Upcoming
Accessible Innovation Hackathon
Using AI to take accessible, inclusive ideas from concept to production-ready — and to build the tools that get them there.
About the hackathon
Great accessibility ideas often stall between a promising concept and something real people can actually use. This hackathon is about closing that gap: using AI to take accessible, inclusive ideas from concept toward production-ready — robust, usable and safe enough to reach the people who need them.
Over the weekend, teams will work on accessibility and inclusion challenges — with a particular welcome for anything that reduces communication barriers for Deaf and hard-of-hearing people. People with lived experience of disability help shape the challenges and judge the results.
Who should take part
Builders, designers, researchers, students, community members and people with lived experience of disability are all welcome — whether you code, design, test, or simply know the problem first-hand. You don't need to arrive with a team or a finished idea.
What we provide
Mentoring, accessibility guidance, responsible-AI support, and a community focused on real public benefit. Any tools, resources or prototypes created for the charity's purposes are shared for public benefit under our IP and licensing approach.
The problem we're tackling
Accessibility solutions too often stall as promising prototypes that never reach the people who need them — because getting from a demo to something robust, safe and usable is hard, slow and under-resourced. Meanwhile, AI is moving fast, and inclusion risks being an afterthought. This hackathon puts accessibility first and uses AI to close the gap between a good idea and a real, usable tool.
Our goals for the weekend
- Move real accessibility ideas from concept toward production-ready — not just demos.
- Reduce communication barriers for Deaf and hard-of-hearing people through practical, usable tools.
- Show how AI can be used responsibly and accessibly, with the people affected in the room.
- Grow a community of builders, researchers and people with lived experience working on inclusion.
Challenge tracks
Idea → production-ready
Take an accessibility or inclusion idea and use AI to move it toward a robust, production-ready prototype — reliable and usable enough to actually reach people.
Internal tools for impact
Build AI-assisted internal tools that help accessibility ventures, community organisations and small teams design, build and ship inclusive work faster.
Auslan & communication access
Prototype tools that reduce communication barriers for Deaf and hard-of-hearing people — from Auslan support to accessible information.
Accessible & responsible by design
Make the AI solutions themselves accessible, safe and accountable — so the tools built for inclusion are inclusive too.
What you'll get
- Mentoring from builders, accessibility practitioners and people with lived experience.
- Responsible-AI and accessibility guidance to make your work usable and safe.
- A pathway for the strongest ideas to continue as public-benefit projects.
- Connections across the accessibility, research and technology community.
Sponsorship
Sponsor the hackathon
Sponsorship helps us run a free, inclusive, public-benefit event and support the strongest ideas beyond the weekend. It's a direct way for organisations to back accessibility and inclusion — and to be part of a community solving real problems.
As a not-for-profit, we recognise sponsors transparently and on fair terms. Sponsorship supports the charity's public-benefit purpose and does not confer control, ownership of outcomes, or any commercial entitlement to the charity's resources.
What sponsors get
- Association with a values-driven accessibility and inclusion initiative.
- Recognition on the event, this page and related materials (tiers available).
- Opportunities to engage staff as mentors, judges or volunteers.
- Connection to a community of builders, researchers and people with lived experience.