What will the Vienna of the future look like? What ideas do young people have for their city? And how can digital technologies help turn these ideas into reality?

Around 50 girls between the ages of 11 and 13 explored these questions at the Digital Girls Hackathon 2026, held on June 10–11. The event was organized by Urban Innovation Vienna (UIV) on behalf of DigitalCity.Wien and the City of Vienna. The program was delivered in collaboration with the TU Wien Informatics eduLAB, led by René Röpke, and the Research Unit Formal Methods in Systems Engineering, led by Laura Kovács. The event took place at the A1 Campus in Vienna’s second district, at the invitation of A1, and was opened, among others, by Sabine Seidler, STEM commissioner of the City of Vienna and former Rector of TU Wien.

Using Scratch to develop their own ideas for the future

The focus of the two-day event was on how digital technologies can improve life in Vienna in the future. Working in small teams, the participants developed their own visions for the future of Vienna and transformed them into creative projects. They worked with the block-based programming language Scratch, which offers a particularly simple and playful introduction to the world of programming. Even without any prior knowledge, the pupils were able to create interactive applications, animations, and digital stories in no time, while putting fundamental concepts of computer science into practice. The hackathon focused on creative problem-solving, the collaborative development of ideas, and teamwork. The participants discussed challenges, developed solutions, and learned how innovative projects emerge through collaboration. Throughout the two days, they received support from mentors from eduLAB and researchers from the Faculty of Informatics at TU Wien. The Dean of the Faculty of Informatics, Gerti Kappel, and former Hedy Lamarr Award winner Martina Lindorfer also visited the hackathon to encourage the girls in their work and gain first-hand insight into the ongoing activities.