Over 800 young participants from around the world attend the Adventure X Hackathon Hangzhou. [Photo/WeChat account: dskbdskb]

Some 874 young participants from around the world gathered on July 24 in Dream Town — an entrepreneurial tech and startup innovation hub located in Yuhang district of Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province.

They were there for the Adventure X Hackathon Hangzhou — a three-day programming marathon event where developers, designers, and project managers work intensively to create software solutions.

When it comes to a hackathon, the word "hacking" means rapid prototyping — using code, hardware and creativity to turn out something new under pressure.

It's about problem-solving during a set timed event, where participants team up to create something from scratch — whether it be an app, website, robot, or even an AI tool. The goal is to solve a problem, impress the judges and win prizes or attract investors, not illegally break into systems.

Initiated by two high school students, the event featured themed tracks such as Reinventing, AI for Good and What Makes Us Human, attracting over 6,000 applicants globally. The 800-some selected contestants, forming teams of two to four, were encouraged to freely explore projects aimed at solving real-world problems through artificial intelligence.

The venue buzzed with creativity, as tents filled the halls and corridors to offer resting space for the tireless coders. Young folks from diverse backgrounds — including Chinese Americans, Swiss and French-Vietnamese participants — as well as professionals from South China's Guangzhou province came together.

This was for lively brainstorming sessions, spontaneous collaboration and moments of rest on the floor between innovation sprints.

From pinning teammate ads on their backs to sleeping beside laptops, the atmosphere reflected the spirit of open experimentation. Alongside hacking sessions, contestants explored exhibits on industrial automation and snapped photos by the lakeside innovation center — making Dream Town not just a workspace, but a global hub for future-forward thinking.

Participants get into a discussion. [Photo/WeChat account: dskbdskb]