Cortex: the region's first AI hackathon
Cortex is a free one-day AI hackathon in Ottawa, hosted by
Redshifted on November 7th, 2026.
Applications are now open. We are open to high school students in grades 9 to 12,
working in teams of one to four, with free food, merch, and prizes.
Hackathon tracks
- AI Agents: build agents that run, build, and scale on their own.
- Language Processing: use AI to understand, generate, and translate human language.
- Computer Vision: use AI to see, recognize, and interpret the world around us.
How to take part
- Sign up with your email address.
- Grab friends, or make new ones, and form a team of 1–4.
- Learn from workshops, with food and merch provided.
- Build your product and show it to the judges.
- Win prizes and have a great time.
On the day
Doors and registration open at 8:00 AM, the opening ceremony is at 9:00 AM,
submissions are due at 7:00 PM, and awards run from 8:45 PM. Meals, snacks
and two mentoring sessions are included.
To sign up, please enable JavaScript, or email
programs@redshifted.ca.
Questions are answered on our Discord.