Drexel's Annual Hackathon: Philly Codefest

Hundreds of Coders Build for Community Impact at Philly Codefest 2026

Philly Codefest is a free software and hardware hackathon that encourages students and professionals from all experience levels and backgrounds to work together to develop innovative solutions to help solve real world challenges.

Drexel’s School of Computer and Information Sciences (SCIS) welcomed 375 participants and sponsors to the 13th annual Philly Codefest on April 11-12, 2026. The software hackathon received 78 team project submissions from students and professionals from all backgrounds.

Read the Philly Codefest 2026 recap

Become a Sponsor of Philly Codefest

Is your company or organization interested in getting involved in next year's Philly Codefest? Check out our sponsorship menu that offers many options to participate in Codefest, promote your company and engage with attendees. Email raiken@drexel.edu for more information.

What Is A Hackathon?

A hackathon, also called a codefest, is a collaborative programming competition that brings together students and professionals for a short period of time to build websites, apps, or hardware. Philly Codefest is a hackathon Philadelphia tech professionals and students alike are eligible to compete in, and it brings together coders, programmers, developers, and designers of all different skill levels.

Learn more about previous Philly Codefests and our history

What Happens At Our Hackathon

Presented by the SCIS, Philly Codefest is a free software and hardware hackathon in Philadelphia that encourages students and professionals from all experience levels and backgrounds to work together to develop innovative solutions to help solve real world challenges.

With no coding experience required, Philly Codefest is open to everyone, regardless of coding experience — just bring your creativity to Drexel SCIS's annual hackathon! Attendees will form teams to work on projects, and then will present their final creations to a panel of judges — comprised of Drexel faculty, sponsors and respected members of the Philadelphia tech community — for a chance to win awesome prizes.

Philly Codefest's mission, to make the world a better place through technology, echoes SCIS's commitment to forge and foster lasting relationships among students, professionals, tech leaders, start-ups and corporations. Drexel's annual hackathon leverages the already strong tech community in the Greater Philadelphia area to create one of the largest and most dynamic hackathons in the region.