Build Asia's Career OS with AI. Ship in 21 days.

1. About the Hackathon

The Talentbank Tech Hackathon 2026 is a national challenge by Talentbank Sdn. Bhd. ("Talentbank", "we", "us") to design and ship modules of Career OS. Top teams may be invited into a 12-month build partnership.

2. Who can join

You must be at least 18, reside in an Asia Pacific country, and not be a Talentbank employee, contractor, or immediate family member. Teams may have 1–4 members. Each member registers individually.

3. Your code, our adoption

You own your code. Talentbank's review licence only allows us to access and evaluate your Submission for judging and adoption assessment. It expires 90 days after the Grand Finale unless we issue an Intent to Adopt. Talentbank may have prior, parallel, or future internal work in the Career OS space; that work remains ours. The only commercial path between you and Talentbank is via signed Adoption Agreement.

4. Reference Build confidentiality

The Reference Build is Confidential Information. Don't redistribute, repost, or publicly describe its internals. Confidentiality runs for 3 years after the Grand Finale.

5. AI tools

AI tools are welcomed and expected. Disclose what you used and where. Undisclosed AI use is a disqualification offence.

6. Your data (PDPA 2010)

We handle your data under Malaysia's PDPA 2010. Marketing and recruitment introductions are opt-in. We do not sell your data or train AI models on your Submission. Full Privacy Policy at techhackathon.com/terms#privacy.

7. What we don't promise

Provided "as-is" without warranties. Liability is capped at RM 1,000 per participant. Full Terms at techhackathon.com/terms. Contact: ask@techhackathon.com.

1. Prize pool

Cash podium prizes (Champion, 1st & 2nd Runner Up), a non-cash Career Accelerator package for Top 10 Finalists, and a discretionary Adoption Pool with two tiers. Adoption amounts are agreed 1-to-1 with each team and set out in the signed Adoption Agreement. See the full Terms. Cash prizes are paid by bank transfer within 3 months of the Grand Finale. You are responsible for any applicable taxes.

2. Adoption is discretionary

Talentbank decides whether to offer adoption, at our sole discretion. Submission alone creates no obligation to license, adopt, or compensate. Adoption deals are negotiated 1-to-1 after the Grand Finale via signed Adoption Agreement.

3. Tier 1 — Code Adoption

Triggered when your code passes our 4-gate review: stack compatibility, code quality, clean provenance, and basic test coverage. Code deploys into our production stack; use AI and any tools or stack you like. Paid 10% signing / 20% review / 20% handover acceptance / 20% integration / 30% go-live.

4. Tier 2 — Strategic Adoption

Default when Code Adoption isn't feasible. Your concept or design shapes what we ship, even if we rebuild on our own stack. Paid 50% signing / 50% first integration milestone. Talentbank may step a deal from Tier 1 to Tier 2 if integration cannot be met; payments already made count against the Tier 2 total.

5. IP transfer on signing

On signing the Adoption Agreement, full IP of the adopted work transfers to Talentbank. You retain portfolio acknowledgement. You are never obligated to accept an adoption offer. If you decline, you keep full ownership.

6. Eligibility and clawback

Any team with adoptable work may be considered; Top 10 placement is not required. Talentbank may withhold, reduce, or reclaim any prize or payment if we discover the recipient breached the Participant Agreement.

Full Adoption Terms at techhackathon.com/terms.