Ethiopian SpaceXAI Community

Behind every successful event is a team of people who choose to give their time, energy, and expertise. Cursor AI Hackathon Ethiopia 2026 was made possible by an incredible group of organizers, mentors, and volunteers who worked tirelessly before and throughout the event to create the best possible experience for every participant. To our mentors, thank you for generously sharing your knowledge, challenging teams to think bigger, and guiding them through every stage of their journey. Your support made a real difference. To our volunteers, thank you for being the first to arrive, the last to leave, and for always stepping in wherever help was needed. Your dedication kept everything running smoothly. And to our organizing team, thank you for the countless hours of planning, coordination, and problem-solving over the past two months. Seeing everything come together made every late night and every challenge worth it. This hackathon wasn't built by one person - it was built by a community that believes in the future of AI and innovation in Ethiopia. Thank you for making Cursor AI Hackathon Ethiopia 2026 an unforgettable experience.

After more than 24 hours of building, testing, and refining ideas, the teams at Cursor AI Hackathon Ethiopia 2026 took the stage to present their solutions. Congratulations to all our winning teams! 🎉 These teams stood out for their creativity, technical execution, and the impact of the problems they chose to solve. But the journey does not end with the hackathon. The top 6 teams will receive incubation support through the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MinT),  closer to building sustainable startups. In addition, other promising teams from the hackathon will also have opportunities to receive further incubation and support through our ecosystem partners. Throughout the event, participants had access to AI tools and resources, including Cursor credits and other technology credits, helping them experiment, build, and bring their ideas to life. A huge thank you to our judges for their time, feedback, and support in evaluating the projects, and congratulations for the winners post update the caption with the following After more than 24 hours of building, testing, and refining ideas, the teams at Cursor AI Hackathon Ethiopia 2026 took the stage to present their solutions. Congratulations to all our winning teams! 🎉 These teams stood out for their creativity, technical execution, and the impact of the problems they chose to solve. But the journey does not end with the hackathon. The top 6 teams will receive incubation support through the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MinT), helping them continue developing their ideas and move closer to building sustainable startups. In addition, other promising teams from the hackathon will also have opportunities to receive further incubation and support through our ecosystem partners. Throughout the event, participants had access to AI tools and resources, including Cursor credits and other technology credits, helping them experiment, build, and bring their ideas to life. A huge thank you to our judges for their time, feedback, and support in evaluating the projects, and congratulations to every team that participated and contributed to making this hackathon a success. We are excited to see these ideas continue to grow beyond the hackathon.

One of the highlights of Cursor AI Hackathon Ethiopia 2026 was our panel discussion, where we brought together leaders from Ethiopia's technology and startup ecosystem. The conversation explored AI, entrepreneurship, building startups, developing talent, and the opportunities ahead for Ethiopia's innovators. A big thank you to our moderator Mohammed Ahmed for guiding the discussion and creating an engaging conversation. And thank you to our panelists: • Selamyhun Adefris – Innovation Development CEO ,Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MinT) • Dr. Yabebal Fantaye – Co-Founder, 10 Academy • Betelhem Dessie – CEO & Founder, Gheero • Nael Hailemariam – CEO & Co-Founder, Chapa Your insights and experiences gave participants a different perspective as they worked on their own ideas throughout the hackathon. Thank you for being part of this journey.

On July 25–26, exactly one year after our first hackathon, Ethiopian Cursor Community hosted Cursor AI Hackathon Ethiopia 2026, bringing together some of the most passionate builders, innovators, and technology enthusiasts in the country. More than 1,000 people applied, and we welcomed 300 selected participants who came together to build AI-powered solutions, collaborate, and turn ideas into working prototypes. For one and a half days, teams worked nonstop - brainstorming, building, testing, and improving their ideas with the support of mentors, judges, and the wider tech community. From the beginning, our goal was not just to create another hackathon with demos at the end. We wanted to create a path where promising ideas could continue beyond the event and grow into real startups. Through the support of our partners, we are working to connect strong teams with opportunities for incubation, mentorship, and further growth. The hackathon brought together: • 60 startup teams • 30+ mentors • 16 judges • 10+ volunteers Every team had the opportunity to present their projects to judges across three rooms, with amazing ideas coming from participants with different backgrounds and skill sets. A huge thank you to our partners - Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MinT), Ethio Telecom, Addis Ababa University Startup Center, Gheero, Negus Malt, and everyone who supported this vision. Special appreciation to our speakers, panelists, mentors, judges, volunteers, organizers, and every participant who showed up ready to build. After two months of preparation, seeing this community come together was truly unforgettable. This is just the beginning.

