Sofia, 11 September 2026 — Sofia Tech Park welcomed the BIO-RED Cross-Regional Hackathon 2026 from 9 to 11 September, bringing together interregional teams from across Europe to build investment-ready business cases at the intersection of AI, health data, and regulatory readiness. The three-day event took place at The Venue Hall in the Incubator Building of Sofia Tech Park, home to the DISCOVERER supercomputer and the emerging BRAIN++ AI Factory.
The hackathon was opened by Prof. Simeon Stoyanov, manager of BRAIN++ — Bulgaria’s first AI Factory — and Business Development Director of the DISCOVERER supercomputer, together with Kiril Kirilov, Operations Manager of DISCOVERER, DISCOVERER+, and BRAIN++. Their welcome set the tone for an event designed to connect research computing infrastructure directly with real-world challenges in AI diagnostics and market access.
The event was organized by the Health and Life Sciences Cluster together with the BIO-RED consortium and the Spinoff Europa initiative, and co-organized by BRAIN++.
Three Days, Three Challenge Tracks
Participants — researchers, biotech and pharma SMEs and startups, clinical and data experts, and regulatory and public authority representatives — worked across three challenge tracks:
- Regulatory, Ethics & Market Access Readiness
- Cross-Border Data Sharing & Federated Validation
- Health Data Hub & AI Compute Access
Day 1 (9 September) opened with side events introducing DISCOVERER’s architecture and typical workloads, the BRAIN++ AI Factory’s services and access pathways, and a technical visit to the supercomputer facility. The afternoon plenary featured the framing of the three challenge tracks, presentations from the Kontrax Data Hub, GATE Institute’s VELES Polygon, and BRAIN++ on available compute resources, followed by sessions on the EU AI Act, IVDR and GDPR (KEMNI), the EATRIS Digital Hub, paediatric data constraints from “Detsko Zdrave” Children’s Hospital, cross-border data security from EDIH Trakia, and a technical brief on designing the “Hospital of the Future” from Sofia Municipality. The day closed with teams formed around each track and initial problem statements agreed after a discovery sprint.
Day 2 (10 September) moved into building. The morning included talks on biomarkers and multi-omics data for personalised diagnostics (IBIR–BAS), generative, agentic and predictive AI applications in health (KEDRI/AUT), and trustworthy clinical solutions built on high-performance computing (TU Sofia). Teams then spent the day developing their self-assessment tools, governance models, and hub/compute-access models, followed by a cross-track peer review and briefing ahead of the final pitches.
Day 3 (11 September) brought the hackathon to a close with final pitch preparation, track presentations (each roughly seven minutes plus a five-minute jury Q&A), jury deliberation, and the announcement of the standout business cases.
What’s Next
The strongest business cases — evaluated on innovation, feasibility, and fit with BIO-RED’s goals — will advance to the Biotech & Pharma Accelerator Programme, where selected teams receive months of expert support on business development, regulatory strategy (IVDR, EU AI Act, GDPR, EHDS, HTAR), and investment readiness.
The hackathon underscored Sofia Tech Park’s role as a growing hub for AI-driven, data-intensive innovation in Europe, powered by the €90M EuroHPC-backed BRAIN++ AI Factory developed together with INSAIT.
Funded by the European Union. Views expressed are those of the author(s) only.