a three-part mindset series running throughout the year. The hackathon runs from 07:30 to 21:00 — no all-nighters, no energy-drink culture, no prior tech experience required. Just a room full of women who decided to show up. And what tends to happen in that room is worth writing about.