Happening now 🤩

Good news 📰 Opus 5 is now available on Cursor. The hackers will have access to this model today to build their projects. What a timing!

Introducing our Guest Speaker Ayalnehe Lemma, CEO of Legal Services, Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MinT) Ayalnehe Lemma leads legal services at Ethiopia’s Ministry of Innovation and Technology. He has driven transformative legal reforms and played a pivotal role in shaping Ethiopia’s landmark National Startup Proclamation. He’ll join us tomorrow at the Cursor AI Hackathon Ethiopia, at Adwa Museum.

Tomorrow’s the day 🥳 We’re hosting what we believe will be the biggest hackathon in Ethiopia at Adwa Museum, with around 58 teams and 290 participants, building for one and a half days straight. We set out with three goals: * Make it the biggest hackathon Ethiopia has seen * Make it Ethiopia’s first AI hackathon, where teams get real AI tools to build AI products * Help real startups come out of it, not just demos that end after the pitch Huge shoutout to all our partners who helped make this possible. Good luck to every team. See you at Adwa Museum🫶

A very special thank you to Adwa Museum for opening its doors to Cursor AI Hackathon Ethiopia 2026 and supporting us throughout this journey. On behalf of every young builder joining us, thank you to Dr. Yoseph Beko, Director of Adwa Museum, and the entire museum team for believing in what we are building and helping us make it happen. Six teams at the hackathon will be working on projects designed specifically for Adwa Museum, and we can’t wait to see what they build. We hope their ideas will help create new ways for people to experience and connect with the museum’s history.

🎉 We're live! The Cursor AI Hackathon Ethiopia site is now up: https://hackthon.cursorethiopia.com Go check it out to see all the details, and get ready to build something amazing. See you there!

The cost different is crazy 👀

Results are out for the Cursor AI Hackathon Ethiopia! 🎉 Missed the email we sent yesterday? Check your application status at: https://hackathon.cursorethiopia.com/status by entering your email address.

Results are out for the Cursor AI Hackathon Ethiopia! 🎉 Missed the email we sent yesterday? Check your application status at https://hackathon.cursorethiopia.com/status by entering your email address.

We’re honored to have Ethio telecom as a Platinum Sponsor of Cursor AI Hackathon Ethiopia 2026. Their generous support across many areas has been essential in bringing this hackathon to life. We deeply appreciate their commitment to supporting young Ethiopian developers, founders, and AI builders. Participants will also receive access to a demo telebirr API, enabling them to integrate and test payment features in their projects. Thank you, Ethio telecom, for believing in Ethiopian talent and helping make this event possible.

We’ve received many inquiries about the status of applications for the Cursor AI Hackathon. Due to the high number of applications and our commitment to reviewing each one carefully, the results will be sent to all applicants via email on Sunday, July 19. Accepted applicants will also receive further instructions in the same email. We appreciate your patience and wish you the best of luck!

🔥 Cursor just doubled usage on all plans – Grok 4.5 & Composer 2.5 now have even more room to run. First Anthropic reset usage limits, now Cursor follows with a massive boost. Two weeks of back‑to‑back wins for the AI ecosystem.

Today at Adwa 🚀 Pure innovation. 🔥 Today, 6 teams presented their ideas in Adwa. It was amazing to see the creativity, passion, and hard work from every team. We’re excited to see what’s next. 💙

Registration for Cursor AI Hackathon Ethiopia 2026 is now closed! Thank you to everyone who registered and shared. We will review all applications and send confirmation emails to accepted participants on Friday at 8:00 PM, along with further instructions.

Registration for cursor AI hackathon closes on July 14 at 8:00 PM. If you are applying as a team, all teammates must use the same 10 digit team code so we can match your group correctly. If you face any issue while registering, reach us on Telegram: @contactcursoreth