Snowflake Korea is hosting a hackathon open to both developers and non-developers to discover AI data-based applications and business ideas utilizing real-world industrial data. The event has been expanded to lower the barrier to entry for data utilization while fostering competition in both technology implementation and service planning.

Snowflake Korea announced plans to host the 'Snowflake Hackathon 2026' on March 24. Applications will be accepted until April 5, and the deadline for final project submission is April 12. The six finalist teams will give presentations on April 29, and the winning teams will be determined following evaluations by a panel of judges.

This hackathon is divided into a Tech Track and a Business Track. The Tech Track involves developing applications based on real data, while the Business Track is structured to evaluate problem-solving ideas and business potential utilizing data and AI. It was designed to allow not only developers, engineers, and data experts, but also general participants with data-driven ideas to participate.

Participants will carry out tasks on Snowflake's AI data cloud platform. Data sets provided by Ajeongdang, SPH, Richgo, Nextrade, and others will be utilized for the event, and participants will be able to design apps and solutions by combining various data shared on the Snowflake Marketplace with necessary libraries and open-source tools. The core task has been presented as proposing new services or application methods based on real-world industry data.

Prior to the event, a total of three meetups and webinars will be held to support participants. Through these sessions, participants will learn about the AI features and utilization strategies of the Snowflake platform and gain access to case studies and know-how from experts with experience in executing actual data and AI projects. In particular, during the webinar on April 1, last year's winning teams and judges are scheduled to explain the preparation direction for advancing to the finals.

Evaluations are conducted differently by track. The Tech Track is evaluated based on creativity, Snowflake utilization capabilities, AI expertise, feasibility, presentation, and storytelling, while the Business Track assesses creativity, platform utilization capabilities, marketability, viability, presentation, and storytelling. In both categories, the effective utilization of the Snowflake platform and marketplace is the primary evaluation criterion.

This hackathon can be seen as an example demonstrating that the utilization of data and AI is extending beyond technology implementation to include industrial data interpretation, service planning, and business feasibility studies. It is also evident that the trend of treating data and AI from the perspective of actual industrial application has become more pronounced, as the method evaluates platform utilization skills and data-driven problem-solving capabilities together.