A clear indicator of the robustness within the Ethereum community is the perpetual surge of ETH hackathons and conference events held across the globe.

From Aug 11 to 13, 2023, it was Munich's turn.

192 Attendees, 142 hackers from 20+ countries flocked to the wonderful TUM (Technical University of Munich) campus at Garching Forschungszentrum just outside of Munich armed with their laptops and sleeping bags for a 36-hour coding frenzy.

Under the banner of PretzelDAO – a community of builders baked in Munich at home in web3, our colleague Sagar Barvaliya, Serg Lotz (Stealth Startup), Christian Ziegler (Blockcurators), and Nick Stracke (fundle3) organized the first ever ETH Munich with many volunteers helping out.

The idea was to let the hackers build something other than the next hyped NFT collection, another wallet project, or a token-trading application.

Instead, the event was dedicated to envisioning the future of the blockchain and exploring untapped concepts and applications which solve real-life problems that can be useful and exciting for people outside of the blockchain space, the “non-veterans”.

As a "bonus track", the participants were able to work on solutions where "AI meets web3".

Antoine Leboyer, Managing Director, Venture Lab for Software and Artificial Intelligence at TUM, kicked off the competition on Friday evening, and Sagar and Serge explained how a hackathon works to those who attended one for the very first time.

The non-hackers among the participants had the opportunity to discuss questions about Ethereum and L2 chains, make guesses about what would cause the next bull run, talk about regulation and share many start-up anecdotes.

And, after three weeks of rain, the ETHMunich event had nothing but perfect sunshine.

To inject a little lightness into the coding frenzy, two Bavarian accordion players reminded everyone about where they were - after 24 hours of coding, not every hacker might remember.

Great food, snacks, and plenty of Red Bull cans kept (almost) everyone going until the final submissions were due on Sunday morning.

On the morning of Day 3, the teams had the opportunity to present their projects to a panel of judges with experience in the blockchain and tech sectors.

The projects were evaluated based on factors such as Technicality, Originality, Practicality, Aesthetics, and Wow-factor.

Following the award ceremony, the participants moved to downtown Munich to the Chinese Towner in the English Garden to enjoy typical Bavarian food and the occasional Mass (a one-liter glass of beer).

The ETH Munich Hackathon provided another window into the future of Web3 technologies, demonstrating that the potential of blockchain and decentralized systems goes far beyond cryptocurrencies. 

With its focus on real-world impact and the spirit of collaboration, this event underscored the importance of community-driven innovation in shaping the evolution of this technology.

As Blockchain Founders Capital, we were glad to be able to co-host such an event together with the Technical University of Munich and the TUM Venture Labs.

A big Thank You to our over twenty ETH Munich volunteers, advisors, sponsors, community, and media partners who made this event possible.

The full list of all partners is available on the ETH Munich homepage.

As the first of its kind in Munich, this hackathon has undoubtedly paved the way for future editions!

(Photos by Robin Birr and Wolfgang Männel)