RoadStar Hackathon 2026 Report

Post-event report · Prepared September 28, 2026

1. Executive Summary

The RoadStar Hackathon 2026 brought together students, developers, and industry professionals to modernize the trucking and logistics industry. Over nine days, participants formed 35 teams and submitted 41 projects across both platforms, publishing 28 projects to the Devpost gallery and drawing 114 Devpost registrants from 21 countries and territories (23 countries combined with the RoadStar dashboard). The event demonstrated its core thesis: modern AI-assisted teams can prototype production-relevant logistics software in a fraction of the time traditional development requires.

2. Participation & Data

Sourced from the RoadStar event database and the public Devpost project gallery.

How participants heard about us

Combined responses from the RoadStar dashboard registration form and the Devpost registration question “Who told you about this hackathon?”

Reach & registration funnel

Devpost gave the event a global footprint well beyond the local market, with 114 registrants from 21 countries and territories. Combined with the RoadStar dashboard, registrants span 23 countries and territories.

3. Platform Comparison: RoadStar Site vs Devpost

The event ran on two systems that measured different things: the RoadStar event platform (registration, teams, submissions, judging, operations) and Devpost (a public global listing and project gallery). Below are the separated reviews, the differences, and a combined view.

Separated reviews

Differences

• Devpost is the wider net — 114 registrants in 21 countries; the site registered the local, in-person cohort.
• RoadStarHackathon.com is the deeper record — teams, judging, email, tasks, and sponsors exist only there.
• The rates are not comparable: Devpost's 24.6% is against a global listing audience, while the site's team-submission rate (17 of 17 teams) is the stronger engagement signal.

Combined view

The 197 figure sums registrations across two separate systems (83 RoadStar + 114 Devpost); some people likely registered on both, so the true unique headcount is lower and cannot be determined from the data available. Devpost registrants are located by their profile country, and event-platform registrants by their affiliated university; registrations without a locatable affiliation are not attributed to a country.

4. Winners

Swag was given out at the event — over 20 shirts, 2 jackets and 50 ball caps — and Spur Innovation, an AI company in the same space as ChatGPT, offered developers roughly $30,000 to $150,000 in AI credits to build out these projects.

5. Sponsors & Partners

6. Volunteers & Appreciation

The event ran smoothly thanks to approximately 12 volunteers from Spur Innovation, 3 volunteers from the AWS Student Builder Group, 1 volunteer from Road Star Trucking, additional volunteers from Wilfrid Laurier University, and community supporters.

7. Impact & Conclusions

1. The hybrid 9-day format delivered 28 published projects (17 via the portal) without forced all-nighters.
2. Devpost reach was global: 114 registrants from 21 countries and territories, with 28 projects submitted.
3. Every project targeted a concrete trucking or logistics workflow.
4. The student-plus-professional mix gives sponsors a direct talent pipeline.
5. All operations ran on one custom platform — a reusable asset for future events.

Data sources: RoadStar event production database (queried Sept 28, 2026) and roadstarhackathon.devpost.com. In-person presentation and volunteer figures are reported by the event organizers.