The Vault
Sealed until
the ceremony
Two themes live here. The screening theme is public: pitch against it to get shortlisted. The finale theme and its problem statements stay sealed until the opening ceremony on 5 November, when they appear here and on the hall screen at the same moment.
Level 1 · Screening theme
Open Innovation: solve a real problem for real people
For registration, pitch any real problem you choose. The finale has its own theme and problem statements, which stay sealed until the opening ceremony. Code written for them before the reveal is not allowed.
Level 2 · Finale theme & problem statements
> theme: sealed
> problem statements: sealed
> opens: Thu 5 Nov, 08:00, on stage
> twist: Thu 5 Nov, 14:00
What happens when it opens
No servers, no jargon: here is what you will actually see and do on Thursday 5 November.
- 01
Thu 5 Nov · 07:30
Opening ceremony
You are checked in, stickered up and seated with your team. The organisers run through the rules and the judging panel is introduced.
- 02
08:00
The Vault opens
The finale theme and its problem statements appear on the hall screen, on this page and on your team dashboard at the same moment. Your team picks one statement and the clock starts.
- 03
14:00
The twist
The Vault opens once more after lunch with a single added requirement. Then it is building until the code freeze at 18:30, pitches in the evening, and the awards at 20:30.
What you can do now
You can't prepare for a problem you haven't seen, and that is the point. You can prepare yourselves.
Do this
- Agree who does what: who codes, who designs, who presents, who keeps the team on time.
- Set up your laptops: editors, Node or Python, Git, a database you know, and accounts you might need.
- Set up your AI tools too: ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Cursor, Lovable or whatever you work fastest with, signed in and tested. They are allowed for everything on the day.
- Pick a stack you have all used before. The finale is not the day to learn a new framework.
- Practise a five-minute pitch and a live demo on someone else's idea, so the format is familiar.
- Reuse what is public: your own open-source starters and UI kits published before the theme announcement.
Not this
- Write code, designs or data for a guessed problem. Repositories are created fresh at the reveal.
- Try to find out the finale theme. Nobody outside the organising team has it, including the mentors.
- Plan to carry your screening idea into the finale. The finale theme is different.
- Bring an unfinished product from another project to wire in on the day.
Full details on the rules page.
Things teams ask about the Vault
- Is the finale theme related to the screening theme?
- No. Open innovation gets you in; the finale theme is separate and sealed. Your registration idea doesn't carry over, and it isn't a hint.
- Who knows the finale theme today?
- A very small group inside Accron Revolutions. Mentors, volunteers, sponsors and the faculty's coordinators see it at 08:00 on 5 November, with you.
- How will we hear about it if we're not in the hall?
- You should be in the hall: every finalist team is on site. The theme and statements still appear on this page and on your dashboard for anyone following along.
- Can we choose any problem statement?
- Yes. There will be several statements under the finale theme. Pick one, or combine two if it makes sense. Decide early: the first progress checkpoint is at 11:30.
- What is the twist?
- One added requirement announced after lunch on the day. It is designed so that live-built solutions adapt easily and pre-built ones don't.
- What if our idea for the statement overlaps with another team's?
- That's normal and fine. Judges score the problem fit, the working prototype, consistent progress and the pitch, not uniqueness alone.
Be in the room
Only finalists get to open it.
Registration closes 10 Oct 2026. Register your team, pitch any real problem, and you could be one of the 20 teams in the hall when the Vault unlocks.