The Nordic AI Cup national challenge began as a student competition in Denmark, as a platform to showcase and develop the next generation of AI talent. The tradition was initiated by the Danish company Ambolt AI, which hosted the first edition in 2021. Since then, the competition has expanded every year, growing in both scale and ambition.

In 2026, the AI hackathon reaches a new level, scaling beyond national borders across the Nordic countries in its most ambitious edition yet. Hosted by Ambolt AI, the Nordic AI Cup is a four-day online challenge, testing participants’ ability to build and deploy AI models across a range of disciplines.

This year, the online national challenges will be held simultaneously across five Nordic countries - Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland.Winners from the five national online competitions will then meet physically in Iceland at the Nordic AI Meet, where they will compete in the ultimate Nordic battle to determine the final winner of the Nordic AI Cup.