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November 2025 Microsoft Innovation Challenge Hackathon

From November 17 – November 28 we’ll be hosting a hackathon for hundreds of developers from organizations dedicated to advancing the careers of people from groups who are underrepresented in our industry. The Innovation Challenge program brings together Microsoft’s mission to empower every person with our passion for using leading edge tech to solve big problems. In order to qualify for this invitation only event, you need to be associated with one of the organizations in our program and to have achieved a qualifying certification or credential. For this virtual hackathon, participants will team up to solve for real world AI use cases using Azure. There are over $27,000 in prizes, including $10,000 for the winning team. Dozens of Microsoft employees will be volunteering as coaches and judges because we love to see what developers can do!


This opportunity is open to Blacks In Technology members. If you are not yet a member, you can join here.

This will be the 6th Innovation Challenge, and it’s exciting to see how the community has come together and grown. If you want to check out what these devs can do, visit our YouTube playlist or see what some of the past winners have built in the past year!


June 2025 Innovation Challenge Winners

March 2025 Innovation Challenge Winners

December 2024 Innovation Challenge Winners

October 2024 Innovation Challenge Winners


Please Note

  • It is invite only, and participants need to come from an organization sponsored by my program.
  • They should have earned an Applied Skills credential or an Azure certification (AI 102, AZ 204, or DP 100 preferred) or equivalent preparation.
  • It is virtual and runs from November 17 to November 28. (We will do again in March)
  • First place team wins $10,000
  • Participants build for real world AI use cases

By registering for this event, you agree that your name, email address, and other contact information will be shared with Microsoft, a sponsor of the event, for marketing and promotional purposes. You can opt out of receiving communications from Microsoft at any time. Please review the event organizer’s privacy policy and Microsoft’s privacy policy https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement  for more details on how your data will be used and protected.

Apply for the Innovation Challenge

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Accountability for Diversity & Inclusion

At Microsoft, diversity and inclusion is central to the mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Empowering underrepresented people through upskilling is a key part of this focus. To ensure that AI systems foster equity and empowerment for everyone, the Microsoft Responsible AI Standard is the playbook we use for building AI systems. The Innovation Challenge brings these threads together in a meaningful way to deliver impact for our communities